Ontario outlined its proposed framework for private recreational cannabis sales on Wednesday, announcing that it would also overturn a controversial public consumption ban.The PC government’s legislation will be tabled Thursday and, if passed, would give the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario oversight over cannabis licensing. It would also bar any illegal cannabis dispensaries still operating after legalization comes into effect on October 17th from applying for licenses.The PCs plan to amend the Smoke-Free Ontario Act to prohibit cannabis smoking and vaping in areas where the smoking of tobacco is also prohibited — a change from the Liberal policy that banned it anywhere in public. The proposed legislation would still prohibit consumption of cannabis in vehicles or boats, as the Liberals had proposed.The new licensing system will not be capped. But Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said the legislation will propose restrictions on how many retail licenses a single operator can hold, how many storefronts can be located in a given area, and where.Federally licensed cannabis producers will only be able to open one retail location in the province, which is a blow to some of the biggest players in the market.The first store won’t be open until next spring.Until then, Ontarians will only be able to purchase legal cannabis online through the government’s Ontario Cannabis store website. And since that product will be shipped through the mail, it’s possible that people in the province won’t actually have the product in hand on the first day of legalization because they will have to wait for it to arrive in the mail.A spokesperson for the Ontario Cannabis Store, which is being renamed the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp, told VICE News in an email earlier this month that customers would not be able to pre-order their cannabis online ahead of October 17th, and that the OCS is still finalizing its delivery partner.The Ontario government announced in August that it would turn to private retailers to sell recreational cannabis, while the government would oversee online sales through the Ontario Cannabis Store, a subsidiary of the province’s liquor agency.That move overturned the previous Liberal government’s plan for a state monopoly over cannabis sales, and brought Ontario in line with other provinces like British Columbia and Alberta that embraced a private cannabis retail model.At the government’s announcement in August, finance minister Vic Fedeli issued a stern warning for the dozens of illegal cannabis dispensaries that continue to operate across the province, and threatened owners with hefty fines. The federal government said earlier this month it wants to study how cannabis is being sold across Canada through illegal online stores.“What is unclear, is the number of illegal, online transactions that occur in Canada, as well as the proportion of cannabis that is traded on the internet,” Public Safety Canada stated on its tender for research on the issue.“The general goal of this project is to estimate the extent to which cannabis is illicitly bought and sold by Canadians on cryptomarkets, identify trends in the buying and selling behaviours of Canadian cryptomarket users, and discuss the policy and law enforcement implications of cryptomarkets within a Canadian context following legalization.”Cover image by Anthony Tuccitto
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