Cannabis retail in Canada. Models of Cannabis Retail Systems. Methodology. Research Paper

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Cannabis Retail in Canada
After years of debate and multiple legislative efforts, Canada joined the few nations to legalize the recreational use of Cannabis (commonly known as marijuana) earlier this year through the Royal Assent of the Cannabis Act (Bill-45) (Government of Canada). This law permits the legal production, distribution, and sale of cannabis for recreational purpose while maintaining the legal status for the use of the drug for medicinal purposes; medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001.
Consequently, the nation of Canada is under the radar not only as the first G7 country to legalize recreational cannabis nationwide but also as the second of only two countries in the world to pass such a law. The catalytic factors of this significant transition are the ineffectiveness of the existing cannabis control system in the country coupled with the growing permissive attitudes towards recreational marijuana (Government of Canada). However, this decision is not without challenges with the government put to task to design and implement an operational cannabis retail system to oversee the regulation of distribution, sale, and consumption of what was a prohibited drug in the country for almost a century. Also, the argued implications of cannabis legalization on different policy domains present further complications (Health Canada). This essay thus seeks to discuss and analyze the scope of the different models of the retail cannabis systems by the Canadian government with relevance to the developing cannabis policy through the review of relevant literature in an attempt to determine their effect.
Methodology
This essay is secondary research that relies on a review of literature from various sources inclusive of previous research and reports on the cannabis retail in Canada. This information will then allow for a critical assessment of Cannabis retail model systems development and related policies and their implications. It should be noted that this is merely a narrative paper that relies on qualitative data relevant to Canada’s cannabis retail.
Developing a Cannabis Policy
The legalization of recreational marijuana arguably presents the biggest public policy challenge in decades for Canada. This is because, before legalization, cannabis passed as the most used illicit drug in the nation with a population of 4.2 million equivalent to 16% of Canadians (mostly aged 15 years and over) being reported to using cannabis products for medical or non-medical (Government of Canada). The Statistics obtained from the National Cannabis Survey by Statistics Canada further indicated that “about 56% of users, used cannabis on a daily or weekly basis”. Furthermore, the anticipated impacts of legalizing cannabis on public safety, public health, economic development, and innovation present further complications (Health Canada). Therefore, passing of this law by the government is bound to trigger social, economic and cultural changes within the society, which in turn affects public policy.
This is evident in the necessitated development of the cannabis policy that was set in motion by the public declaration of the intent to legalize the retail and use of recreational marijuana by the Liberal government in Canada (Government of Canada). With the timeline to the opening of the market restricted to roughly a year, the process of developing a functional retail system became a priority. The deliberations were fruitful, and the cannabis policy discussion paper was instrumental and facilitated stakeholder engagement processes that allowed stakeholders to voice their opinions subject to the policy recommendations by the discussion paper (Health Canada 8). Resulting from the former was a National Cannabis Framework that provided various suggested policy approaches to the provinces in their actualization of cannabis legalization (Health Canada9). The significance of this framework is crucial, and even though Bill C-45 legalized cannabis for adult-usage, it failed in the provision of a regulatory framework for the distribution and sale of cannabis and variety of anticipated issues that arise due to it (The Cannabis Act 2017). The jurisdictions are thus assigned to come up with the regulations and control regarding distribution and retail of cannabis in different parts within Canada.
The objectives that would shape the cannabis policies and give direction to the retail system included: transitioning of the production, sale, and consumption of cannabis from the illegal market to a structured and highly-regulated system where the product is tested, taxed, and kept out of the hands of youth and criminals (Government of Canada). This system is based on the need to strike a balance between the harmful effects of cannabis and the supply to adult users, in a regulated system and turn aiming to minimize the scope and scale of the illicit market and as an inclusive objective, reducing its social harm (Task Force 9). Together, these objectives form the popular and preferred public health approach (Task Force 10).
In line with this approach, the retail system purposed and put in place tough restrictions on packaging and advertising to ensure that smoking does not appeal to the youth (Health Canada 32). Despite the wide range in distribution formats, ranging from privatized to the publicly owned system, the need for storefront retail markets is evident (Health Canada 33). Moreover, the framework for the legalization and regulation of cannabis in Canada reported that the preference of many hinged upon interaction with personnel trained and knowledgeable about the product and a physical assessment of the products themselves before making purchases (Health Canada 33). The private enterprise characterized by accessibility and competitive pricing able to compete with, and help limit the use of illicit markets seems befitting to these in this needs (Health Canada 33). Also, it has a high potential to address the gaps in previous systems such as the mail-order system may make them insufficient for the projected broader non-medical cannabis market
Models of Cannabis Retail Systems
Even so, the rarity of a fully legalized cannabis sector makes it such that there is not a defined system of best practices. These systems are thus crippled by the absence of a comprehensive guide on the development of cannabis policies and cannabis distribution, the absence of evidence is a limiting factor, there also exist major scientific constraints on the product itself (Health Canada). This, however, does not change the lucrative nature and value of the cannabis market in Canada estimated at up to $7.17 billion in total sales inclusive of medical, illegal as well as legal recreational products (Deloitte, 2). A recent survey by Deloitte posits that legal sales are to contribute “more than half of t...