Michael Armstrong, Associate Professor of Operations Research in Brock’s Goodman School of Business, wrote a piece recently published in The Conversation about changes to Ontario’s cannabis retail plan.

Armstrong writes:

Ontario has announced big changes to its recreational cannabis retail plan. Government-owned Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC) will still sell online, but will no longer open physical stores. Instead, businesses will handle all storefront sales.

Switching from public to private sector retailing will mean more stores. This means more convenience for Ontario cannabis consumers. That in turn will help legal cannabis compete against black market weed. But it may also increase use of the drug.

The Conservative government’s action on cannabis was much needed. The Liberal plan for an OCRC retailing monopoly was heading for disaster.

The first problem was consumer inconvenience. OCRC expected to open only 40 outlets in 2018 to somehow compete against black marketeers for Ontario’s 14 million residents.

By contrast, Saskatchewan has already licensed 51 retailers to serve its one million people. Similarly, when Alberta started taking store applications to serve its four million residents, it received 452 in the first month.

Continue reading the full article here.