After decades of sniggers about it being “high time” to legalize marijuana, and winks about 4/20 celebrations, the world of weed is ditching the jokes about reefer madness and going mainstream.
Last week the province announced its long-awaited regulations on where and how legalized pot will be sold – in a manner similar to alcohol sales.
B.C.’s approach to the issue seems prudent to most observers and is based on some of the lessons learned in other jurisdictions. Marijuana will be legal, but it won’t be a total free-for-all, either.
Much to the relief of local politicians, municipalities will have a big say about who gets one of the coveted provincial pot shop licences.
That means those operators who have been the subject of court action, or who’ve caused major headaches where they’ve set up in advance of the legal starting line might not be at the front of the line.
A number of regulations also set out fairly strict oversight on who’s allowed to be involved in the pot business, with the goal of keeping out organized crime. Key to that, however, will be enforcement.
The issue of criminals using legal “fronts” for a licence has already been raised as a concern.
If the province’s ability to keep criminals out of casinos or to enforce rules around proxies in the real estate industry is any indication, we have reasons to be wary.
That said, regulations announced so far are a good starting place. After years of hypocrisy, we’re at least heading in the right direction.
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