Canada Legalizes Recreational Marijuana

With the help of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (who was elected while promising to legalize marijuana), Canada on Wednesday became the first major world economy to legalize recreational marijuana. Canada is the second country in the world, after Uruguay, to legalize marijuana. The reason for passing the law is because Canadians broadly support marijuana legalization. Many specific reasons include that legalization will lower the cost, and legal marijuana will be screened and devoid of contaminants. Statistics collected by the national census bureau reveal that 42.5 percent of Canadians have tried marijuana and around 16 percent have used it over the past three months. A 2013 Unicef report found that among people ages 15 to 24, one-third had consumed cannabis in the previous three months — making Canadian youth the biggest partakers in the world. But there is also caution. For example, the Canadian Medical Association Journal called the government’s legalization plan a risk to health. As part of Canada’s new federal cannabis act, adults will be allowed to possess, carry and share with other adults up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, enough to roll roughly 60 regular-size joints. They will also be permitted a maximum of four homegrown marijuana plants per household in most provinces. The government also announced that it would introduce legislation to make it easier for Canadians who had previously been convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana to obtain a pardon.

In Other News As the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Jayme Closs intensifies, one thing has become clear. She vanished from her parents' home moments after they were shot to death. Three days after a cryptic 911 call led police to discover the bodies of Jayme's parents in their Wisconsin home, the 13-year-old girl remains missing. Investigators have received more than 400 tips and have not confirmed any credible sightings. An Amber Alert was issued Monday for Jayme and several law enforcement agencies have joined the search. Deputies are also trying to solve the killings of Jayme's parents, James Closs, 56, and Denise Closs, 46. During a 911 call on Monday, the dispatcher heard a disturbance in the background. But no one spoke directly to the dispatcher. When deputes arrived to the home less than four minutes later, no one was in sight and no vehicles were in the immediate area. Closs' parents were fatally shot and their deaths have been ruled homicides. No gun was found at the scene. Twenty-five of the top US burger chains were graded on their antibiotic-free beef policies in a collaborative report released Wednesday. Only two chains received As, Shake Shack and BurgerFi; the other 23 got a D minus or F. Fast food restaurants were ranked by total US sales to get the top 25. The report grades the restaurants in three areas. The first is whether these companies are making pledges or policies to end the routine use of antibiotics, the second is how the companies are implementing the policies, and the third is verifying whether the claims being made by the companies are true. According to newly released research, Spain will overtake Japan's long-held position at the top of the world's life expectancy table by 2040, while the United States is set to take a big fall in rankings. People in Spain will live for 85.8 years on average, marginally edging out expected lifespans in Japan (85.7), Singapore (85.4) and Switzerland (85.2). The United States will take the biggest drop in ranking of all high-income countries, falling from 43rd in 2016 to 64th by 2040, with an average life expectancy of 79.8. It's the end of an era on Sesame Street: The man who has given voice and life to Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for nearly 50 years is retiring. Caroll Spinney, 84, has performed the roles since the show's very first episode in 1969.