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Distribution was one of the topics that MedReleaf, a medical cannabis producer, said it discussed when it met with the secretariat on April 20.

“The thing we certainly wanted to make clear was our view that the … preservation of the mail-order system as it currently exists, the online shopping and the mail-order system is very much something that we think makes a whole lot of sense,” Darren Karasiuk, the vice-president of strategy, said, citing the experience of the medical marijuana industry as well as the size and population of Ontario.

On July 24, Canopy Growth, a marijuana company located in Smiths Falls, met with policymakers, alongside other marijuana producers.

“We’re pleased to see government working through the policy making process and including industry in its consultations,” said communications director Jordan Sinclair in an email. For Canopy, he said, the issue is less what happens next — pot in LCBO stores (long hinted at by Premier Kathleen Wynne) or private shops — and more that the industry has the time to prepare.

“The clarity will help us plan. The more notice that we have of what the market will look like next summer, the better positioned we’ll be to capitalize on it,” Sinclair said. “It’s going to be really, really tight in terms of production, in terms of distribution and all of that stuff.”

Business concerns, though, weren’t all the Ontario Legalization of Cannabis Secretariat heard about during its consultations. Health concerns, such as age of purchase, which the federal government proposes to set at 18, but which could be adjusted higher by provincial governments, and policing were also on the agenda.