NOVA SCOTIA POT
Nor’easter blows into Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation stores
Nor’easter blowing into Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation stores.
The first legalized Nova Scotia-based cannabis product has landed on store shelves this week.
Beverley Ware, spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, said the product is coming from cannabis producers Breathing Green Solutions in Wentworth.
The SKOSHA brand was developed over five years by the Breathing Green Solutions team, with the first two strains being made available under that name giving a nod to the region’s weather.
One strain is called Nor’Easter, a sativadominant hybrid THC strain while a second is called Shelter, which is described as a milder, indica-dominant hybrid strain with a nearly balanced THC-toCBD ratio.
Indica strains generally provide a sense of deep body relaxation. Sativa strains tend to provide a more energizing experience.
Ware said the Nor’easter strain is currently in NSLC stores in Clyde Street, Amherst, New Glasgow and Truro.
Although it’s not available in the Sydney River store at the moment, it can be ordered online, she said.
“Once we have enough prod- uct we will be able to offer it in our other stores as well.”
Ware said they expect other Nova Scotia producers will soon have their retail licences from Health Canada and will be able to sell to them as well.
Stores retailing in cannabis across Canada have reported shortages so severe they’ve had to close for periods of time.
The NSLC has had three occasions where cannabis sections in their stores had to close early due to being low on product, including the Sydney River store on Monday evening.
Ware said they are receiving deliveries of cannabis product daily which is processed in Halifax right away so they can get it out to their stores and online.
The main issue for NSLC stores has been product selection, she said.
“We don’t have that product assortment we had expected because we didn’t get the full purchase order anticipated.”
In August the NSLC ordered 3.75 million grams of cannabis, 282 products including flower, seeds, pre- rolls, oil and gel caps.
“We got less than 40 per cent of what we ordered, so we’re not up to the full product as-
sortment yet,” she said.
“That’s the reason for the low product assortment and that’s an issue in every single jurisdiction in Canada.”
The NSLC has yet to receive seeds and only initially received a limited supply of gel caps and oils.
“The reason we ran out of those early on is we got a very small shipment — a small percentage of what we actually ordered — in the beginning.”
Ware said another challenge is retaining the smaller pack sizes of cannabis, which tend to be more popular.
The NSLC makes regular purchase orders so when they see shortages or a particular demand for a product they can go back out and see if they can source other supplies, she added.
“We are now able to bring on a company from Charlottetown and we just received a product shipment, so that helped.”
This year is basically a grow- ing period to see what people do want to purchase in the way of cannabis, she said.
Leading up to the legalization of cannabis on Oct. 17, the NSLC researched product, including in the medical and illegal markets in Canada as well as popular recreational strains in the U.S.
“That’s one of the reasons we ordered so many different types of products, to give customers a broad range so they can determine what they like,” she said.
“It will take quite a bit of time to get that sales history but the benefit of the approach that we use is that if customers like a particular brand we can get more of it and if they don’t like particular strains we can get less.”
The NSLC also carries 21 cannabis accessories including rolling papers, pipes, storage boxes, grinders and vaporizers.
“We don’t carry very many accessories and that’s intentional because we want the private market to be able to carry those,” she said.
“We just carry a few accessories that basically allow people to consume it.”