It’s been one year to the day that cannabis has been legal in Canada and the opposition in BC has some issues with how the file has been handled over that time.

Public Safety and Solicitor General Critic Mike Morris has concerns over a lack of resources on the administrative side. He says there is also a lack of resources on the administrative side to ensure that anybody that applies for a license gets processed in an expedient manner. “In a manner where they can at least expect to open a door within six months or a year. They’re behind. A lot of the applications haven’t had any action on them for months or perhaps even a year now.” He says there are a number of hoops to jump through and it takes time. Having more staff on hand could help. “There’s a screening process, a criminal records check for all the proponents that want to operate these independent private stores and that takes time. I’ve had experience on that side of the house before and it takes a lot of resources and a lot of time to go through that process in order to approve licenses at the end of the day.”

Morris says it contributes to keeping illegal dealers up and running. “Part of the problem that we see is the proliferation of the black market still exists and I think that undermines the legal process that should be put in place here in British Columbia and of course that’s led to reduced revenues and increased costs for local jurisdictions.”

Today also marks the legalization of edibles, although it will take at least two more months before they are approved by Health Canada.

Listen to the entire interview from The Jeff Andreas Show below