OCS: Cannabis Reform – Cannabis | weed | marijuana

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) calls for cannabis reform. The country’s largest monopoly trader wants THC limits to be raised and the amount of single-use plastics to be reduced.

Health Canada is currently conducting a review of Canada’s cannabis regime. Organizations submit their contributions.

Ottawa Public Health, for example, proposed stricter food laws and stricter packaging restrictions.

The OCS cannabis reform paper – Opportunities to Improve the Canadian Federal Cannabis Framework – offers useful suggestions.

OCS: Cannabis Reform Report

The OCS Cannabis Reform Report joins groups like the Competition Bureau and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in calling for higher THC limits. And they are 100% right.

You can’t crowd out “illegal” markets and have a robust cannabis industry if government regulations hinder legitimate businesses. It’s about the basic cannabis economics.

Adjusting THC limits is topic #1 in the OCS cannabis reform report. They suggest a cap of 10mg of THC per unit in a single pack. Therefore, a 10-piece candy bar would contain 100 mg.

Issue #2 is the reform of the plain packaging rules. The OCS wants more “consumer literacy” to make “informed and responsible purchasing decisions”.

That means:

• Incentive for non-combustible cannabis products
• Clarify the rules about customer reviews and promotions.
• “Loosen the typography” and allow businesses to brand and market themselves.
• Empower companies to provide far more on-pack content (e.g., cannabinoids, terpenes, nutritional information, brand narratives, and growing process information).
• Reduce restrictions on CBD-dominant products.
• Adjust labeling requirements for cannabis extracts to increase consumer literacy.

But that’s not all in the OCS Cannabis Reform Report.

They also want stronger quality controls. A type of “public-private” partnership between licensed manufacturers and the government to develop national testing standards.

This is one of the report’s few weak points, as the OCS also calls for reform of the cannabis packaging industry.

The report calls for the government to align cannabis packaging with federal regulations on single-use plastics. They want to support recycling opportunities through financial incentives.

So all in all the OCS report is not bad. Many of these are sensible suggestions.

Where the OCS cannabis reform goes wrong

In the OCS cannabis reform report, they mention an estimate by Deloitte. Between October 2018 and December 2020, Ontario’s legal cannabis industry contributed US$13.3 billion to Ontario’s GDP. That is around 48,000 new jobs.

Cannabis has contributed $43.5 billion to Canada’s GDP and supported 151,000 jobs. There are more cannabis workers in Canada than apparel manufacturers and gold miners.

For these reasons, the OCS sees itself as essential in “collaborating with Health Canada and other government partners to protect public health and safety” by undermining the illicit cannabis market and rewarding big-pocket cronies.

While OCS’s demand for recyclable packaging and higher THC levels is valid, ultimately OCS is a government-granted monopoly that has no place in a free society.

Without Premier Ford, the OCS would be more than just a regulator. Like the liquor stores in Ontario, the OCS would be a monopoly retailer.

And if you had that power, you can be sure that any argument for private enterprise would be met with the unfounded claim that “for-profit” retail isn’t protecting children or crowding out the black market.

In the report we get a glimpse into the real face of the OCS. For example, they want to keep the advertising ban on smoking and vaping cannabis. But they want the government to legalize the advertising of edible and topical cannabis.

The idea is to discourage Canadian cannabis users from smoking.

They also agree to mandatory health warnings, the red “THC” stop sign icon, and advertising only low-THC cannabis edibles. The effective remedy is still taboo, albeit legal in the OCS world.

Do we need the OCS?

The OCS Cannabis Reform Report is reasonable, if not without problems. But the real question is: does Ontario need the OCS?

Producers grow cannabis and manufacture cannabis products. The OCS buys these products in bulk. It is the province’s only legal wholesaler and buys everything from flowers, pre-rolls, edibles, extracts, topicals, beverages, etc.

The OCS operates an online retail store where Ontario customers can purchase cannabis. The OCS also sells to private brick and mortar stores. These private stores cannot buy directly from licensed manufacturers.

Instead, the OCS has a distribution center. Only one. It’s not even theirs. OCS bureaucrats outsource cannabis distribution to a third party, Domain Logistics.

The only distribution center ships 1,100 kilograms of dried flowers every day throughout the province. They handle more than 3,000 SKUs. The whole process is complex and capital intensive.

And unnecessary.

A cannabis producer shouldn’t transport their products halfway across the province, but should only send them back via Domain Logistics.

It’s like building a bridge without power tools or heavy machinery because it takes longer and creates more jobs.

With everything housed in a single warehouse in Guelph, Ontario, it’s no surprise that product shortages and cyberhacks have become routine.

The OCS may have made some useful suggestions in the Cannabis Reform Report to Health Canada. But the institution itself is unnecessary, wasteful, and impedes free and thriving cannabis markets.