If there's one thing that can get the nation's pot smokers motivated it's the legalization of marijuana.

After two U.S. states okayed pot for recreational use in ballot initiatives on Tuesday, activists in this country renewed their call to legalize it in Canada.

"This is monumental. I finally feel like we're beginning to see the end of the war on cannabis around the world," cannabis crusader Dana Larsen, a founding member of the Canadian Marijuana Party and the B.C. Marijuana Party, told QMI Agency Wednesday.

But just as Colorado and Washington loosened up, Canada tightened its drug laws.

On the very same day as the U.S. election, the Canadian federal Safe Streets and Communities Act went into effect, introducing mandatory minimum penalties for marijuana possession and production: one year in jail for more than 3 kg, and six months for between six and 200 plants.

"These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effect they have on users and on society, including violent crime," Carl Vallee, a press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said in April in response to a pro-pot protest on Parliament Hill. "Our government has no interest in seeing any of these drugs legalized or made more easily available to youth."

While 3 kg is probably more than most people would have for personal use, it's a lot less than Larsen has on hand at the two medical marijuana dispensaries he runs in B.C. The new mandatory minimums apply to him and his staff.

"It's an irony that in the States they've (taken) two huge steps forward and in Canada it's really one big step back," said Larsen, who is currently taking his Sensible B.C. tour around his home province to push for decriminalization of "simple cannabis possession."

The move by the two U.S. states is an "inspiration" to those who want to see Canada "embrace a smart drug policy," David Valentin, of the Young Liberals of Canada, said in a statement Wednesday. "We are losing over a billion dollars of tax revenue, wasting over $400 million trying to enforce a failed drug strategy and giving young people criminal records," he said.

All that could be eliminated if the federal government would take marijuana out of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Then the regulation and sale and taxation of it would fall mostly under provincial jurisdiction, the way alcohol and tobacco do.

But until that happens, the provinces can only seek to decriminalize it -- and on that front, the efforts of Larsen and others have not gone up in smoke.

Earlier this month, a poll revealed 75% of British Columbians supported revamping marijuana laws in the province, and the Public Health Association of B.C., which represents academics and senior staff in provincial government and health authorities, endorsed the idea of decriminalization.

And in Sept., the Union of B.C. Municipalities passed a resolution to the same effect.

In the U.S. election Tuesday, Colorado and Washington became the first two states to approve pot for recreational use. Massachusetts voted to legalize medical marijuana, joining 17 other states and Washington, D.C.