Joint Ventures

Canadian cannabis legalization can best be described as an imperfect success story. In political terms, Justin Trudeau’s surprise pledge, in 2013, to end prohibition helped propel him from leader of a third party to majority prime minister. Since then, billions of dollars have been diverted from the black market, tens of thousands of jobs have been created, and fewer people have had their lives destroyed by simple possession charges. Yet the jury is still out on whether Ottawa has met its own objectives: keeping cannabis away from young people, taking profits away from criminals, and protecting public health. Canada continues to report some of the highest rates of youth cannabis use globally, unlicensed dispensaries dot our cities, and there is a stunning dearth of research on cannabis’s therapeutic potential.

The appetite to examine these issues has waned considerably, with the early excitement around legalization widely shifting to ambivalence. Canada’s licensed...