Canada just became the second country to legalize recreational marijuana and it will be October 17th that legislation rolls out.
British Columbia has already selected Shopify, a Canadian online-shopping expert, to build its e-commerce portal.
“Having the portal operational before the deadline is more important,” remarked B.C. LDB spokeswoman Viviana Zanocco. “That means we can provide a safe and reliable and quality product to anybody in the province.”
“In terms of the stores, we’ve always said it was going to be a process. You can’t go from zero to 60 overnight.”
“We want to make sure the communities we move into are comfortable with us,” Zanocco explained.
Deepak Anand of Cannabis Compliance Inc. stated, “On the retail side, it’s a matter of coming up with a good policy that municipalities need to be able to follow. I think what the province has done is downloaded a lot of responsibilities on municipalities and cities saying, ‘You come up with a framework that works.’”
“We have all these dispensaries,” he said. “Either we license them and zone them, or let them know they’re going to be shut down. There can’t be a free-for-all.”
