Illegal weed is a bigger problem than legal weed for some of these communities

Following the one year anniversary of legalization, some Ontario municipalities are rethinking their original ‘say no to cannabis’ decisions and warming up to the idea of allowing legal brick-and-mortar cannabis stores in their communities.

For communities that may soon opt in, it’s all about having more time to mull over the decision and curbing the underground market by creating a legal one.

The rollout of retail shops in Ontario hasn’t phased out drug dealers. The underground market has kept its price lower than its legal competition, while also capitalizing on municipalities without storefronts. The province announced in late August that it is licensing 50 new retail cannabis stores across Ontario.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said while the city previously opted out for “very valid reasons that are still not addressed,” it will re-discuss the topic in 2020.

“We were very concerned at the time that it didn’t give us a lot of control over where the cannabis shops might be located and sensitive areas could be more broadly defined than “a school” — it didn’t take into consideration day cares, drop-in centres, bus stops, parks or community centres,” she said in a phone interview.

“We were also very concerned about a concentration of shops in specific areas and there was nothing in the legislation that prevented that from happening.”

For the next six months, Mississauga will watch how other cities handle new cannabis storefronts before reviewing their options.

“Given what we’ve seen in other municipalities, there hasn’t been as great an impact as we were concerned about, but that may change now,” Crombie said, adding that a growing illegal cannabis market is motivating the municipality to talk about opting in soon.

Cannabis became legal on Oct. 17, 2018, and Ontario municipalities had until Jan. 22, 2019, — barely three months — to decide if they would opt in or out.

Any community that opted out could opt back in at any time, but once it did opt in, it could not reverse its choice. The timing to opt in or out also coincided with municipal elections and a changing administration, leading some cities to defer the decision instead of potentially making the wrong one.

The first stores were set to open by the province as early as April 1, 2019.

Pickering opted out due to the “really tight deadline.”

“We engaged residents with online surveys and pop-up town halls to get a sense of where they were,” Mark Guinto, manager of business development and public affairs with the City of Pickering said in a phone interview.

“We’ll touch base with neighbouring municipalities to find out what their experience was.”

Pickering’s city council will receive a staff report by the end of the year to help them decide whether they should vote to opt in again.

“There are no regrets, we didn’t want to be rushed without knowing what would happen,” Guinto said. “We opted out with the understanding that we could opt back in.”

In Milton, Coun. Rick Di Lorenzo is also hoping to opt in after councillors who opposed the bill said the tight timeline put them “under the gun.”

“When we don’t opt in, it becomes a safety concern because then people who want to purchase cannabis, which is legal now in Canada, don’t have a retail venue to visit,” Di Lorenzo told InsideHalton.com.

“If they’re not going to go to Burlington or Toronto, the worry is … what if they purchase it off of the black market?”

Meanwhile, Vaughan, to the north of Toronto, isn’t budging on its choice to opt out.

Carmela Antolino, communications manager for the City of Vaughan, simply emailed, “The City of Vaughan’s Council decision still stands,” pointing to a press release from late January 2019.

“There are far too many unanswered questions and the people of Vaughan have demonstrated to us that they are not comfortable with opting-in,” Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said in the release.

“Vaughan, and all municipalities, needs dedicated, predictable and substantial funding from both the Canadian and Ontario governments to help ensure the administration and consumption of recreational cannabis is done in a safe, informed and responsible manner. This is not the current situation.”

While talks light up the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario has few cannabis shops in cottage country.

Collingwood has opted in after an online poll with more than 1,400 residents showed 77 per cent of respondents wanted a local store.

“The public has made it clear that they support local access to safe, legal cannabis in Collingwood. Private cannabis retail outlets will also create jobs and increase local investment,” Mayor Brian Saunderson said in a statement earlier this year.

While Collingwood waits for a retail license, nearby Barrie and Aurora are in line to get retail cannabis stores.

But the rest of the province is a massive pot desert.

There are no cannabis stores between Oshawa and Kingston, leaving consumers in cities like Quinte West and Belleville — the latter will be home to Hexo’s Centre of Excellence — having to resort to the Ontario Cannabis Store online or illegal dealers.

“Despite the ongoing federal cannabis supply shortages, Ontario is taking further action to protect young people, keep our roads and communities safe and combat the illegal market in response to the federal government’s decision to legalize cannabis,” Attorney General Doug Downey said in a press release from July 2019.

The province is especially barren towards the north, with no retail cannabis store beyond Sudbury.

But of the 50 new stores in Ontario, eight of which will be on First Nations reserves, Kenora, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins will all get their own pot shops.

“While the federal supply issues persist, we cannot in good conscience issue an unlimited number of licences to businesses. A phased-in approach remains necessary,” Downey said.

The Ford government’s measured approach to adding more cannabis stores hasn’t hurt them too much. It’s the second most profitable province in Canada for retail pot sales per capita, just behind Alberta, which has 12 times as many stores.

While Ontario is expected to abandon its wholesale cannabis distribution model, the Union of B.C. Municipalities is going a step further, calling for its province to give 40 per cent of tax revenue from legal cannabis sales to local governments.

• Email: bhristova@postmedia.com | Twitter: bobbyhristova

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