The task force appointed by the Trudeau government to study marijuana legalization released its long-awaited report on Tuesday, December 13, offering a detailed sketch of what a legalized recreational pot industry will look like in Canada.
For Toronto’s sizable grey market of storefront dispensaries, the report’s recommendations are a mixed bag.
While the government has pushed police enforcement of storefront dispensaries, something that has drawn criticism from cannabis activists, the task force recommends that pot not be sold alongside alcohol and tobacco “wherever possible,” but rather at “dedicated storefronts with well-trained, knowledgeable staff.” For those working in the cannabis industry now, that experience may position them well for future employment opportunities.
The task force, however, is also recommending restrictions on the density and location of storefront dispensaries, “including appropriate distance from schools, community centres [and] public parks.”
Although the report stipulates that it’ll be up to the provinces to figure out the distribution framework, the recommendations likely mean the high hopes of LCBO and Shoppers Drug Mart outlets cashing in on the recreational marijuana market may have been dashed, at least for the time being. Shoppers has applied to the federal government for a license to distribute medical weed.
In a break with other federal jurisdictions, the task force recommends that the legal minimum age for smoking pot be set at 18, going against the advice of the Canadian Medical Association, which had recommended the age be set at 21. Of the nine U.S. states that have legalized recreational use, all have set the minimum legal age at 21. The task force took into consideration studies indicating the brain doesn’t fully develop until 25, but offered as a rationale for its recommendation “the government’s intention to move away from a system that criminalizes the use of cannabis.”
“There was broad agreement among participants and the Task Force,” the report adds, “that setting the bar for legal access too high could result in a range of unintended consequences, such as leading those consumers to continue to purchase cannabis on the illicit market.”
Ultimately, though, it’s the provinces and territories that will have the final say on age. The report notes “the right of provinces and territories to harmonize it [the recommended legal age for smoking marijuana] with their minimum age of purchase of alcohol,” making a celebratory first legal joint with dad on your 18th birthday a long shot. (You might just need to wait a year.)
The government task force also recommends placing restrictions on smoking weed in public similar to those already in place for tobacco and vape products.
And that businesses “be able to permit dedicated places to consume cannabis such as cannabis lounges and tasting rooms, if they wish to do so, with no federal prohibition.” This will come as good news to fans of the city’s numerous vapour lounges. One can also imagine that this will also substantially improve the popularity of outside smoking areas at bars.
Other notable recommendations in the task force’s report include:
• Allowing the personal cultivation of cannabis for non-medical purposes of a maximum four plants “per residence”
• A limit of 30 grams for the personal possession of non-medical dried cannabis
• Advertising restrictions, and packaging and labelling requirements for cannabis products
• Investigate setting a limit for THC blood levels for the purposes of enforcing drug-impaired driving
• And a biggie: the maintaining of a separate medical marijuana access regime.
Ultimately, the decision about how much to keep from this report and how much to discard will be up to those developing the legislation that the Trudeau government has previously pledged will be tabled this spring.
For Toronto’s cannabis community, little has actually changed for now, but the announcement brings legalization, something that for a long time seemed like a pipe dream, one step closer to reality.
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