Mayors and councillors got some insight into how municipalities will deal with cannabis legislation once the drug becomes legal this fall.

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says municipal councils learned towns and cities can opt out of the drug program at the very beginning and opt back in at a later time.

However McDonald also learned that if a municipality is part of the program at the very beginning, then opts out later, it can’t rejoin in the future.

The information was released at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.

McDonald also says there was general agreement that municipalities who don’t sell cannabis should still share in the revenue that the sale of the drug will generate province-wide.

He says those monies can go towards a community’s youth services.