I have mixed feelings about it. I think you're right that Colorado probably did move too fast, or the model they put in place for edibles was inadequate and did create problems. But I think it at least showed a success of the regulatory system. It acknowledged those problems and a lot of those rules were then tightened up. Now I think they have single servings only, clearer packaging, markings on the edible products themselves, and a series of other regulations that have helped reduce some of the challenges they faced. I think it's obviously going to be very important to look at that and learn the lessons from it. Washington also had some similar issues.
One of the things we've advocated is that the new legal market shouldn't diverge too far from the existing illegal market in terms of the range of products that is available. To that extent, what I mean is that you wouldn't suddenly open up necessarily a vast array of new products that aren't currently being sold or consumed. If you do that, there could be unpredictable impacts in terms of consumption, behaviours, and potential public health impacts.
A lot of people have argued that edibles are intrinsically less risky than, for example, smoked cannabis because you avoid the risk to lung health that you get from smoke products. I think that's a reasonable argument, but there is a counter-argument that edibles are intrinsically more difficult to titrate and dose because the effects take so much longer to play out.
There are clearly health benefits on one hand, and health risks on the other hand. On balance, I think it's probably positive that edibles would be made available, but I think it's also reasonable to be cautious, particularly in places in Canada where there isn't already a medical edible market. I don't think there's any need to rush into edibles, and I certainly don't think there's any need to rush into concentrates. From my perspective, it's perfectly reasonable to propose that they could be part of, perhaps, a second wave of regulatory expansion once the herbal cannabis market has been established, bedded in, and initial teething problems have been dealt with. I think it's okay to be cautious on this, but I certainly wouldn't suggest banning them.
I think it's also reasonable to point out that if you have herbal cannabis available, turning herbal cannabis into an edible product is not that difficult. You can just bake it in a cake, or you can mix it with some butter. It's not that difficult. There's not some, to my mind, terribly egregious denial of accessibility to edibles if you have access to herbal cannabis.