We need to crack down on illegal pot sellers

City and province must work with legitimate cannabis retailers

Hamilton has had much experience dealing with cannabis. We have more cannabis retail operations than anywhere else in the province.

With the province (correctly so) reversing the position of the previous government by legislating private brick-and-mortar cannabis retailers as of spring 2019 — the impact of cannabis on our community will most certainly grow.

We, in our communities and at Queen’s Park, must continue to do what we have done at the federal level: move away from restricting and licensing individuals and move into legislating and licensing the businesses that sell cannabis.

As someone who has worked with opioid addicts and was part of the group that lobbied for mental health services including the $200-million fund to offer Naloxone kits for free to patients and first responders — it’s clear to many of us that we need to do more. The research is clear that harm reduction for opioid addiction, which is killing thousands of Ontarians, could be part of this solution. So, if our community wants to reduce the tragic and expensive effects of drug addiction — there is no question that we need to heed what Health Canada is saying.

The question is how.

The main concern of mine and others in our communities is that we need to enable access to cannabis responsibly. Moreover, another concern is that we do not end up creating more addicts through the distribution points of cannabis.

The consumption of cannabis itself is not a gateway drug. The facts bear this out. But, being a seller or producer of illegal cannabis is.

Let me explain. We have many people in this city who are willing to sell or grow a controlled substance (cannabis) illegally. If someone is both willing and able to blatantly break the law with one controlled substance, what other controlled substances will they be selling?

Doug Ford’s government should not allow these illegal dealers to get a head start over those who are following the law. But if he fails in this regard, each municipality must be able to have the tools to get rid of these lawbreakers.

There is nothing illegal about getting a tattoo. However, we would not ever risk the health of the public by allowing unlicensed tattoo artists and shops to stay open. When it comes to cannabis, Ken Leendertse, director of bylaw enforcement for the City of Hamilton, states the average store makes $4,000 a day, and so unless we get more licensing powers from the province, these stores will continue to do what they have done under existing bylaws, which is pay the fine and keep operating illegally.

The current climate is one in which reputable businesses cannot grow. We need to ensure that the administrative cost of $250,000-$500,000 annually (according to Leendertse) and much larger when we consider policing doesn’t get handed to the taxpayers. If Doug Ford allows for dual-level licensing — each community can have the tools to close criminally-run businesses in the way they see fit.

The benefits of this approach are gigantic.

First, because each community will finally be able to determine where the cannabis facilities can go — it will keep these stores away from schools and those who are most vulnerable.

Second, it will enable us to inspect and shut down stores immediately that are not in compliance with our rules.

Third, it will ensure that as times change our community can dictate what we need through licensing standards — federal security checks like those the federally-licensed producers undergo would be a great start.

Cannabis is going to be a part of Hamilton. Hamilton needs to lead by working with legitimate cannabis business owners to ensure the safety of our entire community.