Cambridge mayor wants public debate on private pot retailers

“We’ve just got the legislation ... we need to have more information though,” says Craig

the Ontario government announcement on Monday it would not be operating cannabis stores and would allow private retailers to sell marijuana by April 1, 2019, Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig is being cautious when it comes to an option for municipalities to reject the stores within their boundaries.

“You have to remember where we’re at. We just got the information (Monday). I have to take this to council and the public. We would have a public discussion,” Craig said. “We have to look at the consultation process in terms of the stores that (Finance Minister Vic Fedeli is) suggesting, and we have to look in terms of placement — in terms of community safety, children, those kind of things. We’re at a very premature start for me to make any comments about what we’re going to do.”

In the meantime, the sale of recreational cannabis will be legalized on Oct. 17 but will only be available online prior to April. The original plan under the provincial Liberal government was to open 150 Ontario Cannabis Stores (OCS), designed like LCBO, by 2020. The PC government has now shifted gears on that plan. With the chance for private retailers to sell cannabis, albeit with heavy government regulation, Craig is well aware it will be a hot-button topic in a city that already has a prolific drug issue.

“What it does, it gives council a larger consciousness about the recognition of what’s going on in the community and certainly makes us acutely aware that these kind of decisions — dealing with new kinds of stimulants like marijuana — in fact puts us on a spot where we have to really consider what the community wants in going forward. So that’s the big issue. We’ve just got the legislation, as you’re aware, we need to have more information though,” he said.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser has called municipalities rejecting cannabis stores as a “ballot question,” but Craig disagrees.

“It’s not a ballot question at all. I think we have to hear what the public has to say; I think we have to do this in a real rational way and we need not, at this time, make it into a political football during the election.”

Before hitting the stores, online sales — only on the OCS website — will require identification that buyers are 19 and older with ID required on delivery. The product will have the seal of the official Ontario trillium flower logo and be imprinted with “Ontario Licensed” to identify legitimate retailers.

Should the city decide not to opt out of private sales, head shops in town will consider their strategies. Businesses contacted by the Cambridge Times, with some not willing to go on the record, wouldn’t say whether they were going to apply to become a legalized cannabis retailWith er.

Robert McEdwards, public relations manager for Rock Universe, said he has heard little about what would be involved with the privatized sale of cannabis. The Cambridge location in the Rock Universe chain is on Hespeler Road.

“We are waiting for more information to be available as almost no guidelines to either the public or private companies has been announced alongside it,” McEdwards said in an email of Monday’s announcement.

“Simply put, no one knows what the application would entail. The Ontario government is currently starting the process to amend the cannabis legislation passed by the previous government in Ontario. Rock Universe can only make a decision when all information and facts are available to us.”

Along with the government’s announcement, Fedeli urged pop-up dispensaries to close now as they won’t consider allowing sales from people running an “illegal business.” That raises questions for the marijuana dispensary in Preston, which was open for business on Tuesday, as to the possibility of selling government-regulated marijuana.

The dispensary was raided twice within a week at the beginning of the month. Emails to the owners of the dispensary went unanswered at press time.

Craig said the April rollout means there’s no rush to make a decision if the city will allow private cannabis retailers. “That’s why we’re going to take our time and do it right. That’s the most important thing,” he said.