The legalization of cannabis on Wednesday is a cultural turning point being watched right around the world.
In the Maritimes, government retailers say they're ready to sell, even though they won't have the supply they were planning to offer on Day 1.
Oct. 17, 2018 will be a landmark moment in Canadian history.
“Some people may come in to just look around, who may not want to buy but see what it’s all about,” said NB Liquor president Brian Barriman.
While recreational marijuana will become legal Wednesday, Cannabis NB already has an indication of how many people are interested based on visits to the website it launched on Monday morning.
“We've had 50,000 unique viewers and almost a million page views,” Harriman said. “We've also had 19,000 New Brunswickers create online accounts, so based on that reaction the last two days, we’re anticipating pretty brisk business tomorrow.”
The product is on the shelf, but there will be a limited quantity on hand across Canada.
“We anticipated opening with more, we hoped to have slightly more than 200 SKUs (stock-keeping units) on day one, due to supply constraints will be opening with 100 SKUs tomorrow,” Harriman said. “But with that said, we do have a full range of product: dried flowers, oils, indicas, sativas, CBD, THC, so we will have every category covered in the morning when we open our stores.”
Health officials are hoping that harm-reduction will become a bigger priority after tomorrow.
“The main message from the lung association is that smoking cannabis is the most harmful way you can access this drug,” said Barbara MacKinnon of the New Brunswick Lung Association.
MacKinnon would like to be able to give out more information about marijuana.
“Really, we’re entering into a bit of an experiment because we don’t have the science behind us to provide any more protective advice than that,” she said.
MacKinnon is pushing for more studies to happen now that legalization will be the new reality.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.
