Pubdate: Wed, 09 Nov 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Authors: Stephanie Smith & Damian Kettlewell
Page: 14

BEST SYSTEM FOR MARIJUANA SALES ALREADY EXISTS

Love it or hate it, public retailing of non-medical marijuana is
coming. With that in mind, the most socially responsible way to sell
it in B.C. is through our existing public and private liquor stores.

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals took office in October
2015, they did so with a host of mandates from Canadians. Former prime
minister Stephen Harper thought the Liberals' position on legal
marijuana would sink them, but in the end it was hardly an issue at
all.

Now it's up to the Trudeau government to work out the details on
removing marijuana from the Criminal Code, but the provinces have the
responsibility of determining how it will be regulated, sold and
distributed.

The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union and the B.C. Private
Liquor Store Association formed the Responsible Marijuana Retail
Alliance of B.C. in December 2015. We are working together on a
straightforward goal: To see legal, non-medical marijuana warehoused
and distributed through the existing Liquor Distribution Branch system
and sold in B.C. alongside alcohol in liquor stores.

It's not every day that substances are removed from the Criminal Code.
Here in B.C., we have a system that is perfectly suited to handle the
change. Our public and private liquor stores are already regulated and
established in communities across the province.

We have witnessed confusion in Vancouver, where the municipal
government has spent a great deal of time and effort to create a new
permitting system for medical marijuana. Vancouver's current system
continues to create complications and frustrations for both consumers
and businesses, while raising legitimate risks to youth with low
compliance rates.

In the large majority of cases, liquor stores in B.C. have above
90-per-cent compliance rates for age verification. Youth in B.C. have
a much more difficult time accessing alcohol than they do tobacco.

On the distribution side, the LDB operates a secure network that
already transports hundreds of millions of dollars of a controlled
substance every year. Creating a separate, parallel system to
accomplish something that our province already does so well would be
unnecessarily costly and time consuming. Money would be diverted from
important public services like education and health care into
additional bureaucracy.

B.C. is ready to lead on the sale of non-medical marijuana. Numerous
polls leading up to last year's federal election suggested support for
legalization here was substantially higher than in any other province.
Around two-thirds of British Columbians support outright legalization
and many more support decriminalization.

Our two organizations have not taken a stand on the legalization or
consumption of non-medical marijuana. Legalization is inevitable.
Being pragmatic, we believe marijuana should be sold in the most
socially responsible way possible.

Looking south of the border to Colorado and Washington, once their
systems were up and running, tax revenues from marijuana sales have
exceeded forecasts in both states. This year, marijuana sales in
Colorado are on pace to contribute $125 million to state coffers.

However, that is just tax revenue from private sales. Profits from our
public stores and distribution network contribute over $900 million
annually to education, health care and other vital public services.
These funds help keep other taxes down.

B.C. has recently shown initiative with our burgeoning local wine,
beer and spirits industries. While regulations on how marijuana is
grown will be determined by others, we feel this is another place
where marijuana can follow the model of alcohol: Producers of a
variety of sizes, including local producers, and a small allowance for
non-commercial personal production.

We need to ensure marijuana legalization benefits our province while
we reduce risk by keeping sales in a strictly age-controlled
environment with the strongest track record of checking
identification.

If done properly, with the appropriate regulatory oversight and
safeguards in place, legalized marijuana can create jobs and generate
public revenue to fund public services.

============================

Stephanie Smith is president of the B.C. Government and Service 
Employees' Union. Damian Kettlewell is marijuana spokesman with the B.C. 
Private Liquor Store Association.
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MAP posted-by: Matt