Canada is set to legalize the use of recreational marijuana this year.
Provinces, which will control the sale, are still working out details as to how it will be sold and regulated.
Now, Canada’s most populous province has just announced it will work with the online sales company Shopify and their e-commerce platform to deal with sales.
A man smokes a joint at the Fill the Hill marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, April 20, 2014 PHOTO: Justin Tang- Canadian Press
The “pot” sales will be handled through an offshoot of the Liqour Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) which is the government’s exclusive retailer of wine and spirits in the province. The subsidiary agency is known as the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC).
The shopify technology will be used both online and in the 40 distinct cannabis stores which should be ready in time for the July legislation.
Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke, center wearing hat, is celebrated as he rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell marking the Canadian company’s IPO in 2015. Shopify’s software will be used in online and in-person sales of cannabis in Ontario once cannabis is legalized, which is expected late this year. PHOTO: Richard Drew-Associated Press
Meanwhile, a certified cannabis retailer has announced its first recreational brand.
It will be known as San Rafael ’71 and in a press release today the company said the brand is “for adults who are discerning and knowledgeable about cannabis products and those who value quality and an authentic experience”.
To highlight the introduction, the company known as MedLeaf Corp has partnered with Amsterdam Brewing who will also introduce a new label called San Rafael 71- 4;20 Ale.
This will be available in Canada starting next week.
A new brew will go on sale as a co-promotion of the first announced recreational cannabis brand, available when the law is passed in Canada this summer. PHOTO: Amsterdam Brewery
The name is a reference is to the supposed origins of the open marijuana movement 420, whereby a group of young Californian friends in San Rafael in 1971 would meet at 4:20 pm after school to smoke pot while looking for a mythical field full of marijuana.
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