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Quebec offers a sneak peek inside new cannabis stores
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Members of the media gather on October 16, 2018 in a Montreal cannabis store owned by the SQDC (Société québecoise du cannabis), a day before the October 17, 2018 legalisation of cannabis in Canada. (AFP/Martin Oulett-Diotte)
N
o self-service, no glossy advertising, and proof of age is require to enter: Quebec's cannabis stores, which will open to the public on Wednesday, provide a minimalist experience to pot buyers.
The Quebec Cannabis Society (SQDC), the government branch responsible for cannabis sales in the province, unveiled to the media ahead of the launch one of its first dozen pot stores, on Saint Hubert Street in downtown Montreal.
From the outside, it's hard to imagine what goes on beyond the front doors, obscured from prying eyes and marked only with the SQDC logo of a pot leaf engulfed by the letter Q.
Visitors must show identification and proof of the minimum age for purchase, possession and consumption of cannabis (18 or 19 in most of Canada, but soon to be 21 in Quebec) to access the dispensary from a lobby.
There, nondescript packages of cannabis are displayed under glass countertops and stocked on shelves that are accessible only to sales clerks. It all feels and looks more like a pharmacy than an Amsterdam coffee shop.
"The aim is not to promote cannabis consumption," says Jean-Francois Bergeron, SQDC vice-president. "It's really to distribute in a safe manner."
Read also: As legalization looms, Canada cannabis crackdown worries tokers
The 110 different products are organized by type -- Indica, Sativa and Hybrid. Each package contains a health warning as well as information such as the name of the variety such as Tangerine Dream or Great White Shark, and the amount of the psychoactive compound THC and CBD it contains.
Cannabis is available dried, in pre-rolled joints, oil, oral spray and as a pill.
At Can$5.25 per gram including taxes, the government shop is hoping to undercut black market sellers.
The pot is available for sale in packages of one to 15 grams, and consumers may buy a maximum of 30 grams at a time.
The SQDC plans top up to 150 similar storefronts within the next three years. The final number will depend on online sales, which are predict to supply 30 percent of the local market or up to 4,000 orders daily, said SQDC chief executive Alain Brunet.
