Mr. Speaker, we are legalizing and regulating cannabis sales because we know that we need to better protect our kids and protect our communities from the impact of organized crime. That is why we are doing this. We recognize that under the current prohibition the medical-marijuana system actually purveys an awful lot of recreational cannabis to users. This situation will shift significantly once we have a legalized regime in place, and we are going to be working with the medical marijuana community to ensure that those who use marijuana as medications do not suffer undue extra penalties. That is something we have committed to doing. We are going to work responsibly toward that.
In the House of Commons on May 23rd, 2018. See this statement in context.