B.C. Has a Craft Cannabis Advantage — Now It Needs a Strategy
- British Columbia’s current provincial policy treats legal cannabis primarily as a regulatory issue rather than an economic growth sector, despite the province’s strong craft culture and sizable cannabis industry.
- A comprehensive craft cannabis plan is needed, focusing on reforms like removing the 15% charge on direct delivery, improving retail visibility, enhancing online merchandising, modernizing the supply chain, and integrating cannabis into tourism.
- Government-run cannabis stores and the official B.C. cannabis sales website should prominently feature local craft cannabis products, similar to how the province markets local wine, cider, and beer.
- B.C. should develop a regulated cannabis hospitality framework to create adult-oriented tourism experiences, complementing its established craft agriculture and culinary tourism destinations.
Provincial policy still treats legal cannabis more like a regulatory file than an economic sector to grow.
A commentary. Dosanjh is the president of Inspired Cannabis, a B.C.-based cannabis retailer with 24 locations across Canada. Gordon is the Head of Growth for Eggs Canna, a cannabis retailer, and former vice-president of the B.C. Craft Farmers Co-op.
British Columbia has built a global reputation around craft: wine, beer, cider, local food, small farms and tourism experiences that connect products to the people and places behind them. Craft cannabis should be part of that story.
B.C. is home to one of the world’s most respected cannabis cultures, with more than 230 licensed producers, nearly 500 independent retailers, more than 5,000 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue. Yet provincial policy still treats legal cannabis more like a regulatory file than an economic sector to grow.
As B.C.-based retailers with long-standing ties to craft producers, we see how small legal businesses work uphill to reach customers, while the illicit market benefits from barriers that make regulated products harder to discover, distribute or purchase.
What B.C. needs is not another piecemeal adjustment; it needs a craft cannabis plan.
A coordinated approach through B.C. government and industry partners that connects direct delivery reform, retail visibility, online merchandising, tourism, supply chain modernization and public safety. Our work leads to a common goal: make legal products easier to discover, distribute and purchase; and prevent the illicit market from benefiting from unnecessary barriers.
A serious craft cannabis plan should start with direct delivery. The program was supposed to help small and craft producers build relationships with retailers and get fresher, more distinctive products to consumers. That is exactly the kind of practical, market-driven reform legalization needed.
But layering a provincial charge onto direct delivery defeats much of the point. When a small producer takes on the cost and work of selling, coordinating and delivering directly, they’re also taking on more of the work and risk. The current 15 per cent proprietary charge on direct delivery should be removed or, at minimum, significantly reduced for eligible craft producers.
Premier David Eby, Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger and Finance Minister Brenda Bailey should ask themselves a simple question: how can B.C. make it easier for the producers it wants in the legal system to grow, invest and compete?
B.C. operates more than 30 government cannabis stores. They are public retail assets in a province famous for craft agriculture. If B.C. can proudly showcase local wine from the Kootenay, cider from Vancouver Island and beer from the Fraser Valley, it can reserve meaningful shelf space for craft cannabis from across this province.
A craft allocation in government-run stores would not be radical. It would be common sense.
The same applies online. The B.C. cannabis sales website should be one of the most important discovery tools for legal cannabis in the province. Instead, craft cannabis is too easy to miss.
This is a no-brainer: create a permanent B.C. Craft Cannabis section on the homepage, profile provincial growers and curate product drops the way the province promotes seasonal wines or local food.
Tell the story of legal, tested, regulated cannabis as a B.C. advantage, not a compliance footnote.
Finally, B.C. needs to move cannabis hospitality from discussion to implementation.
Tourism Minister Anne Kang and Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon should be at the table here. B.C. has already built internationally recognized tourism experiences around wineries, breweries, cideries, culinary destinations and agritourism.
Cannabis is the missing piece. A responsible hospitality framework would create adult-oriented, regulated experiences in a province that already knows how to connect craft, place and tourism.
Read the full article at Times Colonist