Pot rules should go light on marketing

If you’re old enough, you may remember a time when buying alcohol in Ontario involved walking into a bland, warehouse-like building, filling out a slip of paper and handing it to a clerk who disappeared behind locked doors to retrieve the booze you were looking for. No flashy signs, no staff recommendations for libation of the month. No critics’ choice signs dotting the gleaming rows of bottles.

Depending on what’s in federal legislation expected Thursday, initial legal sales of marijuana may look something like those old days.

Or perhaps they’ll look like the legal sale of cigarettes today: your favourite brand hidden behind a store counter, proof of age required for purchase. Maybe the cannabis item will be unlabelled, or carry a graphic warning as with legal tobacco products.

And, obviously, there will be an age limit. News reports suggest the minimum age for the legal purchase of marijuana will be set at 18, with the provinces free to make it higher (pardon the pun), perhaps 21.

If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government follows the recommendations of its own task force, the legalization of marijuana will proceed in halting, baby steps — to the dismay of many medical cannabis manufacturers and shareholders now gearing up to market such recreational delicacies as “Leafs by Snoop” or cannabis candies.

In the long run, there should be few restrictions on the legal sale of cannabis products, beyond sensible age limits. Adults make decisions about what to consume all the time — not always healthy or rational choices, but in societies that respect individual rights, this is their prerogative, not that of the state.

In such free societies, marketing and advertising of products are also allowed as long as they are accurate, and government interference is minimal. Walk into an LCBO nowadays and the boutique atmosphere is inviting. All sorts of extra trinkets are available to consumers in the Beer Store. And Ontario is slowly catching up to Quebec in offering alcohol at grocery hubs.

Alcohol, it is easy to forget, is a potent drug. But for the most part, Canadians have figured out how to buy and sell it without our social fabric unravelling. We’ve figured out how to set prices so the black market is minimal, and because of this, we know what we are consuming: no mystery rogue substances spike our IPA or dry rosé.

This is where cannabis regulation should ultimately be headed. Baby steps for now, but ultimately, the freedom to decide if we want Snoop Dogg’s brand or some other.