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Associated Press

Jubilant customers stood in long queues for hours then lit up and celebrated on Wednesday as Canada became the world’s largest legal marijuana marketplace.
In Toronto, people smoked joints as soon as they rolled out of bed in a big “wake and bake” celebration. In Alberta, a government website that sells pot crashed when too many people tried to place orders.
And in Montreal, Graeme Campbell welcomed the day he could easily buy all the pot he wanted.
“It’s hard to find people to sell to me because I look like a cop,” the clean-cut, 43-year-old computer programmer said outside a newly opened pot store.


He and his friend Alex Lacrosse were smoking a joint when two police officers walked by. “I passed you a joint right in front of them and they didn’t even bat an eye,” Lacrosse told his friend.
Festivities erupted throughout the nation as Canada became the largest country in the world with legal marijuana sales. At least 111 pot shops were expected to open Wednesday across the nation of 37 million people, with many more to come. Uruguay was the first country to fully legalise marijuana.
Buying pot in Canada: who is selling and where can it be smoked?
Ian Power was first in line at a store St John’s but didn’t plan to smoke the one gram he bought after midnight.
I don’t need to be a criminal any more, and that’s a great feeling. And my new dealer is the prime minister!
Canadian singer Ashley MacIsaac
“I am going to frame it and hang it on my wall,” said Power, 46. “I’m going to save it forever.”
Tom Clarke, an illegal pot dealer for three decades, opened a pot store in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, and made his first sale to his dad. He was cheered by the crowd waiting in line.
“This is awesome. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” Clarke said. “I am so happy to be living in Canada right now instead of south of the border.”
The start of legal sales wasn’t the only good news for pot aficionados: Canada said it intends to pardon everyone with convictions for possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana, the newly legal threshold.
“I don’t need to be a criminal any more, and that’s a great feeling,” Canadian singer Ashley MacIsaac said outside a government run shop in Nova Scotia. “And my new dealer is the prime minister!”

Medical marijuana has been legal since 2001 in Canada, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has spent the past two years working toward legalising recreational pot to better reflect society’s changing opinion about marijuana and bring black market operators into a regulated system.
Corey Stone and a friend got to one of the 12 stores that opened in Quebec at 3.45am to be among the first to buy pot. Hundreds later lined up.
How Canada legalising recreational marijuana could vault country to forefront of cannabis research
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing – you’re never ever going to be one of the first people able to buy legal recreational cannabis in Canada ever again,” said Stone, 32, a restaurant and bar manager.
The stores have a sterile look, like a modern clinic, with a security desk to check identification. The products are displayed in plastic or cardboard packages behind counters. Buyers can’t touch the products before they buy. A small team of employees answer questions but don’t make recommendations.


“It’s a candy store; I like the experience,” said Vincent Desjardins, a 20-year-old-student who plans to apply for a job at the Montreal shop.
Canadians can also order marijuana products through websites run by provinces or private retailers and have it delivered to their home by mail.
At 12.07am, the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission tweeted: “You like us! Our website is experiencing some heavy traffic. We are working hard to get it up and running.”
Alberta and Quebec have set the minimum age for purchase at 18, while other provinces have made it 19.
No stores will open in Ontario, which includes Toronto. The nation’s most populous province is working on its regulations and doesn’t expect stores to operate until spring.
A patchwork of regulations has spread in Canada as each province takes its own approach within the framework established by the federal government. Some provinces have government-run stores, others allow private retailers, and some have both.

Canada’s national approach allows unfettered banking for the pot industry, inter-province shipments of cannabis and billions of dollars in investment – a sharp contrast with prohibitions in the United States, where nine states have legalised recreational sales of pot and more than 30 have approved medical marijuana.
Bruce Linton, CEO of marijuana producer and retailer Canopy Growth, claims he made the first sale in Canada – less than a second after midnight in Newfoundland.
“It was extremely emotional,” he said. “Several people who work for us have been working on this for their entire adult life and several of them were in tears.”
Linton is proud that Canada is now at the forefront of the burgeoning industry.
“The last time Canada was this far ahead in anything, Alexander Graham Bell made a phone call,” said Linton, whose company recently received an investment of US$4 billion from Constellation Brands, whose holdings include Corona beer and Robert Mondavi wines.


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Canada

O, cannabis! Here’s how Canadians are celebrating the landmark legalisation of marijuana

People smoke cannabis in a Toronto park on Wednesday, after Canada legalised marijuana. Photo: AP

People check out the sample counter at a cannabis store in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Harry's View

People smoke cannabis in a Toronto park on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

A man smokes a marijuana cigarette during a legalization party at Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto, Ontario, October 17, 2018. - Nearly a century of marijuana prohibition came to an end Wednesday as Canada became the first major Western nation to legalize and regulate its sale and recreational use. Scores of customers braved the cold for hours outside Tweed, a pot boutique in St John's, Newfoundland that opened briefly at midnight, to buy their first grams of legal cannabis.In total, Statistics Canada says 5.4 million Canadians will buy cannabis from legal dispensaries in 2018 -- about 15 percent of the population. Around 4.9 million already smoke. (Photo by Geoff Robins / AFP)

Cafe employees offer coffee to people lining-up to purchase legal cannabis in Calgary, Alberta, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

Jean Marc looks at a sample at a cannabis store in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Recreational marijuana sales get green light in Canada, as report endorses legalisation plans

A woman waves a flag with a marijuana leaf in place of the familiar Canadian maple leaf on National Marijuana Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 20. Photo: AFP

A man, wearing a marijuana-themed hat and sunglasses, is pictured at the Vancouver Art Gallery during the annual 4/20 day, which promotes the use of marijuana, in Vancouver, British Columbia April 20, 2013. REUTERS/Ben Nelms (CANADA - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST DRUGS)

Anne McLellan, Chair of the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation, and Vice Chair Mark Ware take part in a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada December 13, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

‘Say no’ to drug legalisation despite Canada decision: WHO chief

Head of World Health Organisation says despite Canada about to become only the second nation in the world to legalise recreational marijuana, countries should think twice before taking the same action

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 19, 2017 a marijuana plant is seen in a greenhouse in Mendocino County, California. - Coca-Cola said on September 17, 2018 it is studying the use of a key ingredient in marijuana in "wellness beverages," as a growing number of mainstream companies develop cannabis-infused drinks. "We have no interest in marijuana or cannabis," Coca-Cola said in a statement. But iconic soft drink producer is "closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD (cannabidiol) as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world." (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP)

An employee sorts harvested cannabis buds at Hexo Corp's facilities in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a town hall meeting on January 12, 2017, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. (Lars Hagberg/Zuma Press/TNS)

A clerk reaches for a container of marijuana buds for a customer at Utopia Gardens, a medical marijuana dispensary, in Detroit, Michigan, the US. Photo: AP

Canada’s senate gives marijuana law final approval, but legalisation is delayed

The law will take eight to 12 weeks to go into effect, as provinces prepare for retail sales of the drug

A haze of marijuana smoke rises during the annual 4/20 marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on April 20, 2018. Photo: Reuters

O, cannabis! Here’s how Canadians are celebrating the landmark legalisation of marijuana

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‘This is awesome. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this’