ontario cannabis laws

Ontario is changing the rules for how cannabis can be bought and sold

In an effort to make cannabis more accessible, and to eliminate the black market, the Ontario government is making some changes when it comes to purchasing rules. 

Finance Minister Rod Phillips announced earlier this week, in the province's fall economic statement, that consumers will soon be able to make cannabis orders online or over the phone before picking it up in-store.

"The government is... proposing to amend legislation to allow authorized retail stores to sell cannabis products online or over the phone for pick-up by the consumer in-store, which is known as click-and-collect," the statement reads. 

"This would help ensure consumers’ preferred cannabis products are available and would decrease wait times at retail stores."

The province has made multiple changes to cannabis legislation in recent months in order to improve supply and accessibility issues in Ontario. 

On top of introducing the click-and-collect model, the PC government has also pledged to get rid of a cap originally introduced to limit the number of cannabis retailers in the province. 

The original cap allowed for just 25 locations to open in Ontario, while that number was increased to 75 earlier this fall. 

In the announcement earlier this week, the PC government also said licensed producers will soon be allowed to open retail stores on each of their production sites to improve access even more.

Ontario has had a difficult time eliminating the black market since cannabis was legalized last year, so they're hoping these changes will encourage and enable all consumers to transition to the legal market. 

Lead photo by

Hector Vasquez


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