Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said that regulating the sale of marijuana in the country will help protect young people and also take money away from criminal organisations. Trudeau, however, added that the government will draw the line when it comes to legalising illicit drugs in the country.
Read: Justin Trudeau under investigation for ethics violation after vacationing in Bahamas
The prime minister made the statement during a visit to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in the Victorian era. Trudeau said the federal government has two goals when it comes to their approach towards marijuana.
"The first is to protect our kids. Right now we know that young people have easier access to marijuana than just about any other illicit substance. It's easier to buy a joint for a teenager than it is to buy a bottle of beer. That's not right," Trudeau said.
"Secondly, we know that criminal organisations and street gangs are making billions of dollars off of the sale of marijuana. We feel that regulating it, controlling it, will bring that revenue out of the pockets of criminals and put it into a system where we can both monitor, tax it and ensure that we are supporting people who are facing challenges related or unrelated to drug use," the Canadian PM added.
Trudeau said the government has no plans to go any further than legalising pot and he hopes the marijuana legalisation could be introduced by the summer of this year.
"We are not planning on including any other illicit substances in the move towards legalising and controlling and regulating," he said.
The Canadian leader is set to participate in a roundtable discussion with first responders and health-care workers on Friday in Vancouver over British Columbia's opioid crisis, which killed around 922 people last year.
Trudeau said, in an attempt to improve response to the overdose crisis, the federal government has announced $10 million to the provincial government to assist it in fighting overdose deaths.
