Taxing marijuana, brussels sprouts

The city of Charlottetown is studying the possibility of keeping the Sherwood fire station open when it builds the new one on Malpeque Road. It would be money well spent, in my opinion. It would keep fire protection coverage a lot more evenly spread out through the city. Can common sense actually be coming to city hall?

Smoke Free P.E.I. and other groups are working towards 100 per cent (tobacco) smokefree public places. Conversely, the MacLauchlan government is gleefully rubbing its hands together with visions of many tax dollars pouring in when recreational marijuana becomes legal. They estimate buying 3 million grams of cannabis per year. That’s a lot of smoke.

And speaking of legal marijuana, the government may be just a bit too optimistic in its sales estimates. Perhaps, for the first year or two, they should just set up cannabis kiosks in the existing liquor stores, instead of spending millions on new brick and mortar stores that may be empty a lot of the time. They already have the infrastructure, staff and security. Why invent an expensive new wheel?

There’s been a lot of heated debate lately on the issue of beer tax. Some say it’s too high, some say it’s fair, but it seems everyone has an opinion. I just wonder if there would be this much debate if brussels sprouts were taxed? Lloyd Kerry, Charlottetown