How will legal cannabis sellers handle varieties?
How will legal cannabis sellers handle varieties. With known inconsistencies between labels and the genetics of strains, how will retailers will handle the problem?
Ontario
The Ontario Cannabis Store run by the
Liquor Control Board of Ontario buys its cannabis from 32 different suppliers. How would they know whether the species they sell are correct or not? They don’t know. They advertise products as Sativa or Indica dominant, along with the THC and CBD levels. Whether the species is correct or not is anyone’s guess at this stage of legal weed. But consumers can always contact the licensed producer for the low down on the genetics.
Nova Scotia
The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) handles cannabis sales online and through its 12 stores. Its cannabis has the labels enhance, unwind, relax and centre to categorize the effects. Myles said there was no evidence the cannabis would have those effects.
NSLC spokesperson Beverly Ware said they spend time talking to and educating customers. All their products will have the THC and CBD levels on product labels. She said they would also categorize their products according to THC and CBD levels. She said staff would spend time getting to know whether people are new or experienced users. Their staff will also talk to people about their experience with the products they buy.
Dutch cannabis coffee shop conundrum
Smoking cannabis in an Amsterdam coffee shop has been going on for decades. But growing and buying it to sell is a conundrum. It is legal for pot coffee shops to sell small amounts of cannabis to customers, but it is illegal to buy or grow it for sale. So where do they get their weed from? This has created an illicit cannabis market in the Netherlands which the authorities ignore. This means it is not clear what customers buy is what they are told the product is.
Where once the Dutch led the way in its tolerance of pot, it is falling behind now it is legal elsewhere in the world. Soon the Dutch government will allow cannabis growing as an experiment in a few places. This is but a small step towards its legalization the Netherlands.
Dutch coffee shop co-owner Joachim Helms said he looked forward to the day when public cannabis companies could trade in the Netherlands like they can in Canada.
Where do new users start their cannabis journey?
With inaccurate cannabis labels, how do new users know what to buy? Myles said the best thing for new users to do is judge products based on the THC and CBD content. He said they will need to try different strains to find the one that work for them.
Myles is optimistic about legal cannabis in Canada. Canada is on the edge of becoming a world leader in the science of cannabis and its genetics. He said there are already companies running their grow operations like any other agricultural crop.
With advances in science, the cannabis industry will soon produce
consistent products. This means no longer will there be issues with labels as more companies breed cannabis strains the same way as food growers.