Conversation with Smokey Thomas, President, OPSEU

Ontario’s plan to sell and distribute legalized cannabis through the Liquor Control Board of Ontario is a controversial one. Among the concerns are that this will result in fewer options for medicinal users, little progress on eliminating the black market and lower quality products. But Smokey Thomas, the President and CEO of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union disagrees. He sees the decision to sell recreational cannabis in government run retail stores as the way to limit social harm and help those working in the illegal sector find a path to well paid employment. The OPSEU represents employees of the LCBO and the newly-formed OCRC – which means that Smokey Thomas is an unlikely ally of the growing cannabis sector in Ontario and throughout Canada. BofC spoke with Smoky about why he believes 2018 will be more “more evolutionary than revolutionary.”