Monopoly wholesalers limit your choices

After a tumultuous month of cyberattacks, strikes and product shortages, state monopoly wholesalers are returning to what they do best: narrowing down your choices as a cannabis consumer.

Because Canadian cannabis law prohibits celebrity endorsements, you won’t find Hexo Corp’s newest product in Quebec or Alberta.

The Tyson 2.0 is a partnership with boxing legend Mike Tyson.

Monopoly wholesalers limit your choices

Canada’s cannabis law prevents celebrity endorsements. But you will have a hard time finding any advertising or support for this product.

American versions of “Mike Bites” include a hilarious package with an ear on the cover. This of course refers to when Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear during the 1997 Heavyweight Championship.

The Canadian products dubbed “Tyson 2.0” are simply packaged like any other cannabis product.

However, the packaging may have been incidental. The Quebec wholesaler told MjBizDaily he didn’t want the organization “to be associated with that image.”

They may have been referring to Mike Tyson’s 1992 rape conviction or his general reputation as a crazy person.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis (AGLC) has said promoting cannabis products through celebrity endorsements is their raison d’être.

Not the first time: governments love to limit your choices

Canopy Growth has made several attempts to relax Canada’s no-fun cannabis regulations. Each time, Health Canada has quashed the initiatives and limited your choices as a consumer.

Canopy twice tried to work with rappers. The first time it was a partnership with Snoop Dog to produce “Leafs by Snoop”. The product made it to Canada anyway. All Canopy had to do was remove any reference to Snoop Dogg’s name.

Canopy ended a partnership with Drake last year. They also had to terminate a contract with film actor Seth Rogan.

Don’t blame Health Canada, they will say. The real problem is the strict marketing rules in the Cannabis Act. And while that’s true, interpretation and enforcement (however petty) are always left to bureaucracy.

Can we trust Health Canada?

Can we rely on Health Canada to enforce cannabis law?

Consider who funds Health Canada.

taxpayer, right? It’s a federal bureaucracy, so you’d think Canadian taxpayers would fund it. Makes sense. Who else would give them money?

What about big pharmaceutical companies? And that 90%?

Health Canada charges manufacturers fees for new drugs on the market. These usage fees represent 50% of Health Canada’s operating costs.

But since October 2017, this has steadily increased to cover 90% of Health Canada’s costs.

Isn’t there a conflict of interest here? Our health bureaucracy gets most of its funding from drug companies. They are also tasked with regulating an unpatented, natural herb. One that replaces a good portion of pharmaceutical drugs.

Monopoly wholesalers limit your choices

Well, I’m not fundamentally against it. The problem arises from monopoly power.

Health Canada gets 90% of its funding from drug companies and then tells us their mRNA vaccines are safe. At the same time, cannabis causes heart attacks and psychosis and is addictive.

The problem is their monopoly status as federal health care regulators, like provincial cannabis wholesalers.

Of course, if a private distributor doesn’t want to carry Tyson 2.0 because they don’t like Mike Tyson, that’s their prerogative. It narrows your choices, but if you have other options…

But when a taxpayer-funded monopoly makes that decision, it’s meddling its personal values ​​where they don’t belong.

Hence the moral superiority of private enterprise. If you risk your capital, you need to think carefully about your decisions.

Imagine a Canada where consumers and businesses make decisions based on their own risk assessment.

Where the government fulfills the basic duty of any liberal state: staying out of the day-to-day affairs of the public.

Where individual autonomy and personal responsibility override “public health and safety” concerns.

You won’t find that today. Not in a country run by bureaucrats too timid to allow a private business to sell Mike Bites to willing customers.