Seven years after Canada legalized recreational cannabis, the foundational promise made by the Ontario government is fracturing. The vision of a safe, regulated market that would replace the illicit trade is now in peril as legitimate businesses shutter their doors.
The Broken Promise of Legalization
When recreational cannabis became legal in 2018, Ontario committed to establishing a transparent system that would protect consumers, support communities, and reward law-abiding entrepreneurs. These small business owners invested their lives and savings, trusting that the government would enforce regulations and create a level playing field.
Today, that trust has been betrayed. The recent closure of Curious Cannabis on Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto exemplifies the crisis unfolding across the province. This wasn't a failing business—it was a fully licensed, locally owned retailer that complied with every regulation, yet couldn't survive in an environment where illegal operators face no consequences.
An Uneven Playing Field Crushes Legitimate Business
Across Ontario, legal cannabis stores that pay taxes, hire local staff, and sell laboratory-tested products are closing at an alarming rate. These businesses bear massive regulatory burdens including compliance costs, strict pricing limitations, and some of the tightest federal marketing restrictions in the country.
Meanwhile, illegal stores operate with impunity. They pay no taxes—no excise taxes, HST, corporate tax, or municipal taxes. They ignore safety testing, selling products with no guarantees against pesticides, mould, or inaccurate potency levels. They don't verify customer identification or track sales, yet they often remain open for years without enforcement action.
The result is fundamentally unfair competition. Legal operators like Danielle Braemer, owner of Lolly cannabis retailer and Director of the Retail Cannabis Council of Ontario, emphasize that this isn't business failure—it's government failure.
Public Safety and Economic Consequences
The crisis extends beyond economics to public safety. Consumers who believe they're purchasing tested, regulated cannabis may instead be buying untested products from illegal stores that are often mistaken for legal operations.
Communities lose tax revenue that could fund public services. Legitimate workers lose jobs. Most alarmingly, the illicit trade regains territory that legalization was specifically designed to eliminate.
Legal operators aren't seeking special treatment or subsidies. They're asking for the most basic function of government: equal enforcement of existing laws.
Path Forward: Solutions to Save Legal Cannabis
There are immediate, practical steps the provincial government could take to address this crisis:
Establish a dedicated enforcement unit focused specifically on illegal storefronts and online operators
Increase penalties for landlords who knowingly lease to illegal cannabis operations
Launch consumer education campaigns to help Ontarians distinguish between legal and illegal products
Publish regular, transparent reports on enforcement actions and outcomes
These measures aren't radical—they're standard practice in other regulated industries from alcohol to pharmaceuticals. No other sector tolerates thousands of illegal operators undermining legitimate businesses in plain sight.
The future of cannabis in Ontario hinges on a simple question: Will our laws be enforced, or merely written? With each legal closure like Curious Cannabis, the original vision of legalization fades further from reach.
