The cannabis 2.0 rollout continued as edibles and some extracts (though not vape pens) began appearing on REC store shelves in Alberta. As in other provinces, inventory disappeared fast.
Cannabis Retailer, CBC Calgary
- A Mackie Research Capital analyst warned the majority of licensed parties weren’t ready for the launch of new 2.0 products, which are limited in variety and far more expensive than illicit edibles. For that reasons, LPs’ early 2.0 products “are not yet competitive with the black market.”
MJ Biz Daily
The Deep Dive tweeted a photo of two Tilray “Chowie Wowie” brand 5mg chocolates as they received them: melted in their sealed package into a single featureless “blob of gross chocolate.”
Twitter—The Deep Dive
- Another commentator noted the BC Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse in which REC products will be kept reaches summer temperatures in the mid-30s. “No refrigeration. Regs state [edibles] must be 6 [months] shelf stable. Summer will be a good time.”
Twitter—Aaron W. Anderson, MJ Biz Daily
The threat of melted chocolates isn’t stemming the rush of interest in Calgary chocolatier Choklat, Canada’s only stand-alone food-producer holding a Health Canada REC processing license. Choklat owner Brad Churchill says, “The floodgates have opened. I’m looking at the [order] numbers and I’m just floored.”
- Across the country, gummies (also called “soft chews”) are selling fastest. Ryan Roch of Alberta REC store Lake City Cannabis reported, “Gummies are King and a lot of people don’t like chocolate.”
Twitter—Ryan Roch - Cannalyst Craig “GoBlueCDN” Wiggins surmised “the [dollar] cost to get high (versus the taste experience) is going be more of a driver (or headwind) of edibles competing against flower in the legal market.”
Twitter—GoBlueCDN
Though Ontario’s edibles sold out online within hours, one critic noted that only meant “2,000 transactions before selling out….In a province of 15M people.”
Twitter—Scott Willis
