Implementing Regulation in an Emerging Industry
A Multi-Province Perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21344044 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alice J de Koning (0000-0002-6127-7367), John McArdle (0000-0001-8339-8349) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 362-394 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Canadian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9495 • E-ISSN: 1911-0251 |
| Publisher | University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3138/jcs-2020-0035 |
| OpenAlex | W3186118820 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 17 |
The decriminalization of cannabis in Canada has required a host of regulatory changes at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. Provinces have operationalized the development of legal markets in very different ways, offering an opportunity to perform comparative analysis of business responses. This article outlines and delineates the various regulatory frameworks that have been employed at the provincial level, discusses how they have impacted the development of the legal cannabis market, and considers how they have resulted in some further regulatory changes. After reviewing coevolution as a conceptual framework, the implementation of legalization of recreational cannabis is discussed, followed by an exploration of different provincial approaches at a general level. The effects of that framework on the first phase of legal market operations are explored, with a focus on issues emanating from regulatory choices through discussions of five regions: British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick; each section exemplifying different priorities in the regulatory choices. Several themes emerge in the discussion. First, provincial approaches to retail licence approval have created severe bottlenecks, affecting consumer access to legal recreational cannabis. Additionally, the regulatory framework for those licences has resulted in a chilling effect on many potential entrepreneurs. Second, a reduction in black market sales has not yet occurred, largely due to the failure of some provinces to adequately provide retail licences and support legal distribution channels, or to operationalize the retail sales network. Third, many provinces struggled with operationalizing wholesale distribution to the retail stores, initially leading to administrative restrictions on store licences. Finally, issues of fairness and equity, effective displacement of the illegal market, government’s role as a market regulator and participant, and other issues that emerge from the critical comparison of the provincial markets are addressed
Business · Cannabis · Conceptual framework · Distribution (mathematics) · Legalization · Operationalization · Political science · Recreation · Sociology · Law · Marketing · Social Sciences and Governance
High Time
Coevolution as a Research Framework for Organizations and the Natural Environment
Parents are the best prevention’? Troubling assumptions in cannabis policy and prevention discourses in the context of legalization in Canada
Taxing the tempted
Beyond prohibition
Cannabis policy diffusion in Ontario and New Brunswick
Cannabis legalization and the machinery of government
The state must compete
Reflections on Portraiture
Structuring a Theory of Moral Sentiments
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |