The Saskatchewan Medical Association released a statement earlier this week saying they would like to see a legal age of 21 included in the province's cannabis legislation.

Dr Brandon Thorpe, Moose Jaw Representative for the Saskatchewan Medical Association, explains why 21 was the age they chose.

"The evidence shows marijuana under the age of 25 is still dangerous, particularly in terms of psychiatric and cognitive function. We know that 1% of users might end up with a psychiatric disorder. 1% doesn't sound so bad, but with 20,000 potential users in Moose Jaw, that's a whole bunch of people that could end up with psychiatric conditions."

When it comes to the legal age, many bring up the legal age for alcohol as a comparison. Thorpe explains why it's unfair to compare the two.

"We're having to fight the philosophy of 'do we fight what's already there?', 'do we compare to what's already there?', or do we set proper new standards, because believe me if alcohol was released as new product in this modern age without the history it has, I don't even think it would be legalized."

The SMA admits that they'd prefer to see a legal age of 25, but they understand the basis for legislation is to try and stamp out the illicit sale of marijuana, so they believe 21 is a fair compromise.

"We thought 21 was a good compromise as the physicians of the province. 25 is where we would like to see it, but we also know there are going to be illicit sales that will compromise the youth. In order to balance that we thought 18 was too young, we thought that maybe 21 was a decent age. It's a compromise from a medical standpoint."