Prior to the announcement that legal cannabis will be distributed in Ontario exclusively by province-owned retail outlets, Ontarios government invited residents to complete a survey to help inform decisions in shaping the provinces new cannabis laws. This public engagement also included roundtable consultations with industry leaders, health experts, law enforcement representatives, and community organizations.
In the first phase of the engagement process, lasting roughly two weeks (from July 12, 2017, until the end of that month) Ontario residents were encouraged to take part in an anonymous, province-wide survey with questions pertaining to cannabis legalization. The survey received submissions from over 53,000 respondents, with nearly a third of submissions received in the first 24 hours.
Support among respondents was overwhelmingly in favour of setting the minimum legal age for possession at 19 years.
The engagement report acknowledges that caution was advised by health experts, who asserted that cannabis may affect a persons developing brain until the age of 25. But the report also emphasized the rationale that if the legal age is set too high then young adults aged 19-24 would continue to seek illicit sources.
Three quarters of respondents supported restricting consumption in public places, with the majority supporting consumption bans around schools, child care facilities, and public buildings such as libraries and community centers.
On the issue of road safety opinions were divided, with the division running a clearand predictabledemographic line. The majority of respondents who currently use cannabis opposed stricter impaired driving penalties, while the majority of non-users indicated support for stricter penalties. The report also offers a sensible perspective in a quote from one respondent: Treat penalties like any other drug/alcohol impairment.
Room for interpretation
The engagement report states that 43 percent of survey respondents were equally supportive of a government-only distribution model or a private-only distribution model, however due to the ambiguous phrasing used in the relevant survey question, many or all of those who responded as such may have intended instead to indicate support for a mixed system with both government and private sales.
Among respondents who supported one model over the other, 49 percent of current cannabis users preferred the private model.
Education and awareness
Opinions among Ontario residents were undivided in support for public education initiatives, including awareness campaigns for new road safety policies, health risk advisories for people under 25 ...
