Survey says bring on legal pot stores in Hamilton

Concerns remain about sites near schools and inadequate funding for police enforcement

Two different surveys ahead of a critical Monday council vote suggest a majority of residents support legal pot shops in Hamilton.

The latest survey, an online questionnaire posted on the city’s website just before Christmas at the request of a divided council, shows nearly 80 per cent of 15,000 respondents favour allowing legal cannabis dispensaries.

The last-minute online quiz represents a “directional indicator of the community’s viewpoint” rather than a statistically significant poll, noted staff in a report ahead of Monday’s council vote to allow or ban legal pot shops in the city.

The survey was also criticized for allowing repeat responses from the same individuals. The report said the city tried to cut out invalid results, for example, by scrapping identical responses submitted from the same IP address within a short time frame.

Councillors can also look to the results of an unsolicited poll conducted for consultant Larry Di Ianni, who is lobbying on behalf of various clients for legal pot stores.

That PrimeContact survey of 2,625 randomly selected households in mid-December showed a slim majority of respondents, around 55 per cent, support regulated retail sales of pot. Almost 65 per cent of respondents also said they thought banning legal retail sales would result in an increase in crime.

Coun. Sam Merulla, who has an “opt-out” motion waiting for a vote Monday, emphasized he also wants legal cannabis stores, but not until the province offers “a better deal” that includes more funding to help the city deal with social issues and eliminate black market retailers.

“If we opt in now, we can never opt out,” he said. “It seems prudent to me to opt out temporarily, try to negotiate a better deal and review the experiences of other cities (that allow stores). I’m not sure why everyone is in such a hurry.”

The province has given all Ontario cities until Jan. 22 to opt in or out of its regulated private pot sales plan, which will begin with only 25 licensed stores in total chosen by lottery. (That lottery was held Friday, with results expected this weekend.)

Many local councillors have criticized the plan for giving the city no ability to control shop locations or set fees to recoup enforcement costs. Both major Hamilton school boards have also weighed in with concerns about an “inadequate” proposed 150-metre setback from schools.

The report noted 38 municipalities have so far said no to legal pot shops, the largest being Markham and Mississauga. (The province is allowing cities to opt in later, but they will lose out on some funding available to early adopters.)

Close to 80 have already embraced the legal stores, including Ottawa and Toronto. Both Hamilton and Burlington are expected to make a decision on Monday.