It may become legal to smoke pot this fall, but you’ll have to do some online shopping to get your legal dope – at least in the short term.
That’s the word from the provincial government. The Ontario Cannabis Store will offer marijuana online only to start, once pot becomes legal Oct. 17. The intent is to follow up with a proposed private retail model that would be launched April 1, 2019.
Chatham was to be home to one of 15 communities to initially host a retail outlet for the Ontario Cannabis Store. Rick Nicholls, MPP for Chatham-Kent Leamington, said that was a decision made by the previous government.
“I think it was done for political reasons initially to try to sway voters down this way,” he said.
As for where the stores could go in the future, Nicholls said the government has yet to identify which communities would be at the front of the list.
He isn’t sure when, if ever, this municipality would play host to a cannabis store.
“We’ll be giving municipalities an opportunity to opt out of it. I think our government wants to give the municipalities the opportunity to say whether they want a cannabis store or stores,” he said.
Users can still order their pot online, something Nicholls said will be strictly regulated and monitored.
Those guidelines will extend into the future retail outlets as well.
“There will be zero tolerance to any retailer who tries to sell cannabis to a minor, or sell without a licence,” Nicholls said.
Before any retail outlets open, he said the province wants to consult further with various businesses, public health groups and law enforcement.
“My biggest concern is to keep our community safe. We want to be able to protect our children and youth in our communities. We also want to determine how we can protect against organized crime,” he said. “One of the reasons we’ve delayed retail is because the previous government did not do their homework. We want to be thorough. The police have said to us numerous times they are not ready.”
For all municipalities wanting to host a cannabis retail outlet, Nicholls said the province wants to provide up to $40 million in transitional funding over two years to help with enforcement costs. The outlay of the funding will be based on population and the $40 million spread out across all of municipalities who opt in. There are 444 municipalities in Ontario.
“We want to make sure we get it right. We can’t get it wrong with these retail models,” he said.
