Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2013
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: William Watson

WELCOME TO THE CANNABIS CONTROL BOARD

So. What will the marijuana market look like after Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau legalizes the drug in 2018?

Well, you can bet it won't be a question of your dealer renting a
storefront, putting up a shingle and running his heretofore
underground cash business out in the open. Former dealers will be
encouraged through the Marijuana Purveyors' Readjustment Act to take
up other forms of work. They will be offered both financial
compensation for the loss of their business and training vouchers good
for coaching in C.V.-writing, succeeding at job interviews and rising
before noon.

Marijuana won't be sold in the open market. Provincial and territorial
Cannabis Control Boards will take over all aspects of marketing. Board
stores, naturally, will be unionized and therefore subject to regular
closure due to job actions. Negotiations with the unions will
determine what percentage of jobs will be reserved for former dealers,
but in no case will their share exceed 10%. The union will approve all
other hiring, with first refusal going to public-sector employees
whose jobs have been made redundant or who choose to move. In terms of
summer hiring, special consideration will be given to the children of
Board employees and local politicians. Cannabis will be sold only to
persons 18 years and over. All purchasers will have to show proof of
age. The Boards may engage in advertising campaigns, sending out
glossy magazines informing consumers which types of marijuana go best
with which types of food, wine and munchies. As at most provincial and
territorial liquor con! trol boards, periodic "sales" of different
brands and types will be limited to price reductions of 5%. Which
advertising companies get Board contracts will be subject to approval
by the designated provincial cabinet minister.

The provincial and territorial Cannabis Control Boards will have the
exclusive right to sell marijuana. No Board may have fewer than six
vice-presidents. Sales outside Board stores will be illegal and
punishable by criminal sanctions. Sales will be subject to GST, PST
and/or HST. At the insistence of brewers and distillers and to create
a level playing field in recreational intoxication, cannabis sales
will also be subject to whatever rate of excise taxation applies to
beer and spirits.

The Cannabis Control Boards may buy product only from their province's
or territory's section of the Canadian Cannabis Marketing Board. Like
the marketing boards that have proved so successful in the dairy and
poultry industries, the CCMB will allocate production across provinces
according to a formula to be decided by negotiation among relevant
federal and provincial ministers. Once a province's or territory's
production limit is established, each provincial or territorial arm of
the CCMB will then offer growing licences, or "quota," to provincial
growers. The provincial or territorial arm will buy all within-quota
provincial product at a price it will determine every January after
consultation with industry stakeholders. The price will be designed to
guarantee cost recovery plus a reasonable rate of return to growers.

In order to discourage environmentally destructive long distance
shipments of product, and consistent with long-standing Canadian
tradition, inter-provincial sales of marijuana will be strictly prohibited.

So as to prevent erosion of this made-in-Canada distribution system,
importation of cannabis will be permitted only by the Canadian
Cannabis Marketing Board, which will distribute it to the provincial
and territorial Control Boards for retail sale. It will be illegal for
Boards to sell foreign cannabis except at a retail price no less than
20% higher than the retail price of equivalent-quality Canadian
product. Foreign product may not be advertised and may be displayed
only in the back two metres of Board retail outlets.

By special arrangement with the provincial and territorial Control
Boards, agreed beyond-quota production may be sold to the Canadian
Cannabis exporting Agency (minimum number of vice-presidents: eight)
for resale on the world cannabis market. re-imports of Canadian
cannabis will not be permitted in any form - except on First Nations'
territory, where for reasons of disputed jurisdiction and hazardous
enforcement, traditional importing will not be prohibited. Instead,
traditional importers will be offered financial inducements, not
exceeding $500,000 per person per year, to abandon importing.

After legalization, the Canadian cannabis industry will become subject
to Industry Canada's and the equivalent provincial and territorial
ministries' industrial strategies. reports, conferences and subsidies
will all aim at building up competitive cannabis clusters in
strategically selected locations across the country. Cannabis research
centres of excellence - at least one in each province and territory -
will be established with continuing federal-provincial-local subsidies
while construction of cannabis industry infrastructure will be
supported with long-term loans at favourable rates. The national
granting councils will support both basic research and
university-business co-operation on commercializing cannabis
innovations.

It makes you wonder whether the marijuana status quo - neglectful
enforcement of an unregulated and untaxed market - may not be so bad
after all.
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MAP posted-by: Matt