1908 -- The Opium Act comes into effect, prohibiting the import, manufacture and sale of opiates for non-medicinal purposes. This act serves as the basis for subsequent Canadian laws dealing with the use of illicit drugs. It was this Act which formally instituted controls on the non-medical use of drugs and which was passed without debate in the House of Commons and without opposition in the Senate.

1911 -- Opium Act was amended and became the Opium and Drugs Act, in order to include morphine and cocaine.

1923 — Marihuana is made illegal under the Opium and Drugs Act.

1937 — Marihuana Tax Act came into affect. The apparent purpose of the Act was to levy a token tax of approximately one dollar on all buyers, sellers, importers, growers, physicians, veterinarians, and any other persons who deal in marihuana commercially, prescribe it professionally, or possess it. A fine of five years' imprisonment, a $2,000 fine, or both would apply if you did not possess the Tax stamp.

1938 -- Production of cannabis became prohibited under the Opium and Drug Act.

1954 -- A new offence was created, this being possession for the purpose of trafficking. The sentence for this crime was immediately doubled in the following year, raising the maximum penalty to fourteen years imprisonment from seven.

1961 -- The Canadian Narcotic Control Act was passed, the same year in which the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs came into force. Simple possession and production of cannabis becomes an indictable or criminal offence while increasing the minimum penalty for cannabis cultivation to seven years and that for importation and exportation to a minimum of 14 years.

1969 -- The method of prosecution changed, which made it possible for accused to be tried under the summary conviction procedure in cases of simple possession of cannabis.

1972 -- The federal government's Le Dain Commission made an inquiry into the non-medical use of drugs that called for an end to charges for cannabis possession and cultivation. Politicians of the day, including Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Joe Clark, form a growing consensus in Parliament in support of decriminalization.

1974 — Bill S-19, tabled by the federal government, the main purpose of which was to remove cannabis from the Narcotic Control Act and include it in a new Part V of the Food and Drugs Act (FDA). Under the Bill, the Crown could only have applied the summary conviction procedure in cases of simple possession and the maximum sentences for all offences would have been reduced. The Bill was passed by the Senate but never even reached the stage of First Reading in the House of Commons.

1988 -- Canadian Parliament passed what must be the most severe cannabis censorship law in the world. To advocate the legalization of cannabis, to promote the consumption of cannabis for medical reasons, to advocate the use of cannabis hemp for fibre, to show how cannabis is grown, to put out newsletters, magazines or videos talking positively about cannabis. The criminal prosecution of this offence was penalties of $100,000 for a first offence, and $300,000 for a second offence, with six months to one year in jail.

1992 -- NORML Canada (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) was charged under section 462.2 of the criminal code for handing out pro-legalization brochures in Ontario. After raiding the home of Umberto Iorfida (also the office of NORML Canada) and seizing information promoting the legalization and use of cannabis, as well as mailing lists of contributors, police dropped all charges against NORML Canada two months later. Umberto filed a writ with the Ontario courts asking for constitutional remedy to this suppression of his freedom of speech.

1994 -- The Ontario Court of Justice declared that it agreed with Umberto's complaint that section 462.2 stifled legitimate dissent and expression. The prohibition on literature was overturned.

1994 -- An Ontario farmer, Joe Strobel, is granted a federal licence to grow 10 acres of cannabis for research into the plant's industrial agricultural potential.

1997 -- The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act comes into force. As a result, the Narcotic Control Act and Parts III and IV of the Food and Drugs Act were repealed. The Canadian government justified replacing the Narcotic Control Act and certain parts of the Food and Drugs Act by the need to standardize Canadian policy on drug regulation to permit the country to meet its international obligations under various international agreements consolidating cannabis laws previously found in the Narcotic Control Act and Parts III and IV of the Food and Drugs Act. 3. (1) No person shall advertise any food, drug, cosmetic or device to the general public as a treatment, preventative or cure for any of the diseases, disorders or abnormal physical states referred to in Schedule A. (2) No person shall sell any food, drug, cosmetic or device (a) that is represented by label, or (b) that the person advertises to the general public as a treatment, preventative or cure for any of the diseases, disorders or abnormal physical states referred to in Schedule A. (3) Except as authorized by regulation, no person shall advertise to the general public any contraceptive device or any drug manufactured, sold or represented for use in the prevention of conception. 4. No person shall sell an article of food that (a) has in or on it any poisonous or harmful substance; (b) is unfit for human consumption; (c) consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, disgusting, rotten, decomposed or diseased animal or vegetable substance; (d) is adulterated; or (e) was manufactured, prepared, preserved, packaged or stored under unsanitary conditions

2000 -- Ontario's court of appeal ruled that banning cannabis for medicinal purposes violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Striking down a federal law prohibiting the possession of less than 30 grams, the court rules the law violates the rights of the sick to use the drug for medical purposes.

2001 -- Canada becomes the first country in the world to legalize the use of cannabis by people suffering from terminal illnesses and chronic conditions

2002 -- The House of Commons Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs releases its final report, recommending decriminalization of possession of small amounts of cannabis.

2002 -- Charges against two volunteers at a medical marijuana club are thrown out of a Quebec Court. Judge Gilles Cadieux dismissed possession and trafficking charges, citing a contradiction between a law allowing the ill to use cannabis, and another prohibiting a legal source of the drug.

2003 -- Ontario Justice Douglas Phillips suggests cannabis possession laws are no longer valid, in his decision to dismiss two drug charges against a 16-year-old Windsor boy.

2004 — Federal Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler announces the reinstatement of proposed legislation in the House of Commons that would provide alternative penalties and procedures for possession of small amounts of cannabis and impose tougher punishment on large-scale grow operations. Possession of cannabis would remain illegal but would not result in a criminal record where small amounts are involved. Fines and/or probation would likely be applied.