A new poll shows that despite Premier Kathleen Wynne’s recent comments on allowing cannabis to be sold through LCBO outlets, a majority of Ontarians do not support this idea. According to Wynne, the LCBO would be a “good network” for the sale of legalized marijuana. She says that the reason is because the LCBO is a “trusted institution” that currently has the infrastructure in place to sell the products responsibly and restrict access to minors.
When Forum Research ran a poll in the province, they found that most Ontarians do not support Wynne’s idea. The poll asked people if they approve or not of several different potential ways that cannabis could be distributed. 57 percent of those polled favored the idea of letting specialized cannabis dispensaries sell the product, 32 percent disapproved and 11 percent said they weren’t sure either way.
When it came to Wynne’s idea for selling through LCBO’s, opinions were more split with 47 percent opposing it, 44 percent in approval of it, and only 10 percent who didn’t know. One of the most unpopular options was the question of whether convenience stores or private individuals should be allowed to sell. 80 percent disapproved of the convenience stores and 72 percent disapproved of individuals selling. The idea of selling at LCBO’s seemed to be more popular with residents between the ages of 18-34, with people between the ages of 45-54 were more likely to oppose the idea. According to Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff, “Basically everyone 35 and older does not want marijuana sold in LCBO’s because they are not into that drug.”
When Forum Research ran a poll to see how people felt about Trudeau’s campaign promise to “legalize, regulate, and restrict”, 56 percent of respondents approved and 36 percent opposed the idea. The poll seemed to reveal that legalizing would not necessarily result in a big increase in usage. 22 percent of respondents said that if cannabis was legalized, they would be likely to use cannabis within the next year. This number was matched against 17 percent who have used cannabis within the past year. Bozinoff commented on this jump in numbers, “Just going from a 17 to 22 percent would be hardly noticed but this is a huge jump among younger people and I don’t know if that is well known among those in favour of legalization. It is something to think about. With that majority who say they are in favour of legalization I don’t think they know the extent of it amount young people.”