The idea of provinces allowing cannabis to be sold through their liquor stores has been tossed around lately, with some politicians for and against it, while most dispensary owners are strongly opposed to it.
A professor from Brock University is also now suggesting that the provincial governments look into the idea of selling cannabis through the public liquor store system.
Dan Malleck is an associate professor of health sciences and will be speaking on a panel concerning cannabis legalization at the University of Saskatchewan this week. He has studied the topic of drug prohibition and liquor control before.
He says that the provinces selling alcohol did not promote the idea of using it, instead it formalized alcohol use. He says that, “A lot of people look at these liquor control systems and say, ‘Oh, this was just a temperance movement in government,’ but it wasn’t the case. They were trying to make it available and accessible, but not consumed in an overly problematic way.”
Malleck makes the argument that following this same method will eliminate a lot of the stigma attached to cannabis, which still surrounds the plant, especially since it is still not technically legal yet. According to Malleck, “A moderate introduction of cannabis legally would follow, in some ways, the same process that liquor control did and make it less problematic and really alleviate concerns about (marijuana) as a problematic substance.”
The symposium that he will be speaking at is called “The Rise of Big Cannabis: A Symposium Examining Legal and Illegal Weed” and he hopes to provide the public with a big picture of how the cannabis industry is working.
The federal government has also conducted a tour of medical experts who are warning about the dangers of teenagers using cannabis once it is legalized. This issue has been a cornerstone of the legalization promise for the Liberals, and we can expect that they will continue to promote that message.