Marijuana in Montreal: The future of legalized cannabis
Series features medical marijuana growers, youth addiction specialist, and Colorado State Representative
Marijuana legalization has been one of Prime Minister Trudeau's most talked about campaign promises.
But what would legal cannabis look like in Montreal?
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CBC Montreal's Daybreak asked the question to people on all sides of the debate for "Montreal 420", a six-part series that explored how cannabis legalization will change Canada.
Below are some of the perspectives heard over the course of the series from Montreal, Ottawa and Colorado.
Click on their names for the full story.
I think [selling marijuana at the SAQ is] the path of least resistance for provincial governments just starting to wrap their heads around it. But ultimately, I don't feel that liquor stores are the best place to sell cannabis.
I think that there's already a very diverse and well established private sector for medical cannabis, and non-medical cannabis as well, that could be brought into whatever framework comes out.
You know, the good news is our economy is booming. Our economy has gone from 40th in job creation to fourth in job creation over the last few years.
In addition to that, we have seen record numbers of tourists. In addition to that, we have seen crime stay about the same or even some crimes even decline in the state of Colorado. And we also have a new cash source to fund our schools, so it has certainly changed it in a lot of ways.
When you see people going to take tours of craft breweries or the Jack Daniels distillery...or they go to wine country and they go bicycle from winery to winery, why would this be any different?
We have a beer festival. Why wouldn't we have a marijuana festival?
If somebody plays their cards right, yes, this could be a really interesting tourism card.
One thing we know is that the earlier the onset and regular use of cannabis use, the more at risk you are for depending on cannabis and other substances of abuse. We haven't fully understood why that is but it's a well-established effect.
Right now, the medical marijuana market in Canada, once fully developed, should be about $1 billion.
Now if we were to move to a retail, recreational model that's legal, we're modelling, very conservatively a $7 to $8 billion market in Canada.
If it's controlled, and grown by the government, that's one less valve open for organized crime. So that's less money for them, so they have to turn to other illicit drugs.