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EDMONTON — On the eve of pot legalization, slightly more than half of Canadians believe legal marijuana will cause more harm than good, and 76 per cent believe the age to purchase should be 21, according to a new poll.

“They’re wary about young people,” said John Wright, CEO of DART Insight.

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The poll found that 52 per cent of respondents agreed that legal weed would cause more harm than good, while 48 per cent disagreed. However, there is some variance between provinces. In Quebec, where the newly elected Coalition Avenir Québec government promised to raise the legal age of consumption to 21, 64 per cent of survey respondents agreed legalization would cause more harm than good. (The rest of the provinces have set the legal age at 18 or 19 — corresponding with the age to buy booze.)

Wright said the results reflect a wariness and “deep concern” about the impact of marijuana legalization. It’s a change he likened to the lifting of Prohibition.