In 2023-24 The AGCO focused on supporting cannabis retailers by fostering innovation and flexibility, reducing burden, and by seeking opportunities to combat the illicit market.

  • The AGCO is working collaboratively with provincial partners, including the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), Ontario Provincial Police, and government to better understand the illicit market and identify areas where the AGCO can support the government’s objective of combating the illicit cannabis market.  While authorized cannabis retailers and the OCS have made substantial inroads in Ontario as the only legal sources of recreational cannabis, illicit cannabis continues to be an issue in the province and is estimated to make up approximately 40 per cent of Ontario’s cannabis market1.
  • Since 2019, the AGCO has been working with the OCS to implement a new Point-of-Sale (POS) Data Reporting Platform to automate and standardize monthly regulatory reporting processes for licensed cannabis stores. In 2023, the AGCO announced that starting in July 2024, all cannabis retailers will have their sales data automatically submitted directly to the OCS data platform and will be subject to new Standards for their regulatory reporting requirements.
  • An internal Data Driven Compliance application has been developed to make better use of data to support the inspectors’ ability to focus their activities on entities that present the highest risk of non-compliance. Work is under way to launch the application in the cannabis sector in 2024/25.
  • Enhanced Cannabis Application Pre-Screening Interviews continue to be essential in supporting the honesty and integrity of licensees, registrants, and authorization holders and allow for immediate flagging of any criminal associations. In 2023, Eligibility and Major Investigations conducted 468 cannabis-related investigations and noticed a significant decrease in the identification of problematic applications. This is attributed to the registered cannabis market maturing and the message being conveyed within the cannabis industry that the OPP was conducting thorough background investigations on applicants and entities.
  • The AGCO continues to use the Mystery Shopper Program to identify retailers who present an increased risk of permitting youth access. During this fiscal year, the AGCO enhanced the Mystery Shopper Program to support enhanced oversight of cannabis retailers operating close to high schools.
  • To better support cannabis retailers as the market evolves, the AGCO supported the Ministry of the Attorney General in making legislative changes to the Cannabis Act, 2018 to enable the transfer of Retail Store Authorizations from one licensed operator to another, and to allow the sale of cannabis from one operator to another in prescribed circumstances. These amendments received Royal Assent in Spring 2023 and will be followed by regulatory amendments to establish the framework for authorization transfers and inventory sales.