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MONTREAL – The mere fact that they arrived at 3:30 in the morning does not presume that the first legal marijuana buyers in Montreal are nails. Call them passionate about history, they said.
"I could not smoke it. I'll probably keep it as a souvenir, "said Tonino Ruggiero, who was in second place in one of Quebec's new government-run jars, on Wednesday, the long-awaited cannabis legalization day. Canada.
"It's a moment of history," said Ruggiero, 64. "It's better than the Olympics. Not as good as the Rolling Stones, but close. "
The store he's visited, in a trendy neighborhood of Montreal, is one of three in the city. At 10 am, opening hours, hundreds of people rushed around the block, police controlling the crowd. Then, an acclaim broke out and the first customers rushed through the doors.
People are lining up to enter a cannabis store in Montreal on Wednesday. Nearly a century-old marijuana ban came to an end Wednesday when Canada became the first major western country to legalize and regulate its sale and use for recreational purposes. (Martin Ouellet-Diotte / AFP / Getty Images)
Montreal is one of the few cities in the country where marijuana was available in stores on Wednesday, due to the fact that each province is responsible for distributing and retailing marijuana.
In Ontario, the most populous province in the country, marijuana was only available by mail on Wednesdays because private outlets that would open doors could not be licensed until next spring.
There is a crowd of others Concerns about legalization – a potential shortage of legal marijuana and the risk of crossing the US border after using cannabis, among others – but few of them were exposed in Montreal.
Once inside the government-run store, located in a commercial radius known for wedding dresses, guests were greeted by smiling young women dressed in dark green aprons standing near screens tactile wall.
Another door ran through a minimalist, pharmacy-like space with colorful boxes lining the shelves and more store clerks.
"They were really cool," said François-Xavier Monbelli, a 44-year-old man, wearing Burberry glasses. They asked if people had health problems or "if you want to sleep, if you want to eat, if you want to think, if you want to be creative".
[Analysis: Three things you need to know before you go to Canada for some legal weed]
Monbelli, 44, came to Canada from France by plane for the day of legalization, but, like Ruggiero, he said he would not smoke his purchase.
In fact, even in the middle of his pot-themed vacation, he was in a hurry, he said – he had promised to deliver the drugs to a friend who plans to launch a Citizen's Criticism website and was supposed to make sure that different critics strive as soon as possible.
Later this week, there will be more time for celebrations, said Monbelli, including a "festival" of walking around Montreal and watching different street arts while smoking marijuana.
"We end up eating poutine," he said. "It's nice, is not it?"
A resident smokes a joint out of a photo booth at a "Wake & N Bake" event in Toronto on Wednesday. (Cole Burston / Bloomberg)
Later, people said that they were not doing anything special to commemorate this day. Only one man was smoking openly a joint on the sidewalk – now legal in Montreal – but he stated that it was his usual procedure when he was waiting in a line of waiting.
"People see it as a glass of wine," at least in Montreal, said another man, Ivan Akhtemiychuk, 30.
While waiting for his wife, Akhtemiychuk named two types of jars he liked – Sativa and the Cannatonic variety – and said the legalization meant he would finally be assured of getting them.
On the black market, "people lie about what they sell," he said. "They say any name, and you can not check."
Torontonians gather in a local concert hall to watch the "bud fall" on the stroke of midnight, on the occasion of the celebration of the legalization of recreational cannabis use on Wednesday. (Ian Willms / Getty Images)
Although Canada has had a legal marijuana system for medical purposes since 2001, his wife was unable to obtain a permit, he said, when he needed to smoke cannabis to treat fibromyalgia, epilepsy and lupus.
It seemed worth it for, he says. Most online countries were forecasting at least a 50% increase in selling prices on the market, with some preparing to double their price, but Quebec has rated its product below black market prices.
Those in line were almost all men, most of them over 50 and almost all white. David Donaldson was an exception. His mother was a Rastafarian, he said. He grew up around the grass, maintaining this habit after moving to Montreal as an adult in 2007.
The law would have a major drawback, said Donaldson, who works as a licensed practical nurse. While there remained much uncertainty around marijuana-impaired driving – how to detect it and how to suppress it – he expected to be more often intercepted by the police, fearing that this does not give the police an "excuse" to take it on its own. black drivers in particular.
[[[[1 in 7 Canadian cannabis users had a strong increase at least once in the past 3 months]
Nevertheless, he broadly approved the law, he said. "We have to start somewhere."
On the eve of legalization, the federal government had announced that it would forgive Canadians who had previously been convicted of possession of marijuana up to 30 grams.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that the day marked the end of "the missed ban on marijuana" in Canada and that legalization would take over the power of organized crime and prevent young people from buying this drug.
Two women said to have crossed the city in the hope of avoiding a long queue, without success. But they were surprised by the imbalance between men and women, said 25-year-old Beowulf Bertrand.
The best thing about legalization would be the government's tax revenue, she said.
It will also be nice to know that you can relax "if you go past the cops and have a gram in your purse," she said. "I'm a good two shoes."
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