Pubdate: Wed, 14 Sep 2016 Source: Intelligencer, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2016, The Belleville Intelligencer Contact: http://www.intelligencer.ca/letters Website: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2332 Author: Emily Mountney-Lessard Page: A1 LOCAL CHAMBERS WANT PIECE OF POT ACTION Local chambers are urging the provincial government to begin a consultative process aimed at developing a regulatory framework for the distribution of medical marijuana. Both the Belleville and District and the Quinte West chambers of commerce are standing behind a letter, authored by Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) President and CEO Allan O'Dette and directed to Premier Kathleen Wynne. on the issue of recreational marijuana. In light of recent commitments from the federal government to legalize marijuana, the OCC is calling on the province to immediately begin a robust consultative process aimed at developing a regulatory framework for the distribution of recreation marijuana. The letter outlines key messages (see fact box on Page A4 for more details) that the collective business community thinks the province should consider. According to the OCC, the government needs to ensure - if recreational marijuana becomes available - that the underground economy is eliminated, access points are limited and that communities have decision-making power. Addiction prevention and treatment programs need to be invested in and the government needs to ensure marijuana products are subject to best-practice health regulation. The chambers believe there is opportunity for the private sector to benefit from the distribution of recreational marijuana. Bill Saunders, CEO of the Belleville and District Chamber of Commerce, said chamber does not support the premier's suggestion that recreational marijuana retailing should be restricted to the government's 650 LCBO outlets. "The chamber network is not supporting the use of marijuana. This is a governmental issue. We're just saying if you're going to move in that direction, make sure there's an opportunity for the private sector to participate," he said. To have the private sector ignored from the potentially $1 billion industry, "just doesn't seem right," he said. "I don't want to generalize too much but I could see where there might be generational issues where people going into the LCBO, to buy wine or whatever, might be offended by the fact that there's now marijuana being dispensed, which has certain social stigmas associated with it" he said. "More importantly, we know the private sector can handles these types of situations typically better than government agencies," he said. Quinte West Chamber of Commerce manager Suzanne Andrews said, from her perspective, the most important point in the letter is eliminating the underground economy. An overly-regulated regime will only help to sustain illegal channels for production and distribution. She said she already hears about underground economies operating in other trades - for example, construction. "I'll hear from construction related businesses about how they're doing everything legal so they have to comply with the workers' compensation, the taxation and the workplace health and safety and all the red tape and the regulation they have to go through to run their business," she said. "Then they talk about other people who operate in the underground economy who don't have safe worksites, don't charge taxes. So I know that bothers a lot of legitimate businesses around the fact the government has never really been able to get rid of that." "If the government is going to do this and move forward with the legalization, I think it's going to upset a lot of business people if all that happens is they create this underground economy where they're not getting the taxes, its not controlled, where the where the access points are not safe." Both Saunders and Andrews agree careful consideration needs to be given to municipalities' ability to set bylaws or put procedures in place about where these facilities will be able to operate in the community - if they even want them there. "It is the municipalities that pay the police costs and other services that are going to be dealing with some of the outcomes of this decision," said Andrews. "So we really feel that there's a responsibility from the government to allow local municipalities to have some say in what happens." Neither Saunders or Andrews has received much feedback on recreational marijuana from local businesses simply because the business community is really waiting to see what happens next. Andrews did say that the medical marijuana business Marijuana for Trauma, specifically aimed at veterans, was supported by many businesses when it opened in Trenton. "There seems to be a consensus out there that if things are done properly and in a controlled manor that this doesn't have to be a negative impact on our community," she said. The consultation process needs to include a broad group of stakeholders including healthcare professionals and police agencies, municipal representatives and business community representation. "There's a lot of questions to be answered and I think the best answers would come from a very broad and diverse group of people," said Saunders. - --------------------------------- [sidebar] Five key messages Below are summaries of five key messages that local chambers of commerce are urging the province to consider when it comes to the process of policy design for the distribution of recreational marijuana: Eliminate the underground economy - Not all market-models are equally effective in eliminating the underground economy and special attention should be given to the unintended consequences of an overly regulated regime. While not endorsing an entirely free-market model, we caution Government against creating a system that is so onerous that it effectively duplicates the existing ineffective regime thus sustaining illegal channels for production and distribution. Limit points of access - The objective of social responsibility is a commitment to limited points of access for recreational marijuana that is not synonymous with a government operated distribution system, A licensing system, whereby a fixed number of access points are auctioned out to both the public and private sectors-including unions- may be a more efficient model of regulated delivery. Creating service delivery competition, structured by best-practice social responsibility standards, may create a virtuous 'race-to-the-top' whereby potential delivery agents are incentivized to be innovative in their application of social responsibility principles. Government may want to consider piloting multiple procurement models. Communities must be empowered - In addition to social responsibility, transparent and representative decision-making should be a key priority for government. With respect to both sites of production and sites of distribution, municipalities should have a voice in the approval process. In the case of a licensing model, for example, licenses should not be issued for communities which have voted against production or distribution facilities. As the province develops its marijuana policy, local government should be engaged so as to design an approvals process that is democratic. Invest in addiction prevention and treatment - As the province generates net revenues from the legalization of marijuana, the entirety of these revenues should be invested in addiction prevention and treatment, with a portion given to the municipal level of government so as to ensure programming is tailored to local need. A process should be established whereby the Government reports annually to Ontario's Patient Ombudsman on use of marijuana revenue and the impact of investment on addiction prevention and treatment. Ensure products are subject to best-practice health regulation - The province must work with the federal government to study the health implications of recreational marijuana and develop evidence-based health and safety regulations. Consumer safety, as part of a broader concern for social responsibility, is paramount, especially in the case of Canadian youth. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt