Pubdate: Wed, 06 Dec 2017
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Les Leyne
Page: A8

ONE-STOP BOOZE AND DOPE SHOPPING

There was a captivating point made during the consultations on how
recreational marijuana should be retailed in B.C. once it's legal next
July.

The B.C. Government Employees Union and an association of private
liquor stores are both keenly interested in shunting all those
dispensaries off to the sidelines and snagging monopoly rights to sell
marijuana. The union wants the jobs, and the association wants the
business. They made their pitch to government under the banner of the
"Responsible Marijuana Retail Alliance of B.C."

One of the countless arguments raging as the clock ticks toward
opening day is whether selling alcohol and marijuana side-by-side is a
good idea. The alliance, no surprise, says it's not a problem.

"Vegetarians regularly shop in grocery stores where meat is sold
without accusation of a risk of becoming carnivorous."

So if carnivores and vegetarians can co-exist peacefully in the same
retail environment, there's no reason why the scotch-on-the-rocks
crowd can't make room for the pot-heads in B.C.'s public and private
liquor stores. It's tempting to endorse that idea, just for the Cheech
and Chong parodies it would inspire.

The government released a report on the consultations Tuesday while
announcing the first few of many decisions to come on what the new
world is going to look like.

The minimum age is set at 19, the retail network will be both public
and private (but not necessarily liquor stores) and the wholesale
distribution will be government-run.

The last item confirms the obvious point that it's the B.C. government
that will be setting the price for marijuana. The federal government
will license suppliers, and they will sell to the Liquor Distribution
Branch, or some offshoot of that agency. It will supply all the retail
shops, whatever form they take.

If the market is anywhere near as big as expected, that is a sizable
new function that government has just taken on. Particularly since
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Tuesday he doesn't
anticipate that marijuana will be routed through the same warehouses
used for liquor.

He said they're different products that need different handling. The
LDB has long experience with the logistics of handling controlled
substances, so it gets the new responsibility. But it will be run as a
separate business line, which is likely going to involve significant
start-up costs.

Which raises the universally acknowledged point: Legalized marijuana
is not going to be the windfall that some might have expected.

Farnworth reiterated it again: Anyone approaching the issue from the
idea of how much new money it's going to bring in is "making a huge
mistake."

Apart from building a new warehouse system in the next seven months,
there's also the matter of beefing up police enforcement, and spending
more on public education.

And they can't just set a price high enough the recoup all those
costs. It has to be held low enough to accomplish the main goal of the
whole venture, which is to snuff out the black market. The tax rate
that will determine that hasn't been set yet, nor has the
federal-provincial revenue-sharing deal.

Ottawa originally suggested 50-50, but is expected to tilt that in
favour of the provinces, although it all has to be worked out, with
local-government needs included in any arrangement. As many as 18 laws
have to be amended during the spring sitting of the legislature to set
the stage.

As all the details are worked out, the consultation summary gives a
glimpse of how respondents feel about it all. Most of the 48,000
people who took part don't use marijuana, but support legalization.
They're open to the idea of legalizing tasting lounges or cannabis
cafes and allowing use outside the home, but second-hand smoke is a
significant concern.

The unique issue that B.C. faces is the entrenched underground market
that's thrived for decades and is far more sophisticated than
elsewhere in the country. The new regime will either challenge it
directly, or co-opt it. Some people are looking forward to growers
going legal, paying taxes and "contributing openly in their
communities."

A vision was presented of small, craft cannabis producers, certified
like VQA wineries, capitalizing on the established "B.C. bud" brand.

They've got seven months to get it started.
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MAP posted-by: Matt