Mark your calendars, cannabis connoisseurs: Our benevolent leader just announced the release date for his much-hyped legislation, C-45, making the legalization of weed in Canada that much more official.

Rules that prohibit the possession, growth and sale of marijuana will be dropping from the Criminal Code this fall, exactly two weeks before Halloween.

As of Wednesday, October 17, recreational cannabis will at long last be legal across the nation. Some might even say 10/17 is the new 4/20. Or not. I don't care.

Marijuana will be legal in Canada on Oct. 17, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced today in the House of Commons. #legalization #Canada #Weed pic.twitter.com/wwuqHSyWz5

— Kyle Van Staden (@KVS85) June 20, 2018

"We work in partnership with the provinces, and since we've passed these measures in Parliament we've been listening to the provinces who have been asking for more time to implement it," said Trudeau (en français) during question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday.  

"That's why we're accepting the request of the provinces and that's why we'll be legalizing it as of Oct, 17, 2018."

October is quite a bit farther away than two or three months, which is what the Liberals had promised when their bill passed in the Senate.

It's also way later in the year than the originally announced legalization date of July 1.

It's official! Justin Trudeau says the official date for legal weed is Oct 17th. To celebrate, Oct 17th will now be known as July 1st.

— M@t (@m_brand) June 20, 2018

Ah well, what can you do? Not smoke pot yet, that's for sure. 

"Cannabis for non-medical use is not legal yet. The law still remains the law," said Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould during a news conference earlier today in response to Senate's passing of the bill.

"We're working hard to do the important work of repealing the existing legislation, replacing it with a comprehensive system of regulatory control," she said.

"Until then, I urge all Canadians to continue to follow the existing law until the Cannabis Act comes into force."