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EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says it will be challenging to legalize marijuana on the timeline Ottawa is proposing.

Notley says there is a lot of heavy lifting that will fall to the provinces before July 2018.

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The federal government has introduced a long-awaited series of bills that will allow adults to buy and cultivate marijuana by Canada Day of next year.

Provinces, territories and municipalities will be able to tailor rules for licensing, distribution and retail sales.

Notley says that’s a tall order in a short time frame.

She says her government will start consultations soon to develop its rules.

“If we get it right, it can work, but I also know that there is a lot of heavy lifting to be done to get there,” Notley said Thursday. “It may be simple to say, ‘yeah, let’s legalize marijuana.’ Administering it is actually very complex.”

Notley said her ministers have already travelled to the U.S. to learn from the states where pot is already legal.

“One of the things we know for instance is that it’s not the cash cow that people think it is and there are a lot of costs associated with it,” she said.

“I would say that it is going to be challenging and that we have a lot of work to do.”