The legalization of cannabis will create thousands of jobs, bring in billions of dollars and represent an added bonus for the tourism industry, economic and tourism leaders said at a cannabis legalization forum Thursday in Kelowna.

“Take away all the health issues, it’s a product and there’s an opportunity for economic development,” said Dan Rogers, executive director of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.

Niche Canada, a not-for-profit organization established to assist in the transition to the legalization of cannabis, hosted the forum at the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

Cannabis legalization will create between 50,000 and 150,000 jobs across Canada, said David Purcell, director of emerging business at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

“There’s going to be a proliferation of producers. There’s going to be a proliferation of retailers,” said Purcell. “On the production side of things, there’s cultivation jobs, there’s quality assurance, there’s testing and analytics extraction . . . and obviously on the retailer side there’s a huge opportunity.”

Legal cannabis will be a multibillion-dollar industry, he said.

“It will represent billions of dollars in British Columbia alone.”

A lot of work needs to be done to educate producers and retailers, said Purcell.

“It is up to us to make sure that not only the existing legal market is prepared from a training and education perspective, but that those within the illicit market that want to come out (get) the tools (to) . . . come out and be successful.”

Kevin Poole, manger of economic development with the City of Vernon, said since cannabis will be legal across Canada, it alone will not draw Canadian tourists to B.C.

“If it was B.C. on its own, there (would) likely be a market for us to promote into Alberta,” he said.

However, the cannabis industry in the Okanagan could be an added draw for people visiting the area.

“We’ve got people coming for the skiing, we’ve got people coming to our lakes, and there’s this added new product within the market that our consumers and our tourists will hopefully stay an extra day to do a tour of cannabis facilities throughout the Okanagan, to look at some of the retail shops,” said Poole.