Canada lawmakers vote to legalize cannabis (Update)

Canada is set to become the first G7 country to legalize cannabis after lawmakers on Monday passed a bill that would allow free consumption of the mind-altering drug.

Passed by 205 votes to 82 in the House of Commons, the legislation must still pass the Senate—which could delay, but not block it—and receive royal assent by the governor general before becoming law, likely by September.

Legalizing weed was a 2015 campaign promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has acknowledged smoking a joint with friends “five or six times” including since being elected as an MP.

The Liberal government’s pointman on the pot file, Bill Blair, said at the weekend it was “probably looking at a date of implementation somewhere toward the beginning of September, perhaps mid-September.”

Uruguay approved the recreational usage of marijuana five years ago and nine US states and the…