When recreational marijuana is legalized in Canada this summer, British Columbians won’t be able to buy it along with a six-pack of beer.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth is set to unveil a suite of rules and regulations for legal cannabis in B.C. on Monday.
Global News has learned that chief among them will be a ban on the sale of cannabis products alongside any alcohol products.
In addition to the liquor store ban, Farnworth is set to announce that landlords will have the right to ban tenants from growing cannabis on their premises.
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The province has previously announced that marijuana will be sold in a mixture of privately owned and publicly owned outlets; it is now set to clarify that none of those outlets will be liquor stores.
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Under the model, it would be possible for a stand-alone cannabis retail outlet to be established next door to a liquor store, but not within its doors.
Farnworth has rejected the selling of cannabis in liquor stores, known as “co-location,” despite a campaign by an unlikely alliance of private liquor retailers and unionized public liquor store workers to allow for the sale of the products side by side.
That alliance has argued that liquor stores already have the infrastructure in place to safely handle cannabis, and that staff are well trained to prevent the sale to minors or intoxicated people.
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However, public health experts including former Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall have argued against co-location.
Those experts argued that while 80 per cent of British Columbians consume alcohol, just 17 per cent say they use cannabis.
On one hand, they argued, making cannabis available in any of B.C.’s nearly 900 public and private liquor outlets could increase marijuana use, while on the other hand, it could expose people seeking marijuana who have addiction issues to alcohol.
— With files from Keith Baldrey