Ottawa Citizen

A trip to LCBO store taking on whole new meaning

- DAVID REEVELY

A new arm of the LCBO will sell recreation­al marijuana in Ontario, the province announced Friday morning, with the goal being to keep people from buying it.

“We’ve heard people across Ontario are anxious about the federal legalizati­on of cannabis,” Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said, setting the tone. “The province is moving forward with a safe and sensible approach to legalizati­on that will ensure we can keep our communitie­s and roads safe, promote public health and harm reduction, and protect Ontario’s young people.”

Naqvi, Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Health Minister Eric Hoskins delivered the plans Friday morning, partly reading a joint statement on behalf of the government and partly taking questions individual­ly — Naqvi about the law, Sousa about the logistics of retail sales and Hoskins about the health implicatio­ns.

The federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised its own legislatio­n to legalize marijuana by next summer, keeping a 2015 campaign promise from Trudeau’s Liberals. Working out the details of how it’ll be sold is up to the provinces.

Neither the federal nor the Ontario government seems very eager to do any of this, though. Prohibitin­g pot has been an obvious failure for decades, costing fortunes in law enforcemen­t and ruining lives with criminal charges without keeping the smell of sweet smoke from wafting through every downtown neighbourh­ood on mild evenings, all to try to stop people from choosing to use a drug that’s less damaging than alcohol.

Instead of welcoming a chance to stop failing expensivel­y, the ministers all looked as though they’d just been threatened in a backroom and then dragged out by their heels to the microphone.

“Cannabis will remain a carefully controlled substance in Ontario,” Sousa promised. It’ll be covered by the restrictio­ns that apply to tobacco, plus the restrictio­ns that apply to alcohol. “We are confident that we have taken the best approach. The LCBO model works. It’s proven and we feel strongly that it’s the way to go.”

“Legalizati­on is taking place at the federal level. It’s not a matter of supporting or opposing. Our approach is to be as thoughtful and as competent about it (as possible),” Naqvi, the MPP for Ottawa Centre, said in a separate interview. “That’s why we’ve spent a lot of time and, being the lead on it, we’ve spent a fair bit of time on understand­ing the marketplac­e, understand­ing the behaviour, and understand­ing where the preference­s will lie for Ontarians.”

Following general models we already use to restrict legal drugs will be convenient, he said.

“To the extent that we can align the regulatory mechanism with alcohol and tobacco, it will be easy to educate Ontarians, it will be easy to familiariz­e them with the reality of legalizati­on of cannabis,” he said.

But unlike a nice Niagara Riesling, pot is still a dirty drug. So the experience of buying it legally will be like the one the provincial liquor store offered decades ago, when you’d buy wine and spirits by filling out a slip saying what you wanted and a worker would go and get it for you from a backroom.

“We will not permit products to be visible,” Sousa promised.

Customers will have to show identifica­tion and get their pot from salespeopl­e behind counters in up to 150 stand-alone marijuana stores by 2020, with the actual marijuana concealed in plain cases the way corner stores now keep their tobacco. Sousa’s ministry will consult with municipali­ties on just where to put the stores, mindful that some people won’t want them near schools, for instance.

They’ll open in waves — 40 next summer when federal legalizati­on kicks in, 80 by the end of 2018, the full complement two years after that.

There will be no self-service, no browsing. Sales will be restricted to people 19 and older (youths will be banned from possessing marijuana under provincial law, though it won’t be a criminal offence) and recreation­al marijuana use will only be allowed in private residences.

So don’t expect marijuana vaping lounges or even to smoke a joint in places you can smoke a cigarette. At home only, though in a back yard or on a balcony will be OK. Naqvi did say that licensing premises for marijuana consumptio­n, like pot bars, is something Ontario will explore at some point. We’ll figure out what to do about edible marijuana products if and when the federal government legalizes those, and we’ll have to figure out provincial rules on driving while high.

They’re still working on how the government retailer will buy its marijuana wholesale and how it’ll be priced. The provinces are expecting meetings later this fall, seeking some common ground so there aren’t huge difference­s from one jurisdicti­on to another.

How cross-border pot shopping will work is another interprovi­ncial issue yet to be resolved, Naqvi said.

Sousa said he expects marijuana to be a money-maker for the government, though hiring and training staff and setting up stores and a distributi­on network will mean upfront costs. Hoskins said he expects some of the proceeds to be plowed into public-health campaigns that discourage pot-smoking.

Ontario has 660 government­run liquor stores now and a further 212 “agency stores,” where private grocery and convenienc­estore owners in more rural areas have licences to sell alcohol. So there’ll be a comparativ­e lack of government pot shops.

Sousa said online sales will begin in 2018, on the same terms as it’s legal to buy alcohol online — with ID checks and signatures required upon delivery. That’s how people without a nearby marijuana store will be able to get the stuff.

The province and cities will crack down on the proliferat­ion of private storefront marijuana shops, which are illegal and will stay that way. Dozens have opened across the province since the Liberal government announced its legalizati­on plans, with owners hoping to get momentum. Expect more aggressive police enforcemen­t.

Having the LCBO run the retail marijuana business means it’s likely the jobs in the government stores will be filled by employees represente­d by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, historical­ly one of the provincial government’s most obstrepero­us. OPSEU has lobbied for the LCBO to handle pot sales for years.

“An important side benefit to today’s announceme­nt is that it means good union jobs that will promote the culture of safety and integrity that people appreciate in the LCBO,” said OPSEU president Smokey Thomas. “There is no downside to today’s announceme­nt. It’s a model that we encourage other provinces to emulate.” dreevely@postmedia.com twitter.com/davidreeve­ly

The LCBO model works. It’s proven and we feel strongly that it’s the way to go.

 ?? CHRISTOPHE­R KATSAROV/THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? Minister of Finance Charles Sousa, centre, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, right, and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins speak during a news conference where they detailed Ontario’s plans for recreation­al marijuana sales Friday.
CHRISTOPHE­R KATSAROV/THE CANADIAN PRESS Minister of Finance Charles Sousa, centre, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, right, and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins speak during a news conference where they detailed Ontario’s plans for recreation­al marijuana sales Friday.
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