The Canadian government announced Wednesday that it will introduce legislation next year to decriminalize and legalize the sale of marijuana, making Canada the first G7 country to permit widespread use of the substance.
Some Canadians are ready to make money off this:
Already, Ontario’s provincial premier, Kathleen Wynne, has volunteered that the provincially owned liquor monopoly would be happy to sell the drug. Canada’s major drugstore chains have said that they would like to get in on the business, too.
Some Americans are as well:
Brendan Kennedy, president of Privateer Holdings of Seattle, welcomed the Canadian announcement. His company owns Tilray, a medicinal marijuana facility in British Columbia, and he is looking to build a facility that would supply the market for recreational marijuana in Canada.
How will the Canadian legislation and regulations treat foreign investors such as this one? If the treatment discriminates based on nationality, or falls below a certain minimum standard, there is always NAFTA (and maybe the TPP) to come to the investor's rescue.
Trade will be more complicated. Could Colorado's marijuana companies export products like these to Canada? Maybe, but I haven't heard any suggestions that someone might be interested in doing this.
