Reefer Madness in Ontario, Canada

Amidst all the troubling news items I encounter these days, this one is simultaneously fun and infuriating. Let's start with the most famous 2 minutes from Reefer Madness.

Whether you laugh at or lament that silly scene, it contains a remnant of the emotional reaction many still have towards cannabis. Having been classed alongside other, more seriously harmful drugs for decades, it's not hard to understand the lingering fears. And fears often overrule immediate responses until the voice of reason starts to sort things out.

Enter Justin Trudeau and cannabis legalization. As a social liberal, I am fully onside with this idea. That it is happening in my lifetime is remarkable and way past due. Yes, there was a time when I bogarted that joint and the notion that it would ever be legal was preposterous given the rhetoric of the time. (bogarting - a slang term derived from the last name of famous actor Humphrey Bogart because he often kept a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, seemingly never actually drawing on it or smoking it)

So here's to JT for being a trailblazer. Given his less than inspiring leadership, it's good to be praised for something...anything? So now the provinces must deal with the practical issues of selling pot. Not only that, they must sort out the moral balancing act given some people still have a bit of that reefer madness demon lurking in their psyche and this includes the politicians who must craft the marketing structure. Given that this is a brand new and high demand product (sorry, couldn't resist the pun), the choices made now will have lingering effects. So when in doubt, it's easier to fall back on your political ideology for guidance. And that is what is playing out at the moment.

Simply put, the Wynne Liberals want the government to sell pot a la liquor stores, while the Ford Conservatives want regulated private business to do this. The Liberal position is more in keeping with the traditional role of government regarding liquor sales so it's not hard to see how they can evoke this model. Of course, they have been slowly loosening the knots on this one by allowing some wine into some grocery stores. Also, northern communities already have LCBO and Beer Stores associated with local grocery stores although they are still separate spaces.

The aspect of the Liberal policy on this that should strike anyone as silly and dangerous is the limiting of the number of cannabis shop to 38 for the entire province. Seriously. With demand for pot being what it is and the supply being restricted, how long will it take for the black market to enter the fray? Hours...days? This is such a dumb idea! But it is telling that Wynne's rationale is "Ontarians don’t want cannabis sold next to candy bars.” Do you hear that piano?

As for the Conservatives, they will need to get on this file really quickly on June 8. If private stores are going to be the way, they will need to craft the regulations and enforcement procedures really quickly. Hopefully, they're working on it now. The lingering fears are there so regulating the sale of cannabis will be important to allay them. Should convenience stores be allowed to sell it, it's encouraging to know that they are already doing a pretty good job of dealing with restricted products such as cigarettes. A recent secret shopper project from Statopex reports the refusal rate for the stores tested at 87.3%. This is all the more interesting in that the LCBO came in at 74.6%. (Beer Stores were 80.7%). This makes sense since convenience stores running foul of the law can be closed. And this is the main reason I am onside with Ford on this one.

When your livelihood is on the line, compliance with regulations is literally your bread and butter. If the issue is control of cannabis sales to minors, then private stores are the way to go. They will take the law far more seriously than LCBO outlets since they are government run and will not likely be shut down. Sure an individual employee or manager may be fired, but the store will go on. And let's not forget the small towns who are already selling liquor alongside grocery stores. It can be done!

So I believe Wynne is on the wrong side of this issue but it is probably a moot point. She is poised to lose on June 7. What will be interesting is how long it takes for pot sales to become normal and for the reefer madness to finally disappear.

Republished from my political blog http://www.individualist.ca/ontario-reefer-madness/