Mayor Jim Watson on Friday was waiting to learn what the city's role will be in locating government-run weed shops but he already knows they shouldn't be in "inappropriate" areas. "My overriding concerns is to ensure that they're located in the proper locations," Watson said Friday after the province announced its plan to have standalone weed stores run by the LCBO. "The last thing we want to see is a marijuana shop open next to a high school, for instance." [continues 300 words]
Monopolizing marijuana outlets is an idea whose time should never have come Trying to find any good that can come from the LCBO seizing control of the marijuana market is like trying to get high by smoking a rolled-up Bounty towel. It's strange. Honestly, I can usually find something good in just about anything. The other night, my wife unilaterally imposed a new household budget and whipped up a dinner of "Greek tacos" that were hastily constructed with leftover souvlaki skewers and a mixture of spices few Mexicans would endorse and, though it was touch-and-go for a bit, I was not rushed to the ER. So that was good. But upon learning Kathleen Wynne's Liberals plan to open 150 stand-alone marijuana stores - come for the 30 per cent markup of bundled excise taxes, stay for the glossy CCBO magazine with Facewreck Haze garden-party recipes - - the only feeling was one of a bad trip. And I don't even use recreational drugs. On what future potheads will refer to as Black Friday, Ms. Wynne took a big hit off the nanny-state bong and announced plans for the provincial government to add "drug dealer" to its monopoly portfolio. At this rate, I give it six months before she decrees that all snow tires be purchased! exclusively through a Service Ontario kiosk. [continues 605 words]
Government-controlled outlets, website only place weed will be bought legally Premier Kathleen Wynne is cornering Ontario's recreational marijuana market by restricting sales to 150 LCBO-run stores. The stand-alone cannabis outlets, separate from provincially owned liquor stores, and a government-controlled website will be the only place weed can lawfully be sold after Ottawa legalizes it on July 1. In a move that will close scores of illegal "dispensaries" that now dot Ontario cities, the LCBO will get its product from the medical marijuana producers licenced by Health Canada. [continues 492 words]
Ontario's plan to sell marijuana from government-operated stores would never fly in B.C., a local pot advocate says. Vancouver's Dana Larsen suggests a provincial government store could never compete with established and independent dispensaries in offering the same variety of products that consumers seek - such as different strains and edibles - and that the Ontario government won't be able to open shops fast enough to keep pace with demand. "Police raids aside, I don't think this model of legalization competes at all with what current dispensaries can offer," he told Postmedia from Toronto, where he was attending the Karma Cup cannabis competition and festival on Saturday. [continues 257 words]
The LCBO will be front and centre in distributing marijuana in Ontario. That's a huge victory for big government. Less so for consumers. On Friday, the Ontario Liberals announced how they're planning to regulate pot once it's legal next July. Government isn't good at this sort of thing. Yet, it's seemingly decided that only a government monopoly can be trusted to handle the budding business of recreational marijuana. It seems, frankly, a bit rich for the government to act so very concerned about negative consequences of legal pot, but to make sure the profits will stay with the state. [continues 352 words]
Making it hard for Ontarians to buy pot Seldom has a government been so out of touch with voters than the Wynne government's approach to selling pot. Remember, we are talking here not about the de-criminalization of the consumption of pot but the federal government making it full-out legal, or recreational, as you will, as of July 1, 2018. The decision of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to legalize pot use was not a rogue one. It was one of his main planks of the last federal election that drove primarily youth, but also others, to rush to the ballot box to vote Liberal. [continues 532 words]
At the jam-packed Cannabis Culture store on Bank Street, staffer Ming Saad says she's not concerned about the provincial government's threat to shut down illegal marijuana stores. "We're not going to go down without a fight, and I hope the other dispensaries won't, either," she said cheerfully on Friday, shortly after the provincial government announced it will open 150 cannabis stores run by the LCBO by 2020. The illegal shops like Cannabis Culture that have sprouted across the province, especially in Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton, were shut out of the provincial plan. There won't be any independently owned stores. The government also promised to close the illegal shops. [continues 1127 words]
The Ontario government's announcement that it's going to use some sort of subsidiary of the LCBO to sell marijuana in the province is the worst possible option. Already, the province has the existing infrastructure to sell cannabis: LCBO stores. Instead of going that route (which some health-care advocates worry places liquor and pot in too close proximity) or fully privatizing sales, such as with cigarettes, the Liberals have chosen a third path. It is tremendously wasteful and squanders a golden opportunity to make the LCBO more efficient. [continues 544 words]
Liberals unveil long-awaited legislation to regulate marijuana in Ontario Three senior Ontario cabinet stalwarts assured the public Friday that their plan to roll out storefront and online government pot stores will not compromise community safety or health. Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins defended a new recreational pot monopoly to be run by the same folks that oversee alcohol sales - the LCBO. At the same time, the government is putting "illegal" pot dispensaries, which have popped up throughout the city offering a variety of marijuana products, "on notice" that there will be a crackdown, Naqvi said. [continues 344 words]
