Online cannabis monopoly a boon to black market

Ontario delivers yet another cannabis decision that hurts retailers and helps illegal dealers | Financial Post - David Clement:

February 20, 2019 - "Recently, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) stated legal cannabis shops in the province will be prohibited from offering online retail options to consumers. This means that the initial 25 cannabis stores in Ontario and the multitude of stores that could open once the province lifts its temporary cap on retail licences won’t be able to offer consumers online ordering for store pickup (click and collect). Nor will they be able to offer any same-day delivery services.

"The move to mandate that the province have a monopoly on cannabis e-commerce benefits the government, and the black market, at the expense of consumers....

"Both click and collect and same-day delivery are purchase options that significantly increase consumer access, which is key to curbing black-market sales. In order to truly achieve the goal of stamping out criminal actors, legal cannabis needs to be more accessible than illegal cannabis, which is something that click and collect and delivery can help with.

"This problem is made worse by the fact that 77 Ontario communities have opted out of cannabis retail altogether. These 'dry' communities will have no retail options within their city limits, leaving consumers to either drive to the closest opt-in community, order online through the OCS and wait three to five business days for delivery, or purchase cannabis illegally on the black market.....

"In a scenario where private online retail options were legal, we could see consumers in 'dry' suburbs ordering online to pick up on their way home from work, or even better, ordering for same-day delivery directly to their home. A delivery option for residents in dry communities would help meet their access needs, especially when compared to online ordering with the OCS, all while respecting the will of prohibitionist city councillors who don’t want cannabis retail. Unfortunately, the government monopoly ensures such a scenario is impossible.

"Allowing for communities to opt out of cannabis retail was already a mistake, because it ultimately signals to black-market actors that those supposedly dry jurisdictions are still open for illegal business. Preventing online ordering and delivery from private stores outside those communities dogpiles on to that growing problem and makes the situation much worse.

"Consumer access and consumer choice matter in terms of curbing the black market, but these policy failures could have larger implications. Those who never wanted cannabis to be legal to begin with will be front and centre arguing that legalization has failed to curb the black market and has failed to meet its objectives. Policies like community opt-outs and a government e-commerce monopoly act as a ball and chain for the legal market, limiting its ability to compete, which is a huge disservice to Ontario’s cannabis consumers."

David Clement is the North American affairs manager at the Consumer Choice Center.

Read more: https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/ontario-delivers-yet-another-cannabis-decision-that-hurts-retailers-and-helps-illegal-dealers

'via Blog this'

Reduce government, reduce police brutality

Reduce government, reduce police brutality | Anthony Furey | Opinion | Winnipeg Sun:

December 5, 2014 - "The first few times I watched the Eric Garner video it was the end part that I focused on. How can one not? That’s the point where Garner is placed in the chokehold by the police officer. He later died from the complications of that hold.... But after a few views I started to really hear what was happening at the beginning of the video, when a couple officers surround Garner.

"He appears genuinely frustrated. At his wits’ end. He says he wasn’t doing anything. He certainly doesn’t look like he was doing anything.

"'Every time you see me you want to mess with me,' he cries out.

"It’s important to remember what they’re bickering about: Whether or not Garner was peddling contraband cigarettes on the sidewalk. Really?! And this seemingly irrelevant disagreement ends in a man’s death?

"This opening scene reminds me of the story of Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old Tunisian fruit vendor who sparked the Arab Spring.

"He’d been harassed for years by local officials over petty regulatory issues that seemed to change daily.... One day the harassment got too much and he set fire to himself in protest....

"In Garner’s case, he was killed because the government was protecting both the cigarette brands it favours and the massive taxes it collects from smokes....

"Whatever your thoughts about how police brutality and racism play into the story, this altercation would have never happened in the first place were it not for the cigarette laws....

"So here’s where we’re at: The government has made a product unaffordable for low-income people. Those people in turn buy from the black market. This creates a criminal underworld and also reduces government tax revenues. The government then uses tax dollars to employ police resources to crack down on this. This is a perverse circle.

"The problem with the Garner case at every single step is a lack of proportionality. Too many stupid laws. Too many cops on the scene. Too many instances of harassing low-income people who are just doing what they need to do to make it through the day."

Read more: http://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/12/05/reduce-government-reduce-police-brutality
'via Blog this'

Garner's death shows need for an American Spring

Eric Garner could spark American Spring: Column - David Boaz, USA Today:

December 5, 2014 - "The violent death of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia set off the Arab Spring. Could the killing of Eric Garner lead to a springtime of police reform – and regulatory reform – in the United States?

"Bouazizi was a street vendor, selling fruits and vegetables from a cart. He aspired to buy a pickup truck to expand his business. But, as property rights reformer Hernando de Soto wrote in the Wall Street Journal, ...  'government inspectors made Bouazizi's life miserable, shaking him down for bribes when he couldn't produce licenses that were (by design) virtually unobtainable. He tired of the abuse. The day he killed himself, inspectors had come to seize his merchandise and his electronic scale for weighing goods. A tussle began. One municipal inspector, a woman, slapped Bouazizi across the face. That humiliation, along with the confiscation of just $225 worth of his wares, is said to have led the young man to take his own life'....

"Garner's story is surprisingly similar. He had been arrested more than 30 times, for such crimes as marijuana possession and driving without a license, and most often for selling untaxed cigarettes on the street.

"Why sell untaxed cigarettes? Because New York has the country's highest cigarette taxes, $4.35 a pack for New York State and another $1.50 for the city. A pack of cigarettes can cost $14 in New York City, two and a half times as much as in Virginia . So a lively black market has sprung up.... A 2013 study by the Mackinac Center found, not surprisingly, that New York had the highest rate of cigarette smuggling, totaling 61% of the state's cigarette sales.

"Eric Garner was a small part of that black market. He sold individual cigarettes – 'loosies' – on the street to people without much money. It's easier for police to apprehend street sellers than interstate organized crime. Thus his long record of arrests. And the more laws we pass, the more chances there are for people to run afoul of the police. Especially when we outlaw peaceful activities, such as smoking marijuana, selling untaxed cigarettes or feeding the homeless.

"Eric Garner's last words could have been said by Mohamed Bouazizi. We've all heard that his very last words were 'I can't breathe,' which he told the police eight times. But before his encounter with the police reached that final, fatal point, cellphones captured his frustration:

"'Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today. … Because every time you see me, you want to harass me. You want to stop me [garbled] selling cigarettes. I'm minding my business, officer, I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone.'" 

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/12/05/eric-garrner-protests-reform--cigarette-taxes-column/19948609/
'via Blog this'