Shoppers Drug Mart can now sell medical cannabis, as Health Canada recently granted Shoppers Drug Mart a sales license for it, as seen below:
As for when medical cannabis patients can start placing orders on the new website, a company spokesperson told CTV News:
“It’s too soon to say when people will be able to start making orders”
The spokesperson also mentioned a “technical issue” with Health Canada that they’re currently working to fix, which could delay ordering as well.
Shoppers only wants to sell it, not grow it
When you saw the screenshot from Health Canada’s website, did you notice the date on the right- “2018-09-21”?
Sept. 21, 2018 is significant because that’s when Shoppers was initially licensed as a medical cannabis producer. If you need any proof that Health Canada dragged its feet when it came to cannabis licensing, look no further- Shoppers first applied back in Oct. 2016, meaning it took Health Canada almost two years to license one of the biggest pharmacy chains in the country!
But with all that said, don’t expect Shoppers Drug Mart to start growing cannabis anytime soon. The company only wants to sell it, saying it “has no interest in producing medical cannabis, but the [producer] licence is required in order to sell the product to patients”, according to CTV News.
Medical cannabis=Online only
Shoppers getting a license to sell medical cannabis doesn’t mean you can just walk into your nearest Shoppers and drop off your cannabis prescription- at least not yet. There is only one way to get medical cannabis under the current rules- you must order it online and receive it in the mail.
Or wold it be faster and more convenient for medical patients to just go to the recreational cannabis dispensary, where they can get their medicine without having to wait a few days for their it to arrive in the mail.
Besides, it’s not the like medical cannabis is much different than the legal recreational sources- it’s many of the same licensed producers, after all.
Shoppers receiving its medical sales license doesn’t change this, it just gives the LP’s another distributor.
The question of other pharmacies getting their licenses has now become more of a when than if.
Note:
As this story broke on Saturday, you might want to check out parent company Loblaws (TSX: L) when the market opens on Monday.
Featured image courtesy of Narcity.
Sources
CTV News: Shoppers Drug Mart granted licence to sell medical marijuana online.
Health Canada: Licensed cultivators, processors and sellers of cannabis under the Cannabis Act.
Medical Cannabis by Shoppers Drug Mart: Coming Soon.