Ottawa, Canada, Oct 17, 2018 / 18:00 pm
Canada's bishops reiterated their opposition to the legalization of recreational marijuana Wednesday, the same day that legal marijuana sales began across the country.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops underlined "the ethical problems involved with the recreational use and abuse of this drug" in an Oct. 17 statement.
Lionel Gendron, Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, lamented the "growing problems of a society more and more dependent on drugs and alcohol," and said that businesses and governments who wish to exploit sales of cannabis for commercial interests or tax revenue are "jeopardizing the pursuit of the common good."
Canada is now the largest country in the world in which federal law permits marijuana to be legally sold and consumed for recreational purposes. Canada joins Uruguay as the only two countries to have legalized cannabis nationwide.