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The task force recommendations suggest provinces set their own age limit for recreational marijuana use, and Kendall favours age 19 in B.C. to align with the age for tobacco and alcohol.

B.C. Solicitor General Mike Morris said the province is reviewing the federal report and will focus on safety as its priority in establishing provincial rules.

“We’re looking at the distribution part for the provincial government,” he said. “The thing that’s foremost in mind for us is the health of British Columbians. We want to make sure that this is a healthy product for everybody and that everybody is safe in using this. ”

That is one of the reasons Kendall favours keeping it out of the hands of youth.

Kendall said while the “evidence is less than clear” to support some of marijuana’s medical uses, there is plenty of evidence that the earlier young people start smoking cannabis, and the more they smoke, “the less well they do in society and school.”

Safety and uncertainty over health effects were also primary considerations in recommendations to limit access to stores that do not sell alcohol or tobacco.

“We think the alcohol model is really a commercial one, promoting alcohol,” Kendall said. “Putting it a liquor store would really turn it into a commercialized, promotional market.”

However, an alliance of the Government and Service Employees Union, which represents B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch employees, and the Private Liquor Store Association, argued liquor stores would be the most responsible distribution network.