Image Credit: Canadian Press

By Ashley Legassic

CANNIVERSARY

Edibles not likely to hit B.C. cannabis store shelves until 2020: Public Safety Minister

Oct 18, 2019 | 10:04 AM

KAMLOOPS — As of yesterday, edibles were made legal across Canada — but that doesn’t mean they’re readily available.

B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, tells CFJC Today that consumers likely won’t see edibles on retail cannabis store shelves until next year.

“While edibles are now legal as of yesterday, the reality is I don’t expect to see them in retail outlets until probably January at the earliest,” Farnworth says.

New amendments to the Cannabis Act came into effect yesterday (Oct. 17), which established a regulatory framework for edibles, extracts and topicals. But producers could only start applying yesterday to produce and sell those products.

There’s at least a 60-day waiting period for producers before selling a new cannabis product.

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Farnworth also reflected on the learning experience over the past year of cannabis being legal.

“Well, it very much still is an evolutionary process. We said that it’s going to take a couple of years for a fully functioning retail market to get in place,” he said.

Across the province, 144 licences for private cannabis retail stores have been approved, while seven government-run stores have been approved.

Still, some retailers who applied for a provincial licence nearly one year ago are in limbo with when they’ll officially receive approval.

“Well the idea that the province is favouring government stores is just straight nonsense, the fact is that there have been 144 private licences have now been approved and there’s another 30 approvals in principle,” Farnworth said.