On June 21st, the Canadian Senate passed The Cannabis Act. Recreational marijuana will be legalized throughout the country starting October 17, 2018. This landmark decision makes just the second time a country has legalized cannabis and the first time it will be legalized by a G7 country.
While certainly exciting, it’s important to know how this turn of events is going to affect your local dispensary in Toronto. Medical and recreational are here to stay, but this decision will have an impact on the industry. Learn more about the changes you can expect from your favorite marijuana dispensary in Toronto.
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Is Recreational Marijuana Legal?
For quite some time, many marijuana dispensaries in Toronto have been selling marijuana to people without a prescription. This is illegal, but that hasn’t stopped many entrepreneurs from taking advantage of the demand.
With national legalization, recreational marijuana should be legal, right? While dispensaries are now free to sell recreational marijuana, the Canadian provinces have stated that they need some time to prepare for these changes. Until October 17, the final logistics will be sorted out to make sure all producers are licensed. Once that’s done, all adults will be free to buy marijuana.
Will You Be Paying Taxes On It?
When the government makes a product legal, it means they get to take their cut. This is true for almost everything, and now marijuana has joined that list. In most cases, you’ll have to pay one dollar in tax per gram. For more expensive strains, they’ll charge you a flat 10% tax. While that may seem tedious, it’s actually quite generous compared to the alcohol tax, which charges you 50% on the light stuff and up to 80% for hard liquor.
Don’t think all the tax money is going to the federal government exclusively. Ontario will actually get 75% of the cannabis taxes paid in the province, while the federal government gets the other 25%. The limit to this is $100 million a year. Should tax revenue exceed that number, Ontario gets to keep the excess.
Will There Be Shortages?
After implementation in October, you should expect some supply shortages. To prepare for legalization, growers are going to be busy upgrading their facilities and planting more product. Waiting for it to grow takes time, however, and consumers aren’t going to wait. This should only last a short time, though. By 2020, the Canadian marijuana industry should be oversupplied, if anything else.
With those projections, one may think that a surplus is inevitable. Marijuana suppliers are preparing for this by setting up deals to export to other countries where medical marijuana is legal but local production is stifled. Even so, marijuana prices are expected to drop in response to the increased supply. Your favourite cannabis dispensary in Toronto will likely be just fine, as many are focusing on unique products like extracts, oils and soaps.
Find a Marijuana Dispensary in Toronto
Legalization is changing the entire industry, so you can expect more dispensaries to show up around Toronto. For an easily accessible list of all dispensaries worth knowing about, Weed Farms has got you covered. Take a look at all the dispensaries in your area, complete with menus and reviews.
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