By GRAHAM HICKS
Baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Pot – marijuana, cannabis – will be legalized in Canada in a matter of months.
Over a few pints of our current mood-altering drug of choice, the old guys’ drinking club was discussing whether we’d try pot again, once it was legal. In the late ‘60s, we took a toke or two … maybe a thousand. But that was 40 years ago!
To a one, we said no thanks, not at this point in our lives.
Nathan Mison, VP of stakeholder relations for the Edmonton-based future marijuana retailer Fire & Flower, gives a wry chuckle.
Mison’s point?
The unwashed Canadian public hasn’t the least notion how wide-ranging the uses, and choices, of recreational, medical and therapeutic cannabis will be.
“Let’s start with two active cannabis ingredients, CBD – cannabidiol oil – and THC – tetrahydrocannabinol,” says Nathan. “THC gets you an experience (the polite word for a high). There is no experience in CBD, but it has proven anti-anxiety outcomes.”
In other words, CBD should become a common treatment for anxiety – which beats tranquillizers and ought to be much cheaper.
“Within THC, there’s two major kinds, indica and sativa, which have different effects,” says Mison. “Think of indica as ‘in de couch’. It’s an experience, but it’s relaxing. Think of sativa as ‘stay alive.’ It’s go-go, energizing.”
As for smoking pot, fuhgeddaboudit!
“Smoking pot won’t last,” says Nathan, “not when there’s so many other less-visible and healthier means of consumption.” Cannabis in foods, pot brownies, tinctures, oils, pot powders that can be dissolved like instant coffee, eight-hour slow-release capsules …
The industry will see pot-infused water in a matter of months. No calories, no sugar, no hangovers, but creating a high like alcohol, or a milder buzz like caffeine, or a calming effect like an herbal tea – all depending on what you buy.
A huge, but quiet market already exists for medicinal marijuana, which needs a doctor’s prescription before it can be dispensed and can only be grown by strictly regulated and licensed growers.
According to Statistics Canada, 4.87 million Canadians used medical marijuana in 2016, spending an average $98 a month per person to purchase the stuff. This sounds crazy … one out of seven Canadians already using medicinal marijuana? But, hey, these are Stats Canada figures.
Anecdotally, friends with prescriptions for medical marijuana, to control chronic pain like arthritis, swear by the stuff. They like the high, too.
Imagine the demand for medical marijuana – with or without THC – once it becomes readily available.
“Pets,” says Mison. “Cannabis-infused pet foods to give old dogs and cats relief from arthritis.”
So how will we know what to buy?
Fire & Flower has applied for 37 store licenses across Alberta, which will be the maximum granted to any one retailer by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, quickly becoming known as the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission.
At Fire & Flower, says Mison, the shopping experience will be “curated”. Sales people will truly be consultants, will work with the customer to determine what they want out of a cannabis product, in what form they want that product, and to help them chose – somewhat like a knowledgeable wine salesperson in a high-end wine/liquor store.
No, there will be no consumption allowed on the premises, no free samples at the door.
Will the old guys’ drinking club be allowed to consume cannabis products whilst quaffing ales at the bar? No. Federal government legislation, Mison says, stipulates a bar must sell one or the other, cannabis or alcohol products, not both.
However, if carrying a small amount of cannabis in your pocket is legal, it’s a stretch to imagine someone being charged with wrongfully consuming cannabis candy whilst in a corner of an alcohol bar.
This is the first of a Hicks on Biz series on the ramifications of legal pot: Next week, the good and bad that will come with Canadian cannabis companies plunging into the enormous but risky “green gold rush,” especially with Edmonton emerging as a centre of cannabis production and administration. Week three: regulation in all its bureaucratic glory.