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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The federal election is behind us, and all Canadians are probably pretty thankful for that. That said, in what was arguably Canada’s most irritating, and cynical, election, no one spoke about Canada’s cannabis market. The opposition parties did not take aim at the Liberals for their mistakes, nor did the...
Cannabis retailers will soon be able to sell products online or over the phone for in-store pick-up as the Ontario government adopts a “click-and-connect” sales model to expand access to legal marijuana. Finance Minister Rod Phillips announced the proposed changes in the government’s fall economic statement Wednesday, saying they...
This week, 60 Minutes ran a report on the failure of cannabis policy in California, specifically the marijuana-rich region of the Emerald Triangle. Though California legalized cannabis beginning in 2017, the region has created a special conundrum for law enforcement and regulators. The northwestern region of the state, with...
One year after the legalization of recreational cannabis, Cannabis Benchmarks, a company that tracks cannabis prices, estimates that Canadian licensed producers have sold approximately 1.1 billion dollars worth of pot in the past 12 months, the equivalent to 105,000 kilograms—enough to fill almost two rail freight cars. According to Statistics Canada,...
In the second season of the Netflix series Rotten, there is an entire episode exploring the world of cannabis edibles. It is highly recommended. The documentary itself does a great job uncovering the latest innovations, the legal hurdles, and many questions left for consumers who want to try cannabis...
Opinion: About 80% of all cannabis bought in Canada is being purchased on the illegal market, far from the 50% figure claimed The federal election is just a few months away, which means Canadians are going to be bombarded with claims from the government about its apparent successes, while...
Two representatives of the Consumer Choice Centre, a US-based NGO, travelled to Luxembourg in April to offer their advice on legislation. One area of contention is whether to ban the use of cannabis in public, which risks discriminating against tenants and people of limited means. The officials recommended allowing...
Curbing the black market for cannabis is something that everyone should endorse, regardless of their view on legalization. It is far better to have consumers purchasing cannabis legally, as opposed to having them buy the product illegally, from sources possibly tied to organized crime. Unfortunately, new data from Statistics Canada shows...
“The data from Stats Can is troubling, because it shows that the legal market is getting less competitive over time,” said David Clement, the North American affairs manager at Consumer Choice Center. “Luckily there are some simple solutions that could be enacted to help the legal market compete when...
“It’s time to re-evaluate the taxes on cannabis,” according to a Toronto-based North American consumer affairs group. The Consumer Choice Center said the growing gap in price between legal cannabis and illegal pot shows that it’s time to re-evaluate cannabis taxes. Earlier this week, Statistics Canada released data on...
“The taxes and fees create prices that are high out of the gate, and then a lack of competition prevents those prices from being slowly pushed down,” David Clement, the North American affairs manager for the Consumer Choice Center, told CBC Radio-Canadaat the time. “It costs half a billion [over...
The Ford government’s decision to hold a second lottery for retail cannabis store licences is drawing a mixed review from the Consumer Choice Centre. The centre said it is pleased Ontario plans to open another 50 stores, on top of the 25 operating across the province now, but criticized the decision...
Yael Ossowski, deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center, described himself as being “on the side of consumers” and called for the FDA to set some standards and regulations but also “allow companies and brands to exist. That’s the only way consumers can differentiate between good products and bad...
Also likely to take a hit are consumers. The U.S.-headquartered Consumer Choice Center (CCC) argues the new licensing process will hurt consumers. “This move is a significant blow for Canada’s cannabis market, especially cannabis consumers nationwide,” David Clement, the CCC’s Toronto-based North American affairs manager, says in a statement. “The...
Just this week, Health Canada announced that it would be making significant changes to the process for approving licensed producer (LP) applications. Specifically, it stated that all new applications will have to have a fully built and regulatory compliant facility at the time of their application. Health Canada has...
The global crusade against cannabis is finally beginning to falter. As the attitudes of citizens and lawmakers alike begin to soften, the prospects of full legalisation have gone from a stoner’s pipe-dream (if you’ll pardon the pun) to very feasible in only a couple of years. With a fifth...
Suite à l’annonce en décembre 2018 du gouvernement luxembourgeois de procéder à légalisation de la vente et de la consommation du cannabis à des fins médicales ou récréatives, le LCGB a rencontré le groupe de travail international Consumer Choice Center (CCC) en date du 25 avril 2019. En tant...
La conférence concernant les recommandations accompagnant le processus de légalisation du cannabis au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, donnée par le Consumer Choice Center (CCC) vient d’avoir lieu. Ce CCC défend les droits des consommateurs dans plus de 100 pays avec pour mission de les informer et les encourager à se...
Des représentants canadiens de l’Agence pour le choix du consommateur sont venus à Luxembourg pour aider les décideurs politiques à faire les bons choix en matière de légalisation du cannabis. Membres de la direction de l’ONG Consumer Choice Center (l’Agence pour le choix du consommateur, ou CCC), David Clement...
According to the government’s coalition agreement, the legalisation of recreational cannabis is due to occur within the next five years. The Consumer Choice Center is a US lobbying body which lobbies the freedoms, rights, and interests of consumers. In its own words, the organisation “empowers consumers to promote science, choice, and freedom...
Auf dem Weg zur Legalisierung von medizinischem und rekreativem Cannabis könnte sich die Regierung am kanadischen Modell inspirieren. Vertreter des Consumer Choice Center (CCC) besuchen derzeit Luxemburg. Die Lobbyisten wollen Entscheidern aus Politik und Gesellschaft das kanadische Modell vorstellen – und dafür werben, dass keine hohen Steuern auf Marihuana-Produkte...
