Mississauga‘s long-standing prohibition on legal cannabis stores could be lifted as soon as next week.
Mississauga is among 64 Ontario municipalities that opted out of legalized pot in 2018 but a motion that will be considered at a committee meeting on Wednesday morning seeks to lift the prohibition once and for all.
The motion, brought forward by Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla, would still need to be approved by city council as a whole on April 19.
However, advocates for the industry say that they are hopeful that there is now support for reversing a ban which has left legal cannabis businesses shut out of Ontario’s third largest city for nearly five years.
“This is quite literally what a lot of brands on the market need right now,” cannabis industry advocate and Mississauga native Rianna Ford told CP24.com. “We are almost at this cap of how much you can really make as a brand. So having that access to that many more consumers given how densely populated Mississauga is could be a real benefit.”
A staff report that will be considered by Mississauga’s general committee during tomorrow’s meeting states that residents in the city are “disproportionately served by the illegal cannabis market” compared to those living in communities that have opted into legal pot, with about 61 per cent purchasing cannabis from individuals.
The report does note that the illegal mobile dispensaries in Mississauga that were on the rise in 2021 due to the pandemic “have become relatively obsolete.”
But it says that one particular business on Hurontario Street has remained an “illegal dispensary of concern” despite the execution of numerous search warrants and has “effectively cornered the illegal cannabis market in Mississauga.”
That has led some councillors, including Damerla, to question whether continuing to prohibit legal cannabis stores makes sense.
Damerla previously voted against lifting the prohibition on two separate occasions.
“It is a surreal situation where I cannot stop an illegal cannabis store from operating, but I am stopping legal cannabis stores from operating. That makes no sense,” the Ward 7 councillor told CP24.com in February.
Municipalities can’t reconsider after opting in
Under provincial legislation, municipalities who have opted out of legal cannabis stores can opt in at any time, but once they do, there will be no opportunity to revisit that decision.
Ford said that right now, neighbouring cities, like Burlington and Brampton, are effectively serving the Mississauga market in concert with the illegal market and the Ontario Cannabis Store’s mail-order business.
But she said that if council opts to allow legalized cannabis stores within Mississauga’s boundaries, there will inevitably be a significant amount of interest from existing cannabis retailers, particularly the large corporations that she says have already secured locations in some instances.
“There are definitely stores already built and ready. All they need is the AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) license and they're good to operate, probably in a month after they say yes,” she said. “I’m talking corporations more so first because they have the most money. So they have been able to sit on property for upwards to a year, I am hearing. To me, I see it all happening quite soon. That is why I really am pushing for more independents and the people I know in the industry to really start looking and kind of navigating the market.”
Several Mississauga city councillors have expressed concerns about the clustering of retail locations in the past.
However, the staff report states that the “clustering of stores has not proven to be an issue” in most neighbouring municipalities that have opted in.
