Calgary to consider allowing legal cannabis sales at adults-only events
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Cannabis retailers may soon be more common at Calgary events, as city council will soon consider allowing the sale of marijuana products at adults-only events.
Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner revealed a notice of motion this week that she'll bring to the city's executive committee on Tuesday, calling on council to allow cannabis to be sold at events where minors aren't allowed. Penner cited events like Badlands Music Festival, Chasing Summer and the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival as examples that could benefit from the decision.
On Thursday, Penner told reporters the decision would align Calgary policy with Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis rules that were updated a year ago to permit licensed cannabis retailers to set up temporary sales at adults-only events.
"What this does is level the playing field between cannabis and alcohol, which are both legal substances," Penner said.
"This is really just about enabling business and creating opportunity for businesses that are legally permissible."
After a technical review next week, the motion will be debated by city councillors on Feb. 25.
Omar Khan, chief communications and public affairs officer for cannabis company High Tide Inc., welcomed the news about Penner's notice of motion. High Tide, which operates 191 stores under the Canna Cabana brand across Canada, has more than 30 locations of the store in Calgary.
Opening up legal sales at local festivals would also help the cannabis industry compete with the illicit market, which Khan identifies as a growing problem for the industry.
"We know that when you move a legal cannabis store into a neighbourhood that hasn't previously been served, illicit market activity does go down, because most people want to follow the law," Khan said.
Some Calgary festivals have already hosted cannabis consumption spaces. Chinook Cannabis organized a place for cannabis to be delivered and consumed at the Badlands Music Festival last year. Meanwhile, the Calgary Folk Music Festival opened its first legal cannabis-consumption area in 2019.
Diplomat Consulting president Nathan Mison, who has advocated for legal cannabis sales at Alberta events for years, argues that cannabis sales should be as ubiquitous at such events as alcohol.
Even though Alberta changed its provincial policy on the matter a year ago, Mison said he understands the delay for Calgary to catch up is partly due to more pressing matters for a local government to deal with. But the resulting year-long gap meant Calgary could see how cannabis sales worked at events in Edmonton last year. Plantlife Cannabis, for instance, sold its products at Edmonton's own Great Outdoors Comedy Festival last summer.
"Sometimes the best thing that can happen when you're looking for big regulatory changes is a sister city like Edmonton went first and it wasn't a disaster. It was pretty much a moot issue that it happened," Mison said.
Looking ahead, Mison added that cannabis hospitality overall is an untapped market in Alberta. He imagines future opportunities for restaurants, bars and cafes to offer cannabis products for chefs and mixologists to use either as an inebriant or as a relaxing agent.
In the meantime, Mison noted cannabis sales at music and comedy festivals makes sense when it's not uncommon to encounter the substance in these spaces already.
"Let's be a little honest with ourselves as well, it's not like cannabis isn't being consumed at events during legalization or previous to legalization," Mison said. "All you're doing is taking this out of the backrooms and back hallways, and putting it right out in front."
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