Here's why the cannabis market in Toronto is facing chronic growing pains
Toronto has more than 400 legal cannabis retailers, but an industry that was once experiencing a “green rush” is now finding itself amidst chronic struggles.
“Right now it’s just being run and decisions are being made without involving retailers and without really making decisions in alignment with us, and that’s I think a huge failure in the market right now,” said Vivianne Wilson, founder of GreenPort Cannabis on College St. in Toronto’s Little Italy.
Wilson says there ought to be a third party to regulate and advocate for retailers and producers dealing with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which regulates retail licenses, and the Ontario Cannabis Store, which is the only legal wholesale supplier to retailers.
The federal government is reviewing the Cannabis Act, which outlined the legalization of marijuana in Canada. It also downloaded many regulations around supply and consumption to the provinces.
In Ontario, it is the AGCO that oversees handing out licenses. In the beginning, a lottery system limited the number of retailers, but store owners and managers tell CTV News Toronto there are now no protections from having several shops open in the same area, so long as they remain over 250 meters from a school.
“We knew there would be over-saturation,” Wilson said, and that was articulated to the AGCO.
Now there are fears many of the stores that have opened will close, with about a third of cannabis sales remaining in the illegal market, Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Thursday in announcing the legislative review.
A lawyer who has represented legal pot shop retailers says she has received several calls from Toronto retailers being undercut by the black market.
“There are people who have joined the legal market in good faith and got the licences to become retailers and yet they sometimes find themselves situated beside an illegal pot shop, that is doing better business than them and often probably selling better products,” Kendra Stanyon said.
A major problem the barrister says is what she called a “chokehold” on the products available, such as with edible cannabis, where smaller producers that wanted to be part of the legal market have been left out.
The review of the Cannabis Act, according to a summary paper, will focus “on aspects of the framework within areas of federal jurisdiction.”
That won’t help many in the business, Wilson said.
“This review of the cannabis act at a federal level is not going to change what they’re doing at a provincial level, so we’re going to continue to see stores close, unfortunately,” she surmised.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Protesters clash at UCLA after police clear pro-Palestinian demonstrators from Columbia University
Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. Hours earlier, police carrying riot shields burst into a building at Columbia University that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school while inspiring others.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.
National strategy must recognize caregivers as 'backbone' of society: centre
Canadians need help looking after family members who are aging, sick or have disabilities, and many caregivers are seniors who need help themselves, says a new report calling for a national strategy that recognizes the mental and financial toll of the job.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Lawyers for alleged Winnipeg serial killer point to opinion poll in bid to get jury tossed
The lawyers of an alleged serial killer in Winnipeg are questioning whether pre-trial publicity in the high-profile case may have influenced the jury’s decision-making ability, after a public poll commissioned by the defence found 81 per cent of respondents believe the accused is guilty.
Ontario woman surprised after 20-year-old fines suddenly tank credit score
An Ontario woman says that she was shocked when provincial fines from 20 years ago suddenly tanked her credit score last week, but the situation may not be as unusual as it seems, according to at least debt expert.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
WATCH Moose strolls through Fredericton
A Fredericton woman is awe-struck after seeing a moose stroll down a city street on Tuesday.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.