Canada's Demand For Recreational Marijuana Expected To Exceed Supply Following Legalization
A lot of complications arise with legalizing recreational marijuana, but for Canada, the country's biggest challenge is growing enough weed to satisfy demand. The country’s minister of finance, Charles Sousa, said that the country is currently navigating how to deal with the shortage, reports Bloomberg.
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“Ultimately the biggest problem that appears after today’s discussion is one of supply,” Sousa said to the news outlet last week following a meeting to discuss the problem. “So we want to make certain that, when we do proceed, there is sufficient supply to accommodate the activity because what we’re trying to do is curb the illicit use and organized crime that now exists around it.”
The news organization reports that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released his plan for legalizing pot in April, which placed the responsibility of sale and distribution on the country’s provinces. The original idea was that recreational weed could be sold through mail by July 2018. Bloomberg reports the sale of recreational and medical weed could reach 575,000 kilograms by 2021.
The Canadian government worries that the inability to meet demand will keep the black market alive. Some think the shortage will also delay legalizing weed for pleasure.
“There will be a shortage initially,” PI Financial analyst Jason Zandberg told Bloomberg. “My concerns are that if that is used as an excuse to push the date of recreational legalization back, there’s a danger that it slips into the next election cycle and doesn’t actually happen.”
The demand for weed in Canada has already grown significantly based on medicinal purposes alone. As of March 31, Bloomberg writes that 167,754 Canadians were registered medicinal marijuana users. This figure is triple from what it was a year earlier. Health Canada announced they would make the process to get a grower’s license faster to help increase supply. However, the organization has already received criticism about its ability to ensure the safety of medical marijuana. Earlier this year, banned pesticides were found in some cannabis supplies, causing a new layer of testing.
In a statement to the Globe and Mail, Health Canada’s spokesperson Eric Morrissette said, "This requirement for mandatory testing for the presence of unauthorized pesticides will help ensure that Canadians can continue to have confidence in obtaining safe, quality-controlled medical cannabis from licensed producers.”
The Canadian government says the toxins were found in trace amounts not harmful to your health, but that likely brings little comfort to those who might have inhaled banned poisons.
In April, Globe and Mail reported that producers have shown little confidence in the government’s regulatory abilities. CanniMed Therapeutics have claimed that production standards are not at an appropriate level. Canada’s largest supplier of medical marijuana also spoke out about the need for better rules.
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“We firmly believe that there is a critical need to set clear and enforceable rules to ensure that customers are protected and have access to clean and safe product,” Aphria chief executive officer Vic Neufeld told the newspaper. “This is of utmost importance, given the expected demand that will come with the introduction of a recreational market. As such, Aphria is calling for a strict product-testing regime across the sector.”
There’s no denying that the business of marijuana is booming, but whether or not Canada will be able to successfully manage the industry and attempt to shut down the black market is less clear.
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