Date Change APPI Edmonton Event - Clear, Open and Public: How Edmonton made Year 1 of Legal Cannabis Work

Cannabis (aka “pot”, “weed”, and “420”) was legalized almost 1 year ago. This created a variety of challenges for municipalities throughout Canada, as they had to create workable regulations and procedures for legal cannabis even though provincial and federal regulations were still being hammered out! (And are still in some state of flux…).
Edmonton, however, became a success story for legal cannabis, including having the most number of legal cannabis retail stores open on Legalization Day in October 2018.

 

Imai Welch and Amaan Hameed will discuss Edmonton’s experience with cannabis legalization and how the City and its staff made it all work. They will discuss the choices the City made regarding local cannabis regulation (including the “pot lottery”), how a special cannabis team contributed to city-building by working with small and large businesses, lessons learned, and potential issues going forward.

Imai Welch is a Principal Planner for the City of Edmonton, working in commercial/industrial Development Review with a current focus on cannabis. He is registered as a Professional Planner with both APPI and AICP, and a graduate of the University of Lethbridge.
Amaan Hameed is a Business Consultant with the City of Edmonton’s Business Licensing section, focusing on cannabis. He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan in sociology.