Presentation to Finance Canada

INCLUSIVE GROWTH Creating a World-Class Sustainable Cannabis Industry Through Inclusivity, Transparency, and Evidence-Based Policy

WORKING WITH GOVERNMENT

WHO WE REPRESENT

CANADA’S FUTURE

Together with industry leaders, The Cannabis Trade Alliance of Canada (CTAC) is committed to working with legislators and regulators in government to develop a sustainable, safe, and ethical cannabis industry.

CTAC represents a wide spectrum of stakeholders in the cannabis industry. We believe transparent guidelines must be balanced with inclusiveness and a willingness to provide all stakeholders a voice.

A successful model for Canada’s cannabis industry must be built upon a foundation of evidencebased regulations. These regulations must protect the interests of medical patients, give adult users access to a healthy, competitive market and create economic opportunities for the middle class.

CANADA’S WELL ESTABLISHED AND UNREGULATED CANNABIS INDUSTRY Canada has a well-established and extremely diverse private sector cannabis industry composed of “otherwise law-abiding citizens”. In fact, most of Canada’s cannabis is currently produced by craft farmers, mom and pop types, or entrepreneurs from complimentary industries.

The fabric of the existing cannabis industry is made from diverse areas of expertise including: propagators, producers, harvesters, processors, laboratories, infused product makers, breeders, distributors, transporters, hydroponic and other retailers, healthcare professionals, caregivers, patients, biologists, pathologists, research scientists, biochemists, social scientists, engineers, and tradespersons.

Small Canadian businesses employing Canadian workers make up the largest portion of the existing cannabis infrastructure.

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DIMINISH THE BLACK MARKET AND REDUCE CRIMINAL ELEMENT Organized crime will only be removed from the marketplace if Government allows current industry participants Cannabis products offered through legal channels need to be of equal or superior quality to those available through illicit channels i.e. by providing consistent standards, testing, labelling, formulations, branding, and packaging.

Elimination of the black market cannot be achieved under a monopolistic, or oligopolistic, system.

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INCLUSIVE GROWTH Working with successful entrepreneurs from the existing medical cannabis industry will be key to our success.

Inclusive growth fosters entrepreneurial activity, economic innovation, and competition.

Empowering independent cannabis enterprises will put hundreds of people into work and would increase small business activity across Canada. This would ensure the growth of the regulated market and lead to significant tax revenue for government, while simultaneously undermining the unregulated market.

A larger number of cannabis businesses provides more opportunities for the support network of ancillary businesses in Canada: professional services (insurance, legal, accounting), testing and research labs, construction trades, universities, equipment manufacturers, and much more.

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ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITES In Canada, there is no domestic market growing as quickly as cannabis. For the last several decades, cannabis has been one of Canada’s top cash crops. Current estimates suggest that a new adult-use cannabis market could have as many as 7-million potential customers.

A 2016 CIBC World Markets report suggests that Canada’s federal and provincial governments might realise as much as $5-billion / year from legalization sales (0.25% of GDP), but only if all the underground sales are effectively curtailed.

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INCLUSIVE REGULATION The most efficient way to impede the illicit-market is to provide existing players and their products an opportunity to participate in a new and more regulated economy; allow these players a means to transition into the emerging legitimate market without fear of injustice or persecution.

Establishing a legalized regime which is inclusive, sustainable, and transparent, will encourage participation and discourage people from operating and supporting the unregulated market, and from having to compete against it.

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IMPLEMENT A VARIETY OF NEW LICENSING CATEGORIES CTAC encourages a licensing structure which grants more – and more varied – licenses to increase the quantity and variety of the available supply chain.

Different aspects of the cannabis industry require different forms of licenses as they have different potential for public harm, criminal activity, and taxation.

Having separate licensing categories creates more opportunities for small businesses to participate instead of enabling a small group of large companies to dominate the market.

This promotes economic stability by keeping small sustainable businesses viable and increases participation in the legal market, and away from the illicit market.

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MAINTAIN A TRANSPARENT & ACCOUNTABLE SECURITY CLEARANCE PROCESS CTAC advocates for a clear, transparent, and accountable security clearance process. This is important to provide a level playing field for businesses and investors across the country.

The current ACMPR (and the proposed Cannabis Act) security clearance process takes much too long, completely lacks transparency and accountability: • discriminates against individuals with alleged and speculative ties to current cannabis enterprises • discriminates against those involved in predecessor Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) • excludes individuals with cannabis related criminal prosecutions Reasons for refusing a security clearance should not be vague or based on opinions and conjecture: • should be based on facts, evidence and the law • should be based on reasonable, clear and unambiguous guidelines • should not be more onerous than that required for the alcohol, wine and beer industries: i.e. a background and Electronic Criminal Records Check performed by the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires Cannabis Trade Alliance of Canada | sustainablecannabis.ca

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ANNOUNCEMENT BY HEALTH CANADA NOV 21 CTAC is pleased see mention of “classes” or “categories” of producers in the licensing framework, which are in-line with the recommendations previously put forward by CTAC through the Task Force consultation.

Cultivation • Standard Cultivation Licence Large-scale growers of cannabis • Micro-Cultivation Licence Small-scale growers of cannabis • Nursery Licence Growers of starting materials • Industrial Hemp Licence Processing • Standard Processing Licence • Micro-processing Licence Sale to the Public • Authorized Provincial and Territorial (P/T) Sale--Sell to adults • Federal Sale Licence (Medical)--Sell to registered persons • Federal Sale Licence (Non-Medical)--Sell to adults Health Canada is listening to the Task Force & to industry feedback on the importance of including craft / artisanal producers. The more participants included in the legalization framework, the more robust the industry becomes (and the greater likelihood to impeding the black market).

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TAXATION STRUCTURES The economic impact of legalizing Cannabis is very positive for all levels of government and Canadian taxpayers.

A proper taxation structure could potentially deliver billions of dollars in new revenue from the cannabis sector, funds that governments can reinvest in other areas including: • Public health care and harm-reduction including mental health and addiction, • education and awareness initiatives, • community infrastructure programs (such as the construction of public buildings and other community amenities) Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis in 2014: • first 3.5 years of legalization - cannabis contributed more than half a billion dollars in state & local tax revenue • majority goes to fund K-12 education and school construction • remainder has financed health care, health education, law enforcement, substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.

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TAXATION OF RECREATIONAL CANNABIS It is important to ensure that any taxation structure maintains prices that are comparable to, or lower than, the illicit market.

If pricing is not competitive, the unregulated (illicit) market will likely continue to flourish.

Risk that high taxation creates a market opportunity for untaxed illegal suppliers Excise (at max of $1 or 10%) + GST/PST or HST ranging from 5% to 15% across provinces is enough Provinces and municipalities should be restricted from imposing additional taxes Feds should share excise taxes with other levels of government (as they do GST)

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TAXATION OF CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES

CONTINUED

On November 10th the Department of Finance announced a proposal to apply excise tax to both recreational and medical cannabis.

An over-riding assumption when looking at taxation of medical cannabis is the concern that Canadians will use (abuse) the medical cannabis system to access cheap cannabis.

However, figures from Colorado (a state with a population 5.5 million – the size of BC) show that this is not necessarily true: • •

recreational sales outpace medical sales by 400% (ie medical represents only 25% of the market) as at September 2017, state figures indicate $100.8 million in recreational cannabis sales, and $25.8 million in medical (based on extrapolations of data put out by the Cannabist: http://www.thecannabist.co/2017/11/09/coloradomarijuana-sales-september-2017/92128/

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TAXATION OF CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES

CONTINUED

There is also an argument that it may be too difficult to separate medical vs recreational sales: • • • •

Simply not true – medical cannabis sales is currently conducted by mail order under very tight inventory control recreational sales will also be highly regulated Seed to sale tracking solutions exist & used in legalized states tracking medical sales for tax filings is simple and achievable.

For consideration: this might mean that ‘micro growers’

cannot sell MMJ and only sell recreational if their tracking is less sophisticated, but its not an issue for LP’s.

The current medical cannabis access system is: • • •

expensive (approximately $600+) time consuming (2-4 weeks) Inconvenient (mail order only)

These barriers do not exist for other more potent and dangerous (additive qualities) pharmaceuticals (e.g.

Opioids/anti-depressants)

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TAXATION OF CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES

CONTINUED

The current government proposal will lead to further affordability challenges for patients using cannabis for medical purposes: • • • •

medical cannabis patients cannot obtain insurance coverage GST/HST already applied to medical cannabis taxes placed on medical cannabis create further financial barriers to quality of life discourages Canadians from accessing the legal and regulated system put in place to help them

Due to its medical purpose, one would expect medical cannabis to be placed in the zero-rated category: patients need to be relieved from the burden of tax when they purchase products required to maintain or restore health. Applying taxes is a deterrent to the seeking of treatment.

CTAC believes that medical cannabis should be zero-rated for GST (not tax-exempt).

Prescribed MMJ should be treated like all other prescribed pharmaceuticals

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PROVINCIAL CONSIDERATIONS Personal Possession – Adults • Consider: there are no limits on the amount of alcohol a person can purchase and posses.

Personal Possession – Youth • Legal prohibition for those under provincial age of majority, not resulting in criminalization, is a reasonable measure. Remedy should simply be confiscation by a law enforcement officer.

Public Consumption • Smoking dried cannabis (ie. joints) should fall under smoking bylaws, vaping under e-cigarette laws, and consumption of edible products potentially under similar laws as alcohol consumption.

Drug impaired driving • someone can use cannabis, but not be impaired (based on tolerances, method of ingestion, etc). Proper public education campaigns noting the risks of impaired driving will be key.

Personal cultivation • A licensing regime for personal cultivation is likely unnecessary and would be financial prohibitive to administer.

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ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS Inclusion of Cannabis in the Farming Sector • would allow cannabis producers access to programs and certifications offered by provincial agriculture councils/ associations Development of Cannabis Appellations (Grow Regions) • Similar to wine appellations, would enhance provincial and international appeal with potential to generate tourism interest to a particular area Trade Alliance Certification • certification standards for cannabis similar to the VQA designation for the wine industry.

Cannabis Tourism • cannabis tourism in Canada could be a novel addition to regional tourism industries and could produce significant revenue streams for small business and communities.

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ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS Women in Cannabis • According to current estimates, woman comprise 36% of all executives in the US cannabis market, far surpassing the 22% the US national average for women in executive positions across all industries. The legalized industry is new and not heavily male-dominated - consequently, there are very few barriers to entry for women.

Promoting Diversity • CTAC recognizes the benefits that arise from employee and corporate board diversity and encourages equal opportunity in the new legalized cannabis industry.

Innovation and Research • CTAC encourages the organization of interdisciplinary research institutes and centres with the aim of encouraging collaborative and integrative approaches to support the development of Canada’s cannabis industry.

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THE ROAD AHEAD - ANSWERING THE CALL FOR RESEARCH As Canada rapidly advances toward legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes, there is an unaddressed need for research into the health, social, policy, and educational impacts of cannabis use, including but not limited to: • • • • •

how does cannabis benefit and/or harm our health? what does cannabis do to our brains? what will be its impact on society? will it help to alleviate the opiate crisis? how will we educate our society – and, particularly, our children about using cannabis?

Government funding has the best chance of providing an unbiased research environment, expanding Canada’s knowledge base in the realm of cannabis.

Such research innovations would help generate new revenue opportunities and market growth for Canadians in a variety of markets and businesses within and affiliated to, the new legalized cannabis industry.

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