Legal Cannabis shops can now open in Mississauga

Marijuana can now be legally sold in Mississauga via retail cannabis shops.

After years of opting out of allowing legal cannabis shops to operate within Mississauga’s borders, City of Mississauga council voted this afternoon (April 19) 8-4 in favour of lifting the long-standing ban.

Councillors Stephen Dasko, Carolyn Parrish, Chris Fonseca and John Kovac, vocal opponents of allowing cannabis shops to operate unregulated in Mississauga, voted against lifting the ban.

The decision came after several hours of listening to some 20 deputations at today’s City council meeting.

Mississauga had been the largest municipality in Ontario to deny the operation of legal cannabis stores within its borders. 

Since weed was legalized in 2018, the City of Mississauga had for nearly five years stood firm in its position against allowing the cannabis shops to open.

The issue at hand had always been control over where the pot shops would be allowed to open and do business. A number of Mississauga councillors have wanted to be able to regulate the businesses to some degree.

However, the Ontario government also stood firm, saying the shops are not to be controlled by municipalities.

A motion from Ward 7 Councillor Dipika Damerla calling on Mississauga “to lift its prohibition on cannabis retail stores” and allow the shops to operate in Canada’s seventh-largest city was what council passed today.

The majority of Mississauga councillors had long expressed support for the idea of legal cannabis shops operating in the city, but only if regulated. 

City council officially nixed plans to allow cannabis shops on two occasions in 2021, citing a lack of municipal control.