While the United States is currently home to four states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, and 26 states and territories, including the District of Columbia, that have legalized the drug for medicinal use, around 620,000 people were still arrested on American soil for simple marijuana possession in 2014. That’s one arrest every minute in a country where more than half the states have legalized weed on some level and more are expected to follow.

Now it seems our neighbors to the north may have to start brushing up their country’s drug policies as they get ready for the legalization of recreational marijuana use on a national scale.

The United States and Canada rank among the 10 countries that smoke the most marijuana, with more than 10 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 65 in both countries admitting to its use. As the Canadian government prepares to introduce laws that decriminalize and regulate recreational use of marijuana in spring 2017, casual pot users will also have to prepare by making sure they know all of the intricacies of these new laws.

To help Canadians get a sense of what might happen if the law changes, Toronto-based law practice, O’Neill Moon Quedado LLP, put together a helpful infographic that compares marijuana possession laws in the United States, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

Marijuana Lessons for Canada: USA vs Portugal vs Netherlands
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