Legalized marijuana could cost Montreal over $9 million per year

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Legalized marijuana could cost Montreal over $9 million.

According to a report by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, the City will need to hire up to 75 more employees, mainly for police services and the fire brigade. Additionally, the City will require more services for communications and overall security.

The spending on these extra resources could cost the City of Montreal anywhere between $4.7 to $9.3 million per year.

“These direct costs are on top of the usual municipal spending which is already budgeted. They cannot be covered by municipal taxes, which are already insufficient to cover the growing needs of the city,” said the report.

The report also made several recommendations including that cannabis should be legalized in Quebec at no cost and the municipalities receive their fair share of tax revenues associated with the sale of cannabis.

Marijuana will officially be legalized in Canada later this year.

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