Globe says Aphria, rivals hear pot shops face choice

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Tuesday August 21 2018 - In the News

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The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Ontario weed dispensary operators have been told to shut down now in the hopes of securing a cannabis retail licence from the province by next April. The Globe's Mike Hager writes that unnamed observers expect that owners of many of the 100 or so dispensaries in and around Toronto will plan to go legal. 

To do so, they will have to shut down their operations by the legalization date of Oct. 17. Tory cabinet ministers said the province, like the federal government, is intent on crushing the illegal weed trade. They said upcoming consultations with communities and stakeholders will determine if and how those who have sold the drug illegally in the past should be allowed into the regulated sector come April. 

No one is tracking the number of Canada's illicit bricks-and-mortar dispensaries, which insiders estimate at several hundred, or the exploding number of on-line retailers now postering many of the country's largest cities with advertisements for their delivery services. 

In total, Canada's underground trade is estimated at about 400,000 kilograms a year, which dwarfs the legal medical cannabis system that shipped 33,000 kilograms of product last year.

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