Fourteen Ontario municipalities — including Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, and Hamilton — will have the first LCBO-run recreational marijuana stores.The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which runs the new Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), announced the first wave of 40 stores on Friday.While the exact locations remain to be determined, Barrie, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, and Windsor will also have the legalized weed stores.“Over the coming weeks, staff from the Ministry of Finance and the LCBO will meet with staff at the identified municipalities to discuss the guidelines and process for sitting stores and local interests,” a statement read.“The guidelines will achieve our objectives of protecting youth by ensuring stores are not in close proximity to schools, while providing access within communities and addressing the illegal market,” the LCBO added.“As part of the engagement with municipalities, when a specific store site is identified, a public notice will be posted online here and at the physical site. The public will have the opportunity to submit questions and comments on the intended site before it is confirmed,” it continued.“Additional municipalities intended for stores by July 2018 will also be identified. Consumers in all regions of Ontario will have access to cannabis through an online channel.”The news came two days after Attorney General Yasir Naqvi tabled the landmark Cannabis Act to prepare Ontario for the federal legalization of recreational marijuana on July 1.That bill paves the way for 150 standalone LCBO-run shops by 2020.The OCRC will have a monopoly on the weed market in Ontario and the existing “dispensaries” now operating illegally will be forced out of business.“These pot stores that we see in our neighbourhoods today are illegal. They will remain illegal — only the Ontario Cannabis Re ...
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