Well Newfoundland, you have done it again: the Great Newfoundland Marijuana Boondoggle.
You had the opportunity to be a leader in Canada by inviting great entrepreneurs to run beautiful storefronts with educated budtenders, but now we will see a 19-year-old at Needs asking if you would like a joint with your case of beer.
No education on the different strains of marijuana, the flavours, the smells.
With only an eight per cent commission on sales, an entrepreneur will have to take all the risks with no rewards. The greedy fingers of the government want to take 92 per cent of every sale, and on top of that, charge taxes.
The best part about all of this, the government wants to spend $20,000 studying how to bring home Newfoundlanders and Labradorians away. I have an idea: leave marijuana to the people, collect your taxes, share the wealth.
By only collecting the taxes you would create a highly competitive industry, creating many jobs, and make it a very lucrative idea to move home again.
Too bad places like Alberta and British Columbia are following this idea — good luck getting your young people to move home now!
Andrew Cooper
Paradise