
Last week it was announced that Canada’s largest pharmacy chain was granted permission by Health Canada to sell medical cannabis online.
Shoppers Drug Mart, owned by supermarket retail giant Loblaw Companies Ltd., has set up a web portal which officially validated the rumours that medical cannabis sales through their secure website will be coming soon. The portal also outlines that the cannabis will be coming from a number of licensed producers with strict quality and safety standards. The move could be an enormous step toward ending the stigma surrounding marijuana that has been prevalent for the last several decades in Canada and around the world.
A spokesperson for Loblaw Companies Limited commented that it’s too soon to say exactly when orders will begin, as right now Shoppers Drug Mart is working through a “technical issue” with Health Canada. There was no indication what that issue is, but the website announcement implies the company is confident that it will not be something which will hold back the eventual sales by the drug store behemoth.
Shoppers Drug Mart initially applied to be a licensed cannabis producer in October 2016. The company says it has no interest in actually growing and manufacturing medical cannabis and its derivatives, but the LP designation allows them to sell the product to patients with a valid prescription.
The pharmacy will now be allowed to sell dried and fresh cannabis as well as plants, seeds and oil.