Marijuana Business Magazine October 2019

October 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 29 the 10 municipalities with the first regulated recreational marijuana products, albeit within an experiment limited in scope and time. The 79 coffee shops will need to switch from illegal to legal supply. Cannabis cultivators do not necessarily have to grow in the selected municipalities, but they would be able to supply only the selected areas. Ontario, Canada, Plans to Allocate Store Permits ‘Based on Market Demand’ Regulators in Canada’s largest cannabis market are working to return to the current government’s original plan of allocating adult-use marijuana store licenses based on market demand, a move that would unlock significant opportunities for the province’s MJ entrepreneurs. Ontario so far has held two widely criticized lotteries to select candidates to open stores. In an email to Marijuana Business Daily , Attorney General Doug Downey’s press secretary, Jenessa Crognali, wrote that the ministry is working with relevant governmental bodies to pivot to a market-based system. “The government is working with the AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) and Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) to return to our original plan to allocate retail store licenses based on market demand.” The province also indicated that it may have held its last lottery. “In the future, if the government proceeds with additional retail store allocations before moving to an open marketplace, any such allocations may be based on the results from this lottery,” the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario said in a news release. Ontario’s most recent lottery will bring the number of stores in the province to 75, but experts say that’s a fraction of what is needed. © 2019 Marijuana Business Daily , a division of Anne Holland Ventures; this information is current as of September 15, 2019.