LCBO stores ideal outlets to sell legalized pot: union head

Now that legalized marijuana in Canada isn’t such an improbability, logistics such as where it will be sold are starting to be considered.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger has suggested that the liquor store would be the most optimal place to sell such a product, and in Ontario, the head of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents non-management positions at the LCBO, agrees.

Warren “Smokey” Thomas says that government-run liquor stores are the ideal outlets to sell pot. Staff is already trained in such things as screening intoxicated customers and the stores’ warehouses and facilities are secured.

“It’s a well-established business and we can simply take it on,” Thomas told Yahoo Canada News. “If they’re gonna (legalize marijuana), guess what? We’re gonna give you an option of a way to do it.”

In his mandate letter to Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote that her “top priorities” included “working with the Ministers of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Health, create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana.”

Although there hasn’t been any formal discussion on how the liquor stores would take on legal pot, Thomas has brought it up with management, who told him they take the lead of the government. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne recently told the Globe and Mail that she receives emails from citizens who suggest marijuana be distributed through liquor stores.

Thomas has hired an analyst to write a report on the business angle of such a move, which he will review and distribute in the next day or so. He doesn’t suspect the addition of legal marijuana would create new jobs, since the LCBO takes on new products all the time, which doesn’t add to more positions.

Thomas says that if marijuana does become legalized — and taxable — he hopes the product doesn’t come at the expense of the taxpayer.

With alcohol, for example, he explains money that’s spent on liquor doesn’t cover the cost of what taxpayers pay for its harmful affects, like health care for drunk driving victims.

“If they’re gonna sell pot I hope they look at a careful approach and how we’re going to ensure the sale of this doesn’t come at the cost of the taxpayers,” he says. “There should be enough profit to put in and put out of the negative effects like health care system, the justice system, the family courts. It’s not a simple issue.”