Not enough pot to go around

By Collin Gallant on October 20, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

A flood of newly legal cannabis sales has only slowed to the level of a raging river over the course of three days, local retailers told the News on Friday, and they say supply, rather than demand, is now their chief concern.

“Success is great, but sustained success is better,” said Patrick Wallace, owner of Waldo’s 420 store in the light industrial area.

“We can’t sustain this without more product. It’s not good for a business or anyone to be so busy that we’re running out of product.”

Wallace expected to sell out of dried flower sometime late Friday, though other products remain in good stock, and two orders to the AGLC had been placed in the first 48 hours, on top of initial stock.

“It’s my third order, but I’m told it’ll be next week before I get it,” said Wallace. “We’re working to get it expedited.”

It’s all due to bonanza sales of cannabis on the first day of decriminalization for adult use and possession on Wednesday.

His store was among three locally-owned retail outlets among 17 shops in the province that were fully licensed on Wednesday.

In the two days since, provincial regulators have issued 27 additional licenses across the province, although no more in Medicine Hat or surrounding area yet.

Local stores were packed with customers from opening at 10 a.m. well into the evening.

Shoppers arrived in the Hat from as far away from Lethbridge — where no stores were licensed on Wednesday — and Calgary — where just two opened — to take part in the very first sales of legal weed on opening day.

That initial bonanza is expected to be followed by less enthusiastic pot smokers and those generally curious about the stores or the substance.

It will also be followed by more locations.

In Medicine Hat, the site of three interim licenses, more than a dozen zoning applications have been approved by city planning staff. That is a requirement, among a host of others, to obtain provincial licensing.

Three applications are based in Redcliff, and Brooks applications total four.

On top of it all, a postal strike set for Monday could affect deliveries from online sales, including those from the AGLC’s e-commerce site.

In Alberta, cannabis is regulated and distributed similarly to liquor, meaning producers have one client in the AGLC, which acts as a single supplier to retailers.

The AGLC announced in July that 13 companies, including Aurora Cannabis, which is building major production facilities in the Hat, had been selected as suppliers.

Aurora reacts

Senior officials with Aurora told the News on Thursday they are pleased with their firm’s performance in the lead-up to cannabis legalization. They also said hiccups in provincial retailing and supply systems are to be expected considering the magnitude.

“Everything seem to be working remarkably well,” Aurora chief corporate officer Cam Battley told the News on Thursday.

“It won’t be without some wrinkles that need to be ironed out, but that’s a given since we’re introducing a vast new nationwide system with a lot of complexities and differences from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

“But, we’re going to get it right, and we’re well on our way to doing that.”

The company announced on Thursday morning it would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange next week.

“The ramp-up to consumer commercialization was quite crazy, but we’re been expanding around the world — we’re operating in 18 countries around the word,” said Battley.

“It’s astonishing just how fast all this is happening.”

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