For all the handwringing that we were rushing into cannabis legalization, and that there wasn’t enough time to get it right, it turns out that it wasn’t that hard to figure out, after all.

Proponents of legalization have long argued that it makes far more sense to regulate cannabis similar to how we regulate alcohol. All along, then, the model for cannabis retail was staring us right in the face, and the Alberta government deserves credit for not missing the glaringly obvious.

Distroscale

When tasked with figuring out how to design a system for the distribution and retail of a legal recreational drug, the response very quickly could have and should have been, “Oh, you mean like the system we have for the distribution and retail of that other legal recreational drug?”

We took the scenic route, I suppose, but at least we got to the right place.

The Alberta government announced on Friday the ground rules for how legalized cannabis will be sold. The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission will take the lead on co-ordinating distribution of the product and approving business applications.

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Initially, 250 retail licences will be issued, and no single individual or company will be allowed to own more than 15 per cent of those permits. The latter point is probably a logical step to take at the outset, so as to allow more entrants into the market and more competition to flourish.

The number of retail outlets will likely rise, too. When you consider that Calgary alone has well over 250 liquor stores, the total number for Alberta seems relatively small. It’s also far fewer than the number of licences that have been issued in Oregon, which has a comparable population to Alberta.

However, when you look at the fact that Ontario will start with only 40 (government-owned and run) cannabis retail outlets – rising to just 150 by 2020 – Alberta looks far more sensible by comparison. Hopefully, we’ll allow demand to guide future growth in the marketplace.

By and large, though, this looks a lot like how liquor retail is regulated. Store hours? From 10 a.m. until 2 a.m. at the most, just like liquor stores. Buffer zone around schools and health-care facilities? Yes indeed, just like with liquor stores.

Again, it’s such an obvious parallel that it makes you wonder why so much time was spent studying this. It also makes you wonder what municipalities are so worried about.

The City of Calgary, for example, has expressed much concern about the pace and uncertainty of legalization and the potential costs of implementing new policies. But again, given the hundreds of liquor stores that do business in Calgary – and pay property taxes in Calgary – it’s hard to understand what all the fuss is about.

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If we figured out how to regulate hundreds of liquor stores in Calgary, why the panic over a few dozen cannabis stores? Perhaps now that the Alberta government has clarified the extent to which this will mirror the liquor regulatory regime, city officials can relax. We’ve been there, done that.

One could make the case that liberalization should go even further. Why not allow liquor stores to sell cannabis or vice versa? Why not let grocery stores or other retail outlets sell liquor or cannabis, or both? And we probably could do all of those things without the sky falling.

On the whole, however, Alberta’s system of privatized liquor retail has worked quite well — probably better than any other province. There’s every reason to believe that it will be a good fit for the burgeoning cannabis industry.

It’s a win-win, too: convenience and choice for consumers, and economic opportunities for Alberta entrepreneurs and job-seekers. The NDP might not have a reputation for being champions of such things, but that even they are capable of recognizing the proper course of action only serves to underscore how obvious it was all along.