At least one provincially-operated cannabis retail store will be opening in Chatham-Kent next summer. 
Mayor Randy Hope says he’s looking forward to further meetings with the province to make sure the municipality has some input.
“This needs to develop in two fashions. Number one, host fees that are on dispensing and on the manufacturing should be percentage,” Hope says. “Then there should be an established fund out of the rest of that 75%, 75 cents of every dollar should be set aside in order to deal with social and economic issues that will be faced by people, just like anti-gambling and other things.”
Hope says he also wants input on where the retail store is located.
The retail and distribution system would include an online province-wide sales channel by July 2018, and up to 150 stand-alone stores in 2020.
