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Could Canada Post become Canada Pot? The Crown corporation is desperately seeking new revenue sources, as mail volumes drop five per cent a year.

At the same time, the federal government is equally frantic in its hunt for income, as the economy slows.

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The suggestion from producers of medicinal marijuana is that Canada Post be the initial distribution network for recreational cannabis, after pot is legalized by the new government.

The new market could be worth as much as $7 billion according to some estimates. If the federal and provincial governments impose a 20 per cent excise tax, it will amount to considerably more than the “bit of revenue” anticipated by the prime minister in a press conference before Christmas, when he said any money raised would be diverted towards addiction treatment and education.

Mark Zekulin, president of Tweed, the country’s largest producer of medical marijuana, said his product is already distributed using Canada Post and the quickest way to introduce a legalized system would be to use a network that already carefully tracks the product from seed to consumer, with negligible diversion to the criminal market.