Canada to review impact of cannabis legalization four years on

FILE PHOTO: An employee works at a Tokyo Smoke cannabis store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada on Thursday launched a review of the country's legalization of the use of recreational cannabis four years ago to evaluate its impact on youth, indigenous minorities and others, and to analyze its effect on the economy and the illegal weed market.

Canada became the first developed nation to legalize the use of recreational marijuana in October 2018. It has since also passed a law to allow citizens with a criminal record for marijuana possession to be pardoned quickly and without any cost.