Marijuana: Two years after Canada legalized cannabis, it's become clear that the regulated market isn't perfect.
Since legalization more than 60 producers have sold into the legal market, over 1, 200 licensed pot stores opened their doors and $8.6 billion has been contributed to the Canadian economy. Still, challenges remain.
Eric Foster, a Toronto-based partner at Dentons Canada LLP, plans to tackle those challenges after being tasked with leading Canadian Chamber of Commerce's industry-led review of the Cannabis Act over the course of the next year.
"When, the government starts their review, we're going to be hopefully in a position where we can go to them and very credibly say, 'Look, we've done a lot of this work for you, '", Foster told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview. ", It's so important when you're advocating for change, especially with the government, that you can credibly say you're speaking with one voice as an industry.", Lawmakers will begin their review of the Cannabis Act when the legislation turns three in Oct. 2021. Foster expects the process to take roughly 18 months to complete. Once that's done, the government may decide to ease or strengthen certain parts of the law, or do nothing at all.
Foster's work will take him (virtually for now) to six roundtables examining concerns and ideas brought forth from across the cannabis industry. That agenda is expected to include regulatory burdens, retail sustainability, addressing the illicit market and preventing money laundering.
"This, was a novel piece of legislation, ", Foster said. "Generally, speaking, the government did a nice job with it. But a couple of years into this, there is no doubt and we've heard time and time again, that there are pressure points that are making it very hard for some companies to compete. So everybody's really excited about the opportunity to hopefully drive that meaningful change.", But if there's one thing Foster believes the government should focus on, it's creating an economic mandate tied to the Canadian cannabis industry. That may see an increased focus in an economy tattered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Right, now, this is not really part of anybody's economic mandate. It's solely being looked at under the purview of Health Canada, ", Foster said. "The, health and safety objectives of the legislation are paramount and must be preserved, but from our understanding, there's been no real economic mandate with respect to this legislation.",
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