Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

NEW CANNABIS PRODUCTS

Kamloops retailers expect cannabis edibles to be available before Christmas

Dec 17, 2019 | 4:48 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s touted as ‘Cannabis 2.0.’ Since October 18, 2019, cannabis edibles, topicals, and extracts have been technically legal in Canada. However, those items have taken months to become available.

In BC, Thursday is the day the BC Cannabis Store will begin offering these products online, and retailers in the community are looking forward to the next phase of legal cannabis, hopefully just before Christmas.

When the federal government introduced legal cannabis, they didn’t include certain products in the initial rollout. As of Oct.18 those products — notably edibles, extracts, and topicals — were legal. However, producers needed to submit their products to Health Canada for testing. As a result, those products were subject to a 60-day hold.

“Now in December, that 60-day holdback is complete,” Dave Jones, City of Kamloops Business License Inspector and cannabis regulation guru explains to CFJC Today. “Looking forward, we’re looking to see which product has been approved now, and we’re looking to see which products are approved through the provincial government.”

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The Shore Cannabiz Shop Owner Chris Lyth says he’s been speaking with the licensed producers who supply him and has a good idea which items will be available to order in the coming days.

“The first phase, for us, will come next week,” Lyth tells CFJC Today. “We’ll have chocolates, gummies, and vapes available.”

Lyth says those products will only be available in relatively small doses to start. Health Canada has the amount of THC per package to just 10 mg.

“What that means is a package might have two items; two chocolates, two gummies, each at five milligrams [of THC]. Or, they have five items, each at two milligrams [of THC],” Lyth explains. “This is a good way to start slow and learn how your body reacts to the THC.”

If those doses aren’t potent enough for more seasoned cannabis users, Lyth says he has a do-it-yourself option to make edibles at home.

Image Credit: CFJC Today

“An edible is just a THC tincture mixed into whatever product you’re making,” Lyth says. “So we carry gummy kits. If you can boil water, you can make these kits. You just mix it up. It tells you exactly how to apply the dosage. You put it into the moods, let it cure, and you have your gummies.”

Many aspects of the cannabis legalization process have been in the works since the federal Liberals took power back in 2015. For some, that process may seem like it’s taken forever. However, for Dave Jones, with the city, that slow process has helped ensure the rollout has remained smooth.

“From the city’s perspective, we’re doing well. I believe we now have six stores open — two government stores and four private,” Jones says. “We should be happy for B.C. citizens that it’s slow, but progressively changing. We haven’t had any problems that we’ve heard about.”