After delays in shipment, edible cannabis products have just hit the shelves of many dispensaries in Alberta — including the two stores in Lac La Biche County — allowing consumers to try out the new products.
Spirit Leaf and Equilibrium Cannabis are currently the only two cannabis dispensaries within Lac La Biche County. Both businesses are pleased with the traffic that the new edibles have brought in but operators of the two dispensaries are still not sure whether or not the edibles will outsell their leaf cannabis.
“We’ve seen in other places like the States that have been legalized for a while, and edibles do make up about 30 per cent of sales, so whether or not that translates for Canada, I guess we are still waiting to see,” says Equilibrium Cannabis co-owner Derek Ewaskiw.
Edibles were made legal in Canada on Oct. 17 of last year, but retailers were not permitted to order any products until Dec. 16. Those orders didn't hit the shelves of Lac La Biche until last Thursday.
The edibles are just one of three new categories of cannabis products that became legalized to be sold last year. Their release date, however, was pushed back due to Health Canada wanting a 60-day notice from companies before selling them.
Cannabis-infused gummies, chocolates, cookies, and teas are the current edible products stocked on Equilibriums shelves.
High demand
Retail stores are allowed to order as much as they want; however, due to the demand, business owners such as Ewaskiw are not sure about when their next order date might be.
“We were lucky enough to get a decent amount of stock, but whether or not we’ll be able to restock after this first little kind of wave? That’s kind of up in the air,” he told the POST last week.
Spirit Leaf employee Keyano Whiskeyjack has also experienced a similar issue, comparing the ordering system to a lottery ticket.
“We probably went in for two dozen boxes, but we only got two, so that kind of tells us that they’re running out,” he says.
Lower THC
Although the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) regulates all recreational cannabis within the province, Health Canada has restricted edibles to having only 10 mg of THC per package, which may make them more favourable to those with a weaker tolerance to cannabis, suggests Whiskeyjack, explaining that edibles can take anywhere from two to four hours to kick in, but that vary between people. Whiskeyjack and the AGLC suggest users take it slow and wait at least two hours before consuming more.
“Some people don’t like the low potency; they’re expecting more like 100 mg from people that have high tolerances, but as far as I’m concerned, they seem alright,” says Whiskeyjack.
Both locations have managed to sell out the majority of their edibles, but blame the cold weather for the couple of cookies and chocolates that were leftover.
Ewaskiw and Whiskeyjack are hoping that with the slightly warmer temperatures that they will finish selling the remaining products and be able to reorder.
Also hitting the market soon will be cannabis-infused drinks, vape pens, and topicals which are cannabis-infused products that are absorbed through the skin such as lotion, balms and oils.
Both Lac La Biche County dispensaries will be ordering the new product as soon as it becomes available.
