The announcement that marijuana will be sold by private sector companies in Manitoba when it becomes legal next year comes with more questions than answers.
The issues of at what age Manitobans will be allowed to purchase the drug or how much they will be allowed to buy at a time are unclear, as is how much the product will be taxed.
What is clear is that municipalities will have control over whether marijuana may be sold within their jurisdiction when it becomes legal next summer, much like they can control the sale of alcohol. It’s too soon to say where Flin Flon City Council stands on the matter, but their stance may be irrelevant for the time being. Along with a stipulation that mom-and-pop shops won’t immediately be allowed to sell the drug, the provincial government says pot retailers will be rolled out slowly, and those proposing to sell the drug will have to serve multiple locations.
This has northern Manitobans — or at least the 420-friendly bunch — wondering, as it seems they often do, where that leaves them. Will every northern community have a retailer? With hours of driving distance between centres in the north, few retail stores likely won’t be able to serve the needs of such a vast area unless people treat their trips to the pot shop like northern Manitobans treat their bi-annual Costco runs - stock up on as much as possible before returning home.
This raises the question of whether or not pot shops are even necessary in the north. If communities are too spread out to effectively be serviced the way the provincial government plans, and northern residents are making bi-annual or quarterly trips to Winnipeg for supplies in the first place, the option to stock up on their favourite strain of cannabis (or to try a new one) will likely be there.
And then there’s mail-order marijuana, which is set to become legal as well, allowing anyone with an address access to the drug, albeit with a lag in time between ordering it and having it in their hands.
Still, if the opportunity exists for Flin Flon to welcome a marijuana retailer to town, council should consider it. Even if it doesn’t draw people from other Manitoba communities north of 53, it could draw people from neighbouring communities in Saskatchewan, and if the numbers coming out of states that have legalized marijuana are any indicator, it’s almost guaranteed to be an economic stimulator. When the drug was legalized in Colorado, upwards of 18,000 full-time jobs were created and about $2.4 billion was added to the state’s economy. Granted, Colorado has more than four times the population of Manitoba, but still, how could Flin Flon not want a piece of that kind of pie?
It’s difficult to argue bringing retail marijuana to town would create risk, or exacerbate existing issues. Since January 2016, Flin Flon RCMP have responded to 12 marijuana related offences, only four of which have resulted in charges. These numbers don’t exactly scream that the drug is a burden on our society.
There are seven months and many details to iron out before marijuana becomes legal across the country, but if the interest is there from retailers and consumers alike, Flin Flon should consider allowing a pot dispensary to set up shop.
