Pubdate: Thu, 15 Dec 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Robert Benzie
Page: A10
Referenced: http://mapinc.org/url/spC7LQBu

POT CASH WON'T BALANCE BOOKS, MINISTER SAYS

Revenue will be reinvested into control measures

Marijuana will not be the pot of Colombian gold at the end of the
rainbow for the cash-strapped provincial treasury.

That was the message at Queen's Park on Wednesday in the wake of a
federal task force report on implementing Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau's pledge to legalize recreational marijuana.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa, who hopes to eliminate the province's
$4.3-billion deficit in the 201718 budget, insisted the government is
not expecting weed cash to be rolling in.

"Whatever we're getting in is being reinvested to control the
substance and the system. It's not being seen as a means to balance
the books or provide for revenue," Sousa told the Star.

"For us, the benefit of any revenue would be to go into programs," he
said, pointing to public education, health, and motor safety
initiatives.

The treasurer said because legalized marijuana will not be sold at the
LCBO - the federal task force recommended "no co-location of alcohol
or tobacco and cannabis sales" - it won't be the cash bonanza some had
expected.

"With liquor, it's a huge dividend. Of course that distribution is
completely different than what it would be with marijuana. (The LCBO
are) wholesalers, they're major distributors, they're retailers, it's
a different system," he said.

A Deloitte report in October estimated that marijuana could balloon to
a $22.6-billion industry in Canada, eclipsing combined sales of beer,
wine and spirits.

The company calculated that feeding the market would mean growing
600,000 kilograms of weed annually, which is far more than the
existing 36 Health Canada-licensed producers grow for medicinal purposes.

Attorney General Yasir Naqvi predicted there will be costs associated
with legalized weed.

"The revenues that are going to be raised most likely are going to be
reinvested back in ensuring that we are protecting youth and the
vulnerable, that we are enhancing both public health and safety," said
Naqvi. "We do know we will have to make a significant investment
around the legal use of cannabis. One example is on road safety. We
know that data has shown from other jurisdictions that incidents of
impaired driving have gone up," he said.

As for the age limit for using marijuana, Naqvi, mindful that
Ontario's legal drinking age is 19, said no decisions have been made.

"They talked about a minimum age of 18," he said, referring to the
federal panel. "They did not preclude any higher age limit."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt