With the legalization of cannabis becoming official today, much is left to be said regarding the marijuana possession cases prevalent prior to legalization and whether such cases should be forgiven completely or just pardoned.

 The Liberals are set to waive the fee and waiting time for pardons, allowing such cases to be suspended, but not erased, from criminal records. The previous wait times could be from five to ten years, depending on whether the offences were summary or indictable with a fee for normal suspensions coming to $631.

Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale says the government plans to expedite the fee and wait time of the pardon as part of the plan to remove any stigmas still connected to the recreational use of marijuana and that, although slowly, the plan is a process that will take place over time.

"That is not a singular event. That is a process."

 The suspension of the crimes will not completely erase any record of the misdeed, it would just keep it separate from other records. 

The NDP believes that just suspending the crime will not be enough to destroy stigmas put into place after years of reinforcement. They call from the complete expungement of criminal records, removing it completely from any record.

They said they believe any plan not following through completely will send the wrong message and won't remove barriers and stigmas regarding recreational drug use.

There is so far no timeframe as to when the legislation will be passed in Parliament. 

 

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com