The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association is pushing for the provincial government to start drawing legislation for when marijuana is legalized in Canada July 1.

Gordon Barnhart is SUMA's president, and said the sooner there's provincial legislation, the sooner municipalities can begin work on creating by-laws.

"We're seeing in other provinces, many of them having perhaps not completely finished the process, but are on the way," said Barnhart. "And so we're just urging the province to say okay, let's really get going on this to make sure we meet that deadline."

Ontario and Alberta have more policy drawn up for things like minimum age and where marijuana should be sold, while Saskatchewan - whose next premier will be chosen in January - hasn't made it that far yet.

"Even in Ontario with the outline they have, there's a lot of criticism, so I'm not sure that we have yet said well one province has it right and should be followed," said Barnhart, noting there are pros and cons to how other provinces' models have begun to look. "But at least we would like to know where our provincial government is going, and we'll proceed from there."

SUMA hopes to be part of a consultation process with the provincial government.

It's been a common theme for candidates running to lead the governing Saskatchewan Party to criticize the lack of time the federal government has given provinces to prepare for legalization.