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In a province of nearly 14 million people, how this regressive nanny state approach to accessibility would in any way put pot dealers out of business when legal pot would be so inaccessible is beyond comprehension.

The only way to wipe out illegal dealers is to compete on quality, price and accessibility.

Why buy pot of unknown quality from a seedy dope dealer in a dark alley when you can access a properly regulated store and buy quality stuff at competitive prices?

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Consider this. The LCBO has almost 700 stores and nearly 500 grocery stores that can sell beer and wine. That’s why you don’t see bootlegged booze offered in dark alleys.

Premier Doug Ford’s government has taken a very different and refreshing view to the distribution and consumption of pot. Distribution would be left to the private sector regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission while the consumption would be treated like the use of cigarettes.

In other words, keep it simple stupid. This would allow for free market competition and a simple understanding of when people can toke up. If you are going to make pot legal, why put up unnecessary obstacles?

The fly in the ointment, and the unfortunate part, is that municipalities would be given the right to further regulate the stuff, leading to a patchwork of different rules throughout Ontario.

Already former Liberal cabinet minister and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, currently running for re-election, sounded alarmist and puritanical by saying that the prospect of smoking pot on sidewalks is offensive to him.