Montreal is estimated that the pot legal will cost him$9 Million

File Photo, Anthony Lacroix
A consumer of cannabis photographed last April at the monument to sir Georges-Étienne Cartier in Montreal.

Benoît Philie and
Laurence Houde-Roy

Wednesday, 17 January, 2018 01:00

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Wednesday, 17 January, 2018 01:00

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The legalization of marijuana could cost up to $ 9.3 million per year in Montreal only in security and the fight against smuggling, reveals a report commissioned by the City, which hopes to recover this amount at the provincial level.

“It’s going to be loads on the City and it will take investment from the outset for the training of our police officers and our firefighters,” says the member of the executive committee of the City, Robert Beaudry.

The head of the government relations office on an advisory committee set up in November by the mayor Valérie Plant to support the legalization of cannabis on the territory of Montreal, scheduled for July.

Smuggling

The committee will file today a memory as well as the report, which the Journal has obtained a copy, the government of Québec, which should soon adopt its law on cannabis.

According to the data of the report commissioned by the administration of former mayor Denis Coderre, the legalization of marijuana could result in annual costs of$ 9.3 Million, in addition to one-time spending of$ 1 Million for the implementation of various measures.

The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) might have to hire up to 42 new employees to ensure the dismantling of illegal settlements and the fight against smuggling.

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Robert Beaudry
The executive committee of Montreal

Culture at home

The SPVM may have annual spending of up to$ 7.3 Million for the hiring and training more than $ 500,000 for the purchase of the device of detection of THC (the active ingredient in cannabis), as well as to conduct research on the impacts of legalisation on public safety, is it said in the report.

“From the moment that something becomes legal, there is contraband, which are beginning to make. There is a charge at this level, but also training of the workforce, ” continues Mr. Beaudry.

The permission of the culture at home may involve an increase in intervention of the fire brigade, can we also read in the report.

A dozen new hires may be necessary for the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM).

The financial impacts are also considered in the services of human relations, communications and economic development for a total of$ 2 Million per year.

One-third of the taxes

“There are also costs to come which have not yet been identified in the report, particularly in terms of prevention, public health and harm reduction,” says Mr. Beaudry.

The City, in the same sense that the Union of municipalities of Quebec, is hoping to recover one-third of the total tax imposed on the sale of marijuana at the federal and provincial governments to pay for these expenses.

The report data have been obtained by analysing the situation in Denver, a city of 700 000 inhabitants, in Colorado, where pot is recreational is legal since 2012. The actual costs to Montreal will depend on the final shape of the act of the legislature.

Revenue-sharing pot in Canada

• The federal government intends to impose an excise tax of $ 1 on the grams sold at a price less than $10
• Beyond $ 10, the fee would be 10 % of the price per gram
• The provinces will get 75 % of the revenues of the excise tax plus the whole of the provincial tax
• Québec has not yet established its tax measures relating to cannabis
• The Union of municipalities of Quebec calls for one-third of the tax total excise duty for its members