Article by Hannah Thibedeau and Mike Crawley, CBC News
The Ontario government will announce Friday that it will create a cannabis control board and open up to 60 storefronts to manage the sale and distribution of marijuana in the province, CBC News has learned.
The plans include restricting marijuana sales to those 19 and older, a year above the minimum age recommended by the federal government’s cannabis task force report in December.
The 30 to 60 stores selling marijuana to the public will not be housed inside existing LCBO stores as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne had previously suggested.
Illegal pot shops in Ontario would be shut down over the next 12 months.
In April, legislation was introduced in the House of Commons to legalize and regulate the sale and distribution of marijuana on or before July 1, 2018.
Many of the decisions about how the drug will be sold and taxed are being left to the provinces.