The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which SUMA and SARM are members of, put out a guideline for cannabis legalization, as a watershed change is ahead.
 
Initially July 1 was the date for marijuana to become legal across Canada, but it'll be at least a couple months later.
 
"This has been a slow process in terms of getting everything in place," said SUMA President Gordon Barnhart. "It feels slow, and yet the time has been going by quickly because the implementation of the cannabis legislation seems to be just around the corner. It was promised for July 1, but it sounds like it's going to be into the fall at least, depending on when the senate passes the legalization."
 
With legal recreational marijuana coming, there are a lot of questions yet to be answer regarding its impact on things - including municipalities.
 
"It was important to have some guidelines in place to make sure our members are getting ready for this. Even to prepare for some of the things that we're not even expecting right now. This is all brand new in terms of having legalized recreational marijuana, so I'm sure there's quite a few things that the municipalities are going to need to get ready," said Barnhart.
 
There hasn't been a big response from municipalities yet to SUMA on the guideline, which touches on aspects of legalization from public consumption to workplace safety to business.
 
SUMA and SARM are meeting next week, and Barnhart expects cannabis legalization to be a focal point.

The guideline can be found here.