Article content

EDMONTON — Canada’s health minister says pilot projects have begun on roadside police testing for marijuana, and the plan is to have rules in place for edible cannabis around July 2019.

“Our priority right now is to ensure that we can legalize cannabis by July 2018,” Ginette Petitpas Taylor said Friday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Feds say police cannabis testing ongoing, rules on edibles in place in one year Back to video

“There’s no specific date (for edibles to be available), but I would say if you look a year after the legalization, that is the window that we’re giving ourselves.”

Petitpas Taylor made the comments to reporters after briefing her provincial and territorial counterparts on Ottawa’s progress toward legalizing marijuana.

Ottawa will not allow edible cannabis in the marketplace until it has put in place the rules surrounding packaging, potency and health warnings.

The federal government is toughening up Criminal Code rules and will handle the overall health regime for cannabis, while the provinces will be in charge of distributing and selling the weed.