Canada’s Senate has approved a bill to legalise recreational marijuana, but it will likely still be months before cannabis is sold in stores across the country.
In a marathon session that lasted over six hours on Thursday, the Senate voted 56 to 30, with one abstention, in favour of a version of Bill C-45 that includes several dozen amendments.
Those changes mean the bill must now go back to the House of Commons, where the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals hold a majority. They will decide what changes get approved, or rejected, before sending the legislation back to the Senate.
This sets the stage for a possible back-and-forth between the two houses of parliament if they can’t agree on the exact content of the bill, also known as the Cannabis Act.
Passed in the House in November 2017, Bill C-45 would make it legal for adults to possess and share up to 30 grams of dried cannabis for recreational purposes across Canada.
Before the Senate vote, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the government was looking forward to seeing the amendments, and would evaluate them over the weekend.
“At the beginning of next week, we’ll be ready to finally provide more information about what amendments we will accept,” Petitpas Taylor told reporters on Thursday afternoon in the capital, Ottawa.