Let common sense prevail in legal pot retail

Licensed producers will be limited in what they can offer, says Terry Lake.

With the passage of Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, Canada becomes the first G7 country to legalize cannabis for adult, non-medical use. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that public access to recreational cannabis will be legal as of Oct. 17 and many Canadians are curious about what they will find on the shelves and what will become of the current “dispensaries.”

For many, shopping for cannabis will be a novel experience. Others, who are customers of dispensaries or who have travelled to states like Washington and Colorado, may have expectations that will be difficult to meet.

In many Alberta centres, one can find a sophisticated array of cannabis offerings with a full range of products from traditional dried bud to oils to packaged cookies and other edibles. The challenge for cannabis stores will be to provide an interesting selection of products that is limited by the language contained in Bill C-45.

Legal products will be dried flower, pre-rolled “joints” and oils — but not concentrates like “shatter” or edibles, like pre-made cookies. These will be considered within a year of the new law coming into place, but it really means legal Canadian stores will not have the array of products you find in the current grey market.

Canadian companies in the medical cannabis environment have been innovative, however, and while still limited by regulation, licensed producers have developed some interesting products like sublingual sprays, activated milled cannabis powder that can be added to food, and topical oils that can be used for massage.

Taking advantage of this innovation by selecting products from a wide array of producers will give the retailers at least some approximation of what can be found south of the border and in current dispensaries. If, however, provincial distributors limit their inventories to a handful of producers, the shelves run the risk of being pretty boring and the black market will continue to have a distinct advantage.

So what will become of the illegal dispensaries? Licensed retailers, including the government, will not want to compete with the grey market after investing time and money to be legit.

The Alberta government should open opportunities for those who have been in the grey market by lowering barriers to the “fit and proper” test. In other words, a conviction for possession or selling cannabis with no history of violence should not disqualify an application.

This is the right thing to do as we enter into this new world. After all, we would not be here without activists pushing the cannabis boundaries for decades. I suspect a stepped response to any remaining illegal stores will be employed to convince them to close, but over time I suspect they will no longer be tolerated.

It is an exciting time in our country — this is the biggest public policy shift we have seen in a long time. I believe it is in the public interest to regulate cannabis to ensure consumers have a safe, quality-controlled supply of a commonly used commodity. It will take some time for the market to mature and for governments to adjust to any bumps in the road, but let’s avoid the first bump by doing our best to have a successful launch when stores open in October.