Though eight American states have legalized marijuana to various extents, the drug remains illegal under federal law. Mr. Trudeau’s move eliminates any such ambiguity in Canada. It follows a court-mandated legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, which was introduced with tight controls in 1999 and later broadened by further court orders.
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While the new legislation will take Canada beyond its medical marijuana system, it stops far short of creating an open market. The law will require purchasers to be at least 18 years old — though provinces can set a higher minimum — and it will limit the amount they can carry at any one time to 30 grams, about an ounce.
Households will be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants. But the legislation seems built on the assumption that most users will be supplied by commercial growers, who will be licensed and closely supervised by the federal government.
Each province will decide where and how marijuana may be sold and will set prices.
How much marijuana will cost and how heavily it will be taxed will be influenced by Canada’s experience with tobacco, which is also tightly regulated. When the country tried to discourage smoking by sharply increasing cigarette taxes, it inadvertently created a growing black market for cigarettes smuggled from the United States and elsewhere. Since one of the government’s main aims with the new law is to wipe out — or at least reduce — marijuana dealing, it will want to avoid measures that spur its growth.
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It is unclear where users will be able to buy the drug. Several provinces restrict alcohol sales mainly to government-run liquor stores, and a similar arrangement may be used for marijuana. But a federal task force that released its findings late last year recommended that marijuana not be offered in shops that also sell alcohol.
One thing seems clear: the illegal marijuana stores that sprang up in several cities after Mr. Trudeau came to power in late 2015, in anticipation of the new law, are not likely to be allowed to stay in business. The shops are supplied by black-market growers, and while the police have left them alone in some cities, the authorities have been openly skeptical about assertions by shop owners that they sell only to medical users.
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Ontario’s attorney general is seeking a forfeiture order for almost 600,000 Canadian dollars in cash — about $450,000 — that was seized at the Toronto airport from an employee of a chain of seven illegal medical marijuana outlets in the city.
Figuring out how to measure impairment is high on the government’s list of things it must do before the legal market is expanded. Several police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, are testing two types of screening devices that can detect drugs in saliva, including THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana.
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Proposed amendments to criminal laws would require motorists to give the police saliva samples on request and allow officers to demand a breath test for alcohol when stopping drivers for any reason.
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The issue goes beyond motorists. Gilbert Brulotte, the former chairman of the Canadian Construction Association, said the law may lead to increased accident rates on job sites.
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Mr. Brulotte acknowledged that marijuana use by construction workers has been a safety problem for a long time. But until now, he said, any evidence of marijuana use was grounds to fire someone. After legalization, employers will need to show that the worker was impaired on the job.
“We are not against legalization, we’re just interested in making sure that thresholds and proper technologies are in place,” Mr. Brulotte said, adding that the industry also wanted the right to perform random drug tests in the workplace.
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The legislation would seem to put Canada in violation of three United Nations treaties concerning drugs. But a study released this week by the University of Ottawa Global Strategy Lab found that the government may be able to justify the measure under exemptions for “scientific purposes.”
The promise of the new law has prompted investors to bid up the stocks of 11 licensed medical marijuana growers. Several have tripled or quadrupled in price over the past year.
But while the existing licensed growers — more than 40 in all, including those that are not publicly traded — are expected to have a head start in the recreational market, it is not clear that they will see a boom of the kind that, say, whiskey distillers enjoyed after Prohibition was repealed.
Under the new law, marijuana will be marketed more like cigarettes than like liquor. Rather than being able to develop and promote brands that consumers seek out, marijuana growers may find that they can merely sell an agricultural commodity. Marketing will be limited largely to providing factual information about the product, like its name, its ingredients and the strain of marijuana used. The government is considering regulations that would allow only plain packaging to be used.
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Though many licensed growers appeared to get into the medical marijuana business with an eye toward the eventual opening of the much larger recreational market, Canada’s first legal grower said on Wednesday that the government’s action was premature.
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“I think it’s rather aggressive,” said Brent Zettl, the president and chief executive of CanniMed Therapeutics in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. “I think it’s rather arrogant of Justin Trudeau.”
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Mr. Zettl, whose company had the medical marijuana market to itself for several years, said he owed it to his investors to get into recreational marijuana, but he was not certain that it would be very profitable. And he said he agreed with doctors and police officials who want the minimum age to buy the drug to be set higher, at 25 for high-potency products and 21 for reduced potency.
The bill includes stiff new criminal penalties for people who sell or give marijuana to minors, or who create cannabis products that appeal to children or adolescents.
Widespread use of more potent recreational marijuana, he added, may also undermine efforts to understand the drug’s medicinal effects, particularly for users who are looking for relief, not a high.
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“It’s good from an industry perspective,” Mr. Zettl said of the new law. “I don’t think it’s good for society.”
In order to put the  drug (marijuana) out of reach of minors, the Canadian federal government announced a bill to legalise cannabis for the age group of eighteen and above, on Thursday. The bill would allow adults to possess cannabis publicly, previously a criminal offence.

Canada's health minister  tweeted,  The Canadian government, via their official website, explained cannabis is available illegally, and their measures to stop it did not work. Criminal organisations are making money selling cannabis. Under-aged people can obtain the drug easily; they said, "it is easier for our kids to buy cannabis than cigarettes."

The bill allows provinces and territories to set the age limit above eighteen. In order to prevent criminal gangs from making a profit, selling the drug needs a license permitting its sale. Adults can purchase the drug online from a licensed producer if a retail shop is not available in the province.

Adults can carry up to 30  (slightly over an ) of cannabis and grow at most four cannabis plants at home, for personal use. The plants should be no taller than a , the bill proposed. Selling cannabis to minors would be a specific criminal offence.

The legislation requires parliamentary approval and royal assent. If passed, the bill would be under effect by July 2018, the government said. Health and safety experts and law enforcement were consulted before proposing the legislation. Except for medical purposes, possession of the drug remains illegal until the bill is passed. Regardless of the status of the bill, import and export of the drug would be illegal. 

Previously when the government increased the taxes on cigarettes to discourage citizens from smoking, a black market for cigarettes developed.

Along with legalising cannabis, the bill would also permit the police officials to use tools like oral fluid drug screeners to detect if drivers are under the influence of the drug. Zero tolerance against drivers under influence of drugs is proposed. The government would also implement a public awareness campaign on the perils of driving under the influence of drugs.

The government still working on the restrictions. Lawmaker and former police chief Bill Blair said, "We do accept that more important work remains to be done." If the bill is passed, Canada would be the second country to legalise cannabis completely.  is the first. Some countries, such as Germany, allow medical use of cannabis, but recreational use is prohibited.