POT IS BEST KEPT PRIVATE
Alberta, like all provinces, is scrambling to come up with a plan to adapt to the federal government’s looming legalization of marijuana. Given the rush to meet Ottawa’s quickly approaching July 1, 2018, deadline, the first proposed rules laid out by Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley are generally promising in their application of common sense to what is a complicated, costly and game-changing file offloaded onto provinces by the Trudeau Liberals.
The federal ground rules are: the minimum age can’t be below 18 and you can’t possess in public more than 30 grams; most everything else is for provinces to decide.
So far, Alberta has hewed close to existing policies on tobacco and alcohol. Setting the minimum age at 18 — the age of majority in Alberta — for legal cannabis purchase and use aligns it with benchmarks for cigarettes and liquor. While some health advocates worry about the damaging effects of pot on still-developing brains, Ganley notes the biggest cannabis users are 18- to 25-year-olds. A minimum of 18 encourages young adults to obtain it legally.
Alberta would also allow consumption at home or in public areas where smoking is already permitted unlike Ontario, which proposes limiting pot use to private homes.
Alberta will rightly ban cannabis use in vehicles or in areas frequented by children.
The province proposes a government-regulated distribution model as exists with booze to ensure the sale of legally produced products.
There are still questions: how to allow online sales while keeping the product away from minors; how do police enforce impairment laws; and what about cannabis cafes? To come up with answers, the province is asking the public for ideas and feedback until Oct. 27.
The most challenging question may be whether retail cannabis sales will be run by private enterprise or government.
New Brunswick and Ontario have indicated they are moving toward the latter option. Ganley notes there are pros and cons to both.
Government-run stores offer greater control over sales and protection from the black market, but would also require developing from scratch a system of stores reminiscent of the old Alberta Liquor Control Board outlets that monopolized alcohol sales before privatization.
That way lies madness. The province must resist the costly and risky temptation to build a chain of cannabis stores; retail is a precarious business best left to industry.
Instead, pass the responsibility to the private sector while recouping the costs of marijuana legalization with a reasonable new sin tax on the product.