PM Trudeau's promise: Canada's Senate approves law legalising recreational marijuana

In a landmark move, Canadian Senators today passed a law to legalise use of recreational marijuana.

The Senators voted 52 votes for, 30 against and one abstention to pass the legislation.

PM Justin Trudeau had campaigned in 2015 on legalising marijuana. The sale of medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001.

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Under the legislation sales to those under 18 would be banned but provinces and territories could set their own age limits.

The Cannabis Act will now go back to the House of Commons, which passed the bill in November last year. The chanages in the new law would need to be signed off by the Senate. 

Experts believe the law could come into force by August or September after it is approved finally by both houses and the country sets up distribution networks to sell marijuana.

According to the legislation, individuals over the age of 18 could possess up to 30 grams of marijuana for personal use.