Premier Kathleen Wynne is cornering Ontario’s recreational marijuana market by restricting sales to 150 LCBO-run stores.

The standalone cannabis outlets, separate from provincially owned liquor stores, and a government-controlled website will be the only place weed can lawfully be sold after Ottawa legalizes it on July 1.

In a move that will close scores of illegal “dispensaries” that now dot Ontario cities, the LCBO will get its product from the medical marijuana producers licenced by Health Canada.

Article Continued Below

Only those 19 and older will be allowed to purchase or possess marijuana and pot consumption will be limited to private homes.

Smoking weed will continue to be illegal in any public space, including parks, workplaces and motorized vehicles.

Prices will be kept competitive to curb the black market.

Jodie Emery, marijuana advocate and co-owner of Cannabis Culture, said the government should have allowed the storefronts to continue. “Do not criminalize the existing industry. This is deeply disappointing,” said Emery, warning a government monopoly will not end the black market. (Richard Lautens / Toronto Star)

The government expects a boost in tax revenues.

Article Continued Below

Finance Minister Charles Sousa, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, and Health Minister Eric Hoskins unveiled the plan Friday at Queen’s Park after months of work from Ontario’s cannabis secretariat.

Click to expand

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which runs the province’s 651 liquor stores, using workers who are members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, will oversee all retail sales and run the online service.

But the branding of the government’s new pot chain will not necessarily include the LCBO’s name.

Read more:

A pot monopoly? What’s Kathleen Wynne smoking? Menon

Winners, yes, but more losers under province’s pot plan

Ottawa earmarks $274M for policing, border enforcement when pot is legalized

Article Continued Below

“When it comes to retail distribution, the LCBO has the expertise, the experience and the insight, to ensure careful control of cannabis, to help us discourage illicit market activity and see that illegal dispensaries are shut down,” said Sousa, who has not yet determined how much tax revenue legalized weed will bring in.

Naqvi said the government has “heard people across Ontario are anxious about the federal legalization of cannabis.

“The province is moving forward with a safe and sensible approach to legalization that will ensure we can keep our communities and roads safe, promote public health and harm reduction, and protect Ontario’s young people,” the attorney general said.

There will be 40 LCBO weed stores in place across the province on July 1, 2018, 80 by 2019, and 150 in 2020.

“We will draw upon our decades of experience and work in partnership with the government to deliver on its objectives,” said LCBO president and CEO George Soleas, stressing the Crown corporation supports “moderate consumption.”

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas hailed the Liberals for “a prudent plan.

“There is no downside to today’s announcement; it’s a model that we encourage other provinces to emulate,” said Thomas.

Online sales will begin next July after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government legalizes recreational marijuana.

The premier has long maintained the LCBO should run things, because the booze monopoly has staff trained to keep underage drinkers from buying alcohol and has a tightly controlled distribution channel.

She was an early opponent of the illegal storefront weed shops, some of which are supplied by, or operated by, organized crime gangs.

There are about 75 in Toronto and the announcement should provide police and municipalities with the clarity they have been seeking to close them down.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said he was hopeful the illegal storefronts would voluntarily cease operating without police intervention and that the province would provide the city the resources it needs for enforcement.

“I am generally satisfied that the government of Ontario’s approach will help keep neighbourhoods safe and address public health concerns,” said Tory.

“While I support the legalization of marijuana, I do not think the people of Toronto would support future widespread location of outlets for the sale of marijuana in residential neighbourhoods or in certain retailing areas.”

Jodie Emery, co-owner of Cannabis Culture, said the government should have allowed the storefronts to continue.

“Do not criminalize the existing industry. This is deeply disappointing,” said Emery, warning a government monopoly will not end the black market.

“This is doomed to fail,” she said.

Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly also panned the “public-sector monopoly,” saying “an above-ground, regulated private sector could stay much closer to customers’ preferences and would guard against an underground industry.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner accused the Liberals of trying to change the channel from the Sudbury byelection bribery trial that began Thursday.

“This announcement at this time is a cynical ploy by the Liberals to divert attention from their ongoing legal scandals,” said Schreiner.

NDP MPP Gilles Bisson (Timmins-James Bay) said questions remain about a plan “rushed out the door for political cover.”

“We’re left to ask if the number of locations is correct, where they’ll be located, how communities will be involved in the decision process, and how pot products will be priced and taxed,” said Bisson.

Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock) said she is “concerned about issues of public safety, including ensuring that there are strong measures to crack down on drug-impaired driving.”

The government is expected to unveil next week new road safety rules to curb impaired driving.

Other jurisdictions that have legalized weed have seen a spike in such offences, so the province will try to preempt this using heftier penalties and new testing machines.

As it stands, the only legally available marijuana is prescribed by a medical doctor and comes from 58 producers licensed and inspected by Health Canada.

The product can only be delivered directly to patients’ doors by Canada Post or a courier.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro