SEPTEMBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 37
Stırring the
WITH CANNABIS DRINKS SET TO HIT THE
MARKET BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR, SHOULD
B.C.'S ALCOHOL INDUSTRY BE WORRIED?
/// b y N A T H A N C A D D E L L /// p o r t r a i t b y P A U L J O S E P H
In October, the federal government will celebrate a
year of recreational cannabis becoming legal. There's no word on
how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and company plan to mark
the occasion. (Or if Trudeau will be in office long enough to enjoy
the day.)
A year later, the only real differences for those who consume
the drug recreationally are that they can get it in nice, government-
approved wrapping and (ostensibly) don't have to make small talk
with scraggly dealers or hide in public. How people actually use
marijuana hasn't changed much.
But they'll have more options in December, when cannabis
edibles and drinks become fair play for licensed stores. Although
edibles have been available on the black and so-called grey mar-
kets for some time, cannabis-infused drinks are something of an
unknown. The rules that will govern them seem just as cloudy.
"I'm concerned, because we actually don't have much informa-
tion about how these new regulations are going to hit the ground
here," says Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.
SEPTEMBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 37
