Provincial Cannabis Legislation, Regulation, and Licensing: Its Effectiveness and Impacts on Municipalities in Ontario

The legalization of cannabis has been a controversial topic within the last two decades in many developed states. The legalization brought medicinal benefits, economic opportunity, and a projected decrease in organized crime. It has, however, also prompted new challenges for different levels of government. In Canada, legalization was a federal decision that was then regulated by provincial governments. However, local governments were on the receiving end of both federal and provincial legislation and regulations that often restricted municipal autonomy with respect to cannabis. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the legal and regulatory framework of retail cannabis in Ontario and to contribute to other long-term studies with respect to this matter. Through case studies of the Town of Tecumseh and the Municipality of Lakeshore, it focuses on dissecting the role of municipal governments in the Canadian example of cannabis legalization and regulation. It finds that the downloading of federal policy and provincial regulation has kept municipalities in a subservient state.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Windsor

Author dc:creator

• Farag, Rami

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John Sutcliffe

Contributors dc:contributor

• faragr@uwindsor.ca

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY-NC-SA Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_CA

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14776/9972

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uwindsor.scholaris.ca:20.500.14776/9972