TORONTO — When Canada legalized recreational cannabis in 2018, there were still many unknown implications for healthcare, industry and the country at large.
So the government made a promise: after three years, it would review the law to ensure its policies worked.
"We obviously have a significant sense of urgency which is fuelled by the fact that after five years ... about 80 per cent of our surveyed members cannot get to cash flow positivity,” said George Smitherman, president and chief executive of the Cannabis Council of Canada.
The panel is chaired by lawyer and former deputy minister of foreign affairs Morris Rosenberg. It heard a wide range of feedback from backyard pot growers to Indigenous participation in the industry and hospitalizations with links to cannabis."Despite the growth of the legal cannabis market, companies across the supply chain are struggling to realize profits and maintain financial viability," the report said.
“Originally, the government thought you're going to be able to sell a gram of cannabis for $10, so a 10 per cent tax rate would be a dollar a gram,” she said.“Now we're selling product at $4 or at $3, not $10, and as a result, the tax rate is in the 30 to 40 per cent range,” Goldenberg said. Other retailers told the government panel they want to be able to label products that come from a family-run company, are made with organic ingredients or are sun-grown. Some say they should to be able to promote pot as freely as tobacco or alcohol companies market their products.
And the medical community is insistent changes shouldn't come at a cost to public health. Many remain supportive of the cautionary approach to cannabis the country took. Some want even stricter limits on who can possess, distribute and buy pot, the government's report said.
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