We don't know when marijuana will be legalized across Canada, but yesterday the Saskatchewan government announced 19 would be the minimum age for consumption.

Justice Minister for the Saskatchewan Party-run government Don Morgan said setting the minimum age (18 is the minimum across the country, but provinces can go higher) was easier because most other provinces had already set theirs in the same neighbourhood.

"There was certainly different opinions from around caucus, and when we did the consultation we decided this kept us in line with what the age for possession and consumption of alcohol was, and that seemed to be the direction that most of the provinces were going," Morgan said. "It would have been a challenge to use 23 or 25 or a later age. We were afraid that it would make it easier for the black market to be established at the lower ages."

Neighbouring Alberta has their minimum age at 18, which is the same as their age for alcohol.

But according to Morgan, 18 year olds with over five grams of marijuana could face criminal charges.

"If you're over five grams, and 18, you would very conceivably find yourself with a criminal record."

If an 18 year old had under five grams, the penalty would be more in line with what a traffic ticket or underage liquor possession looks like, Morgan added.

The Saskatchewan government is going along with the federal government's maximum possession amount (for non-medicinal cannabis) of 30 grams in public.

Saskatchewan's opposition NDP agreed with setting the age at 19, but were critical that it took the province so long to come out with their framework.

But Morgan defended Saskatchewan taking as long as they did, as there were leadership races in both parties that have seats in legislature.

"We wanted to make sure that we took the time to do it right, because it's a course that we've never gone down before," he said. "In our province we were dealing with leadership in both our party and in the opposition, and we felt it wasn't a decision to make simply on political basis. We wanted to have as much consultation as we possibly could, so we asked people across the spectrum where they were at on the thing. Premier Wall before his departure felt it was not a decision that he wanted to make, or have a significant role in. He said this is something that should be a process determined by the new premier or the next premier, so that's what we've done."

For the province's April 10 budget, the NDP Justice Critic Nicole Sarauer questioned why the revenues and expenditures surrounding marijuana legalization weren't included, but Gene Makowsky, minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, said it's too tough to tell what expenditures and revenues will be.

"We don't know what the expenditures of the province will be, or what the revenue will be. So this year is somewhat of a trial year, and we'll watch as it goes forward. We're operating from the assumption that we want to cover the cost of enforcement and operating program. We're not looking at is as a revenue stream for the province, we're looking at it as cost recovery."

Initially marijuana was slated for a July 1 legalization date, but the senate held things up in Ottawa, and it's questionable whether legalization will come in the summertime at all.