MPs urged to push forward with legal cannabis despite calls to slow down

"You have also heard calls that we are not ready for legalization. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of time as Canadians are already consuming cannabis at record levels," Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, told the House of Commons health committee on Wednesday.

Culbert's message comes just one day after senior police representatives told the committee that they will not be ready to enforce new laws by next summer, and are asking the government for more time. That echoes the message that several provinces have been delivering in recent months.