Michigan’s move to issue its first licences to businesses planning to grow and sell recreational cannabis could be the death knell for a small, southern Ontario town’s chance at becoming a pot tourist destination.

Windsor, Ont., is a border town connected to Michigan., the state south of the border that will let the sale of recreational marijuana proceed on Dec. 1.

Windsor Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin told the Windsor Star that Ontario’s slow and “ridiculous” plan to establish brick-and-mortar cannabis shops around the province is to blame.

“Being on the border here, we missed a huge opportunity for anything with cannabis tourism, people coming across the border to partake in it ahead of Michigan,” Bortolin said.

“We saw it with gambling. We had a lot of great years in Windsor when the casino was the only game in town and people were coming from Ohio and Michigan to gamble here. As soon as the ones in the States opened, especially in Detroit, you saw Caesars Windsor come right back down. So we missed those good opportunities.”

Despite the Windsor area being home to Aphria, one of the largest medical cannabis companies in the world, the city is a pot desert.

To date, Ontario has only given Windsor one retail cannabis shop.

Rose City Cannabis, the proposed Windsor store owned by Kyriakos Anastasiadis, should have opened in November, but confusion among city officials has delayed the business’ debut.

Ward 3 Counc. Rino Bortolin. Dan Janisse / The Windsor Star

Bortolin said now it may be too late for Windsor to capitalize on cannabis.

“You may actually see Canadians going over there just to have access to a legal store that’s close by … it may actually do the opposite, where it drives customers across the border that way,” he said.

While Michigan is taking a step forward, cannabis will likely have to wait before being widely sold. Growers will have to wait until spring to harvest their first crops.