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SASKATOON — The Saskatchewan Medical Association is calling on the province to make 21 the legal age for buying and using recreational marijuana.

Dr. Joanne Sivertson, the association’s president, says too much marijuana use could hurt brain development in young people.

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The Canadian Medical Association and other provincial medical associations have recommended a legal age of 21.

If the government acted on the recommendation Saskatchewan would have the oldest legal age for pot.

Federal legislation proposes a legal age of 19, but provincial governments are in charge of distribution and sales and can set their own rules.

Seven provinces have announced plans to set a minimum purchase age of 19, while two, Alberta and Quebec, have said they will set the age at 18.

Sivertson says setting the age at 21 would make Saskatchewan a leader in Canada in restricting the availability of legal marijuana.

“Physicians have long been concerned about the harmful effects of marijuana on an individual’s health, particularly youth,” Sivertson said Tuesday in a release.

The federal government is expected to make the use of recreational marijuana legal in July. (CKOM, The Canadian Press)