Shares of marijuana producers were trading lower following the announcement, though the stocks have seen a run-up in anticipation of legalization.Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) fell 3.8 percent to C$9.92, though the stock has more than tripled in the past year.
Ballot measures approved by voters previous year in California, Maine and the city of Denver would allow either on-site pot consumption or "social use" clubs, but regulations for how those clubs would work haven't been settled.
Arizona was the only one of five states that turned down a proposed recreational-legalization initiative.
The law will also allow adults to transport marijuana across Canada. On the flip side, sanctions will be much more severe for those who sell to minors or attempt to exploit youth in cannabis related crimes - up to a surprisingly serious 14-year sentence.
Trudeau has repeatedly said, as he did in Parliament this week, that it is easier for a teenager to buy a marijuana cigarette than a bottle of beer, "and that is not right".
But it won't mean much to the thousands of Canadians going to Arizona every year except for the possibility of slightly more hassle at the global border by suspicious customs officers, he said.
"Legalization", he said, "seeks to regulate and restrict access to cannabis and will make Canada safer".
The Canadian government unveiled legislation on Thursday to legalize marijuana.
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They will also be permitted to set their own licensing, distribution and retail sales rules, establish provincial zoning rules for cannabis businesses and change provincial traffic safety laws as they deem necessary. It will be left to Canadian provinces to decide how the drug will be distributed and sold. The government is also proposing a regulated limit of THC in a driver's bloodstream. Marijuana taxes will be announced at a later date.
The new regulations closely follow recommendations proposed in December by a task force led by former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan. Provinces could raise the minimum age of consumption if they choose, the government says.
The new law will expand pot use to non-medicinal purposes, where now Canadian law mandates that such uses are illegal, according to NPR. Despite about $2-6 billion spent by the Canadian police to deal with marijuana use, Canadian teens are among "the heaviest users in the Western world", Goodale said.
But in response to media questions about how Canadians who have smoked marijuana should answer American border guards, Goodale would only say that they should not lie. "It will be very important for people to understand that crossing the border with this product will be illegal", he said. "Our system will actually be the better one".
But Christina Grant, a professor of pediatrics at McMaster University in Ontario, worries the government is conveying the message that marijuana is not harmful.
But Christina Grant, a professor of paediatrics, fears usage among the young will go up because concerns will lessen about its safety.
Critics said the legislation didn't do enough to safeguard Canada's youth. "The more you use and the younger you start, you have up to four times the risk of developing some kind of psychotic illness". Trudeau has emphasized current laws should be respected.
There is a widespread feeling in Canada's judicial system that people can get out of a charge of impaired driving with the help of high-priced lawyers who often take advantage of a number of court decisions that have weakened the law over the years.
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