Cannabis Legalization
Legalizing Cannabis for medical and recreational consumption has boosted consumer choice and successfully fought crime and black markets in several parts of North America. The Consumer Choice Center welcomes Cannabis legalization as a step towards more consumer choice and stresses the importance of a smart regulatory approach towards Cannabis legalization.
The CCC is active in the legalization debate in several US states, Canada, and Luxembourg. This includes coverage in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Detroit News, and more.
Testimonies
CCC promotes Smart Cannabis Regulations at the French National Assembly
On January 13, the CCC’s Yaël Ossowski and Bill Wirtz gave testimony at a committee of the French National Assembly, making the argument for smart cannabis policy when France commits to legalization. The presentations given by both Yaël and Bill highlighted the missed opportunities of Canada’s cannabis policies, recommendations on how to make future regulations consumer-friendly, and the forthcoming regulation of cannabis in Luxembourg.
CCC Testimony on Smart CBD Regulation
On May 31st, 2019, Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski was invited to provide testimony to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on regulations for cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds such as CBD.
CCC Testifies at Canadian Senate on Cannabis Taxation
Our David Clement testified at the Canadian Senate Committee on National Finance about changes to the taxation of medical cannabis and excise taxes on edibles, extracts, and topicals.
CCC Testimony on Ontario’s Cannabis Rules
On October 12th, 2018 Consumer Choice Center’s David Clement testified at the Standing Committee on Social Policy to provide comment on Bill 36, which determined Ontario’s cannabis regulations. His comments were later quoted by Ontario’s Attorney General, leading to a change in the proposed leglislation.
Consumer Choice Center Makes Headlines and Promotes “Smart Legalization” in Luxembourg
During a three-day visit of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg in late April 2019, Consumer Choice Center staff met and held significant meetings with various policymakers from the ruling parties, opposition parties, community groups, labor unions, and religious leaders in order to provide lessons learned from the Canadian experience of legalizing cannabis.
Success Stories
Public cannabis consumption ban in Ontario was reversed
On Aug. 13, Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fideli announced the government’s plan for cannabis legalization. The keystone of the Progressive Conservatives’ policy was a reversal of the public retail monopoly model proposed by the former Liberal government, to instead opt for private retail province wide.
In order to disseminate the Consumer Choice Center’s position on why Ontario’s public consumption ban would have been detrimental to consumer choice, the CCC’s North American Affairs Manager David Clement published an op-ed in The Globe and Mail , which is largest printed newspapers in Canada. In his piece, he suggested either backpedalling on the ban or legalizing regulated consumption lounges.
On 26 September, Ontario reversed their decision to ban all public consumption for cannabis. This victory will contribute to the creation of a more equitable, just and consumer-friendly cannabis market in Ontario.
Events
The Consumer Choice Center hosts a Cannabis Conclave in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, January 24th, 2019. We want to use this event to fuel the legalization debate in Europe and show how legitimate and mature this industry in parts of North and South America already is.
Policy Primers
Policy Primer on “Smart Legalization” For Cannabis
By David Clement, Yaël Ossowski, Bill Wirtz, Fred Roeder
Legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational consumption has boosted consumer choice and, at the same time, successfully deterred continued crime and black market activity in several parts of North America. The Consumer Choice Center welcomes cannabis legalization as a step towards more consumer choice, but stresses the importance of smart regulatory policy in each jurisdiction where it is considered.
Thanks to our experience in working on cannabis legalization in several U.S. States and Canada, we would like to share the following lessons and policy recommendations for the dozens of European, South American, Asian, and African countries now considering legalization of medical or recreational cannabis.
Polls
On November 18-19, 2018, the Consumer Choice Center commissioned a survey conducted by Pulse Opinion Research on important healthcare and cannabis issues in the state of Wisconsin.
The full results and methodology can be found here.
Media Hits
