Cannabis was criminalized in various countries beginning in the 19th century. The colonial government of Mauritius banned cannabis in 1840 over concerns on its effect on Indian indentured workers; the same occurred in Singapore in 1870. In the United States, the first restrictions on sale of cannabis came in 1906 (in the District of Columbia). Canada criminalized cannabis in "The Opium and Narcotic Drug Act, 1923", before any reports of the use of the drug in Canada, but eventually legalized its consumption for recreational and medicinal purposes in 2018.