Five years after the legalization of cannabis in Canada, Quebec producers report an “obstacle course” to start a business and are tired of being ignored by the provincial government.
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“I’ll sum it up for you in one sentence: it’s having the wind in your face all the time, it never stops,” says the president of the Fuga Group, Philippe Laperrière, which produces cannabis in Stoneham, in the Quebec region. “It’s hard enough to be an entrepreneur, but to be one in a nascent industry and with a lot of prejudices, it’s an obstacle course times 1000.”
If he judges that this environment is “extraordinary” and a “meeting between science and traditions”, Philippe Laperrière does not hide his bitterness in the face of Quebec’s regulatory framework.
“We live in a sort of legalized prohibition,” he quips.
Archive photo, Stevens LeBlanc
Anyone who despite everything enjoys esteemed success – Fuga has notably attracted customers from Germany to its facilities – cannot, for example, count on government programs or institutional investments from the Ministry of the Economy or Investissement Québec .
The perception of this market would still be too negative from a government point of view, says Mr. Laperrière.
“Can we stop being the pet peeve? », he says. “We would have the opportunity to become an international leader, but Quebec doesn’t help. »
The company, whose revenues are estimated at more than a million dollars, had to negotiate to open an account in a bank and obtain a simple line of credit.
Five years of “roller coaster”
On the side of the Quebec Cannabis Industry Association (AQIC), we paint a mixed portrait of the first five years of legalization.
“From a public health perspective […], everything that was feared regarding legalization did not happen,” says the president of the AQIC, Pierre Leclerc. “Legalization, so far, has demonstrated that it is an excellent public health and safety policy for a substance like cannabis. »
Mr. Leclerc describes the last five years as a “roller coaster”, particularly because of the more restrictive framework in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada.
“We are the only province in Canada to have observed a decline in sales of cannabis products over the past year,” he explains. “Not a drop in consumption, but in sales, therefore capture of the illicit market. »
This reduction in sales would, according to Mr. Leclerc, undermine the primary mission of the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) to bring consumers into the legal fold.
“There is no success in legalization without a healthy industry. It’s economically impossible,” summarizes the president of the AQIC.
The Quebec government is therefore invited by the industry to “simply listen”.
“What we are asking is to have a very small table to meet and discuss certain issues,” summarizes Pierre Leclerc.
5 years of cannabis in Canada in a nutshell
- 22% of Canadians aged 15 and over have used cannabis in the past year;
- Average age of initiation of consumption: 14 years;
- -79% of charges for cannabis trafficking between 2017 and 2022;
- $11 billion in sales between 2018 and 2021;
- 913 cannabis activity license holders;
- Quebec net income linked to the sale of cannabis: 75.7 million (2021-2022)
Source : Legislative review of the Cannabis law from the independent expert panel of the Government of Canada