Canada one step closer to legalising marijuana after legislation moves to Senate

Justin Trudeau’s government promised to legalise the drug by next summer

(GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP/Getty Images)

Canada is a step closer to legalising marijuana after the country's House of Commons approved new legislation on the drug.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party pledged to change the law by July 2018, during the 2015 election campaign.

Medical use of the drug has been allowed for a number of years, but personal use and growing small amounts of cannabis has always been outlawed.

That could change after politicians approved Bill C-45 by a vote of 200 to 82 earlier this week.

The bill was amended to remove a requirement that limited the size of home-grown marijuana plants and to ensure that legislation for cannabis edibles and concentrates was brought forward to within a year.

Before the vote in the Commons, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the bill marks an “important milestone” in the government’s plans to keep the profit from marijuana out of the hands of organised crime outfits and the drug out of the hands of kids, CBCNews reported.

The bill will now need to be supported by the Senate to become law.

However, the Conservative Party, currently in opposition, have threatened to oppose it, broadcaster CTV News reported.