Psst Government agency asks if you want some really good stuff: Don Pittis

When Conservative Premier Howard Ferguson founded the Liquor Control Board of Ontario in 1927, the new Crown corporation wasby no means a sophisticated purveyor of wines and spirits.

Now Liberal PremierKathleen Wynneplans to sell recreational cannabis through the same agency.

The federal government's plan is that beginning on July 1, 2018, adults will be allowed to purchase fresh and dried cannabis, cannabis oils and seeds and plants for cultivation. Provincial governments will set up theirownregulatory systems.

The original purpose of the LCBOwas to limit and control a substance that, only a few years previously, the majority of Canadians had believed was harmful and even dangerous.

Since those early days, the provincial liquor monopolylike others across Canada has become a discriminating buyer and retailer of the world's finest wines and spirits.

Trusted dealer

As the government moves into the role once performed by those private enterprise professionalscommonly called drug dealers, the question is whether the LCBOcan cultivatethe same kind of sophistication and trust ithasdeveloped as a seller of wine.

Just as in the post-Prohibition 1920s when alcohol became legal again, Canadians are far from unanimous that pot should be legalized at all.

Provincial governmentswill again be under political pressure, at least at the beginning, to act as if they areperforming a necessary evil, taking legal control of a substance that has been in the hands of criminals.

But as experts I spoke to say, to attract the current recreational users of cannabis and thus wipeout the illegal trade, the government agency will have to develop alevel of marketing savvynot unlike what they have established inalcohol distribution.

An accredited sommelier, Lori Davisworked for the LCBOfor 20 years and is just oneexample of the agency's expertise.

"My background was from the Maritimes, and my mom and dad drank Baby Duck," she exclaimswith mock horror, recallingthe Sunday dinner tipple.

Cannabis pairings?

Despite her unrefined oenologicalbeginnings, with the support of the Crown corporation and considerable outside training, Davis became a leading taster.

"Let's talk about Niagara on the Bench," she says, describing a tasting session comparing nearby Ontario wine areas. "Why that would be different from TwentyMiles?"

Cannabis educatorAlexRevichsays the pot business may eventually get around to passing on cultural values such asterroirsand cannabis pairings ("Strains to pair with certain music?"), but some of the others skills Davis describesat theLCBOwill be urgently needed for managingrecreational marijuana.

Revichbegan learning about cannabisat the Canadian company MedReleaf in the early days oflegalized medical marijuana. He's one of a rare breed, someone willing to talk about both medical and recreationalmarijuana who didn't learn his skills in the black market.

People will have to learn things about the recreational market that are quite different from the medical side, he says.

For instance, the varietyof pot you want for a dance party willbe different from the kind you might take for bowel relief.

An acquired taste

The method of consumptioncould be different as well, he says. Medical cannabis for nausea or painis taken as an anal suppository. That wouldbe an acquiredtasteamongst the youthfulparty crowd.

Strains of pot contain varyingamounts of complex organic molecules, some responsible for making the user feel high and some that relax them. Especially when advising new legal users, Crown corporation employees will have to know the difference.

Cannabis sativa impartseuphoria that may not be desirable for pain relief, but it can also lead to anxiety in some people, says Revich. The most common street drugs are strains of Cannabis indicacalledkush,that he says havea relaxing effect.

The fragrance of the smoke, or as non-users might say, the horrible stink, also varies with straindepending on the content of organic compounds called terpenes, but Revichsays even for recreational users, smoking is the worst way to consume the drug. He is sure government retailers will soon include other methods such as vapingwhere dosages can be accurately controlled.

When it comes to measuring impurities, strength and quality, the laboratoriesof the LCBOmake it a powerhouse in the global industry says Niagara College winemaking teacher Gavin Robertson. But compared tomeasuring a single active ingredient, alcohol, pot chemistry will be far more complicated.

The LCBOhas much to learn, says Dan Malleck, an internationally recognized expert in drug and alcohol policy at Brock University and author of the books When Good Drugs Go Bad and Try to Control Yourself.

Just the buzz

He says that while people enjoy wine, beer andspirits fortheir bouquet and flavour, consuming recreational pot is exclusively about the effect, something LCBOemployees will have to understand.

Just as sommeliers must drink wine and, as Lori Davis points out, know the taste of various cigars, being a knowledgeable consumerof pot may be a job requirement in the new LCBO division.

"The buzz is what people who are smoking it recreationally are interested in," says Malleck. And while smokers may choose a strain based ongood aroma rather just the strength of the drug effect, "I don't know any people who just smoke cannabis because they like the taste."

That could change as the marijuanaequivalent of Baby Duck drinkers move on to the pot equivalent of a Riesling from the Niagara Bench.

Right now it is crucial for theLCBOto gather enoughexpertise not just to sell to the unsophisticated new smoker, butto win over users who nowbuy from dealers or storefront shops.

Since recreational pot is illegal, says Malleck, by definition almostall the expertise in recreational pot is in the illegal market.

"Part of it comes down to whether there will be the political will tobring into the fold people who have been basically breaking the law," says Malleck.

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