Canadians Brace for Cultural Changes as Marijuana Becomes Legal

Trees Station, an illegal marijuana dispensary in Toronto, has avoided being shut down. It has presented itself as if it were a medical dispensary.CreditCole Burston for The New York Times

For one of Canada’s largest legal cannabis companies, the vote in Parliament this week to legalize recreational marijuana use represents a broad opportunity to develop new products, including marijuana infused drinks.

The hope, said Adam Greenblatt, a manager with the company, Canopy Growth, “is that in five years time people will be drinking cannabis drinks at a cocktail party as if drinking a good wine.”

Matteo Rossant, 21, a business graduate at Concordia University in Montreal, also envisions an expansive future, one in which he sells maple syrup, lollipops and jelly treats made with cannabis.

But Rémi Letendre, 81, a retired Quebec radio host, worries that legal marijuana sales and consumption will leave cities like Toronto and Montreal overrun by stoned adolescents and marijuana tourists from the United States stumbling around the sidewalks.

People across Canada were grappling on Wednesday with the legalization of recreational marijuana, which represents one of the most sweeping changes in Canadian culture since the end of Prohibition.

Many questions remain, including whether law enforcement will be able to tame a vibrant black market for cannabis that has been thriving in the shadows and whether consumers will reject smoking government-approved joints.

NYTimes