Not long ago at the Green Ceiling in downtown Victoria, a fundraiser event was held for war veterans.
Namely, Wounded Warriors of Canada and the PTSD Association of Canada.
But Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps disapproves of the Green Ceiling. And to the federal Liberals, unlicensed cannabis businesses are an anathema.
Meanwhile, on the licensed producer side of things, a scandal broke out.
Around Remembrance Day, while “organized crime” offered cannabis free of charge, many LPs were quick to jack prices on veterans who were paying courtesy of the taxpayer.
The logic was simple: impose inflated prices on veterans because taxpayers are paying for it, and taxpayers don’t have a choice but to keep paying for it.
Someone somewhere in Ottawa began ringing the alarm bells about the rising cost of medical cannabis under Veterans Affairs.
Basically, while the “unlicensed” cannabis connoisseurs raised funds for veterans and offered product discounts, the government LP-system imposes higher costs through bureaucratic incentives.
The federal government has now limited LP cannabis that can be reimbursed to three grams per day.
Because patients are prohibited from purchasing from dispensaries, the federal government won’t reimburse “unlicensed” cannabis.
Meanwhile, LP stocks, already on a wild ride, continue their ups and downs.
Canada’s medical cannabis regime rests on prohibiting Canadians from providing certain goods and services to themselves or each other unless they receive a particular permit.
Assuming they make it through the costly and time-consuming application process to receive this permit, they must then buy equipment from other specialized licensed producers, the ones selling capital goods at inflated rates. Any failure to adhere to these statist conditions invoke the criminal code. As Justin Trudeau says, legalization for cannabis consumers has “not happened yet.”
But contrary to the crony-capitalism of Stephen Harper’s LP-scheme, or the Liberal Party adoption of it, economic reality dictates that an agricultural product cannot be sold in this way.
The LPs will not realize their returns.
The LP system is a fraud. Their valuations aren’t based on cannabis production. They are relying on balance sheets; investors are buying their debt.
They are not producing enough quality cannabis people voluntarily want to buy if they expect to cover their debt and financial leverage commitments.
Veterans will either need reimbursement from “unlicensed” vendors, or, better yet, across-the-board tax cuts restoring wealth to the middle class, creating the conditions necessary for a resurgence of mutual-aid societies and charities.
The LPs expected a nice cartel with inflated prices at $10-15 per gram. BC Bud is putting an end to that fantasy. A wild stock-market ride is not an indicator of wealth. Differential pricing for veterans reveals their true intentions.
If Canopy Growth Corporation is right, and veteran sales don’t have “material impact” on overall growth, then what does?
Producing cannabis?
It costs money to be an LP. How can this regulatory system survive, even thrive, against free market competition?
And contrary to the wishes of media and political gatekeepers, there will be a free and fair cannabis market.