Remember when you were a pre-teen trying to be cool and turned to your friend when you saw a Shoppers Drug Mart and were all, like, “hey man, do you think they sell drugs in there, maaaaaannnnnnnn?”
Well, turns out Shoppers could very well be selling drugs soon. No, we’re not talking about extra strength NyQuil – we mean grass, people.
According to the Globe and Mail, Canada’s biggest drugstore chain is exploring the possibility of getting into medical marijuana sales. Such a move would dramatically alter the prescription pot industry and allow pharmacists in the company’s more than 1,300 stores nationwide to “[prescribe] and [monitor] medication (weed) to ensure safe and optimal use,” according to company spokeswoman Tammy Smitham.
Shoppers Drug Mart has already sent scouts to tour Canada’s 29 federally licensed marijuana producers and is even interested in selling a generic line of pot under the drugstore’s own brand. Nothin’ like a toke of that corporate chronic.
The discussions currently concern medical marijuana, though a deal could put Shoppers Drug Mart in a very advantageous position should cannabis be legalized in the near future. As any street dealer will tell you, first you establish a network, then you laugh all the way to the bank.
Many cannabis growers credit a shift in attitude to the sudden interest from major corporations. Oh, and the pursuit of massive profits, of course.
“The stigma has come down significantly and you’ve got a delivery system now that doesn’t require smoking. It’s obviously highly counterintuitive to physicians to prescribe something that you have to smoke,” said Mark Gobuty, the chief executive of Peace Naturals Project Inc., one of the producers licensed by Health Canada to grow medical marijuana.
Legalization could balloon the current $80-$100 million medical marijuana industry into a $5 billion market.
And that’s the story of how Galen Weston became the biggest alcohol and weed tycoon in the land.
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