Cannabis becomes legal on Oct. 17 but questions still linger about exactly how or if online cannabis sales will work in smaller communities.
Weed has been under prohibition for 95 years and it seems unlikely that consumers – who have been purchasing the product illegally throughout this time – will feel the need to change the way they buy cannabis.
Online prices through the GNWT range from $8.21 per gram to $14.55 per gram for premium strains. That's approximately $4 more expensive than existing online retailers operating from down south while a similar amount of black market marijuana in remote communities can be purchased for $10 to $20 per gram -- not much more than those government prices, depending on the community when shipping costs are counted into the equation. Without being cost-competitive, the government could face a real uphill battle attracting customers.
People in remote communities without access to banking institutions also only have one payment option – purchase pre-paid credit cards from WE Financial – the institution that provides credit cards for NorthMart and Northern stores in the territory. That's another limitation.
With no liquor store providing over-the-counter service, the choice will be, in essence, either stick with a local dealer or order through the GNWT's online system – a system that will use buyer information to create a database. Many people will surely be reluctant to have those details logged.
In a 2012 Department of Health and Social Services' report on substance use and addiction, the NWT rate of marijuana use was reported at 21 per cent compared to the national rate of 12 per cent with the highest rate of NWT users – 40 per cent – being those between ages 15 to 24. With 19 being the legal age of use, that means a portion of that highest group of users are not legally permitted to purchase cannabis. As with alcohol and tobacco, we can presume that this age group will still find a way to purchase the product and that means the government will miss its mark on eliminating the "black market."
And though there have been health warnings on cigarettes and with alcohol, youth still choose to indulge in both those substances regardless of the warnings. It is likely the same will be true of marijuana use within that group.
In a territory with one of the highest national averages for addictions, the GNWT is going to have to work double-time on promoting healthy choices for our youth and finding a way that works in remote communities, such as private retailers, that will effectively smoke out the black market.