The Canadian Liberal Government Has just Announced How They Plan To Sell Pot In Ontario in 2018

My country (which is Canada) consists of 13 separate political regions. We have 10 Provinces and 3 Territories.

I live in the Province of Ontario. Today I learned about the new plan for the distribution of recreational cannabis in my Province, as it was just released.

So far, our Provincial Premiere (Kathleen Wynne) has announced that recreational cannabis will be distributed by the same controlled government monopoly that sells alcohol. This is recognized by the acronym known as the LCBO which stands for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

The government doesn't want to mix recreational cannabis with alcohol so they have announced that they have planned to build 80 new stand-alone stores to start. These will be constructing in neighbourhoods that already contain dispensaries run by independent "mom and pop-style" owners.

By 2020, the government is projecting that there will be up to 150 cannabis stores in full operation.

All other cannabis businesses who are currently selling the herb through a "bricks and mortar" store will continue to be considered illegal, as the government moves in to secure full control and protect their expected tax revenue. This tax revenue is expected to pay for the build-out of all the new retail stores.

Here are the full rules, so far:

• You must be 19 years or older. You will not be able to legally possess cannabis if you are younger than 19.

(This is the same as alcohol possession in my province. You must be of age or you are charged with underage possession.)

• You must buy from an LCBO controlled store. Or, alternatively, through a "recreational LCBO cannabis website". This website and all the stores will be supplied with cannabis by the same 38 government sanctioned Licensed Producers who are currently running and supplying the existing medical cannabis market.
• No commercially prepared edibles will be allowed to be sold, but you can still make your own.
• Cannabis can only be consumed in your private residence, not in any public space or motorized vehicle.
•  The Provincial government has agreed with the Federal government in that the legal amount of cannabis that you can possess at anyone time, on your person is 30 grams. This drops to 5 grams being tolerated for any youth caught with cannabis on them.

I sourced this information from the following news sources:

https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2017/09/08/lcbo-will-run-150-standalone-marijuana-stores-when-weed-is-legalized.html

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/09/08/ontario-to-open-marijuana-in-stores-not-lcbo-reports

To date, none of the municipalities or cities are disputing this ruling in the Province of Ontario. It will be up to each Province and Territory within the country to decide how they are going to regulate the recreational cannabis market when the entire country legalizes on July 1st, 2018.

I have very mixed emotions about these new regulations. I can tell you that I am relieved that I have taken the steps to secure my personal cannabis growing license and that I am skilled in cooking with cannabis. Edibles are my forte.

~ Rebecca Ryan