Delays send customers back to illegal marijuana dispensaries
Adam Brett says he plans to try Ontario’s online cannabis store, but not until the kinks are worked out.
The 23-year-old said his roommate had ordered from the online Ontario Cannabis Store in the wee hours of weed legalization on Wednesday, but as of Saturday was still waiting for his order to arrive.
“Overall, I think (legalization) is a good idea, but maybe they didn’t think the whole thing through,” said Brett, who was in a long lineup at an illegal dispensary on Rideau Street.
Four days into legalization, customers complained about slow delivery and glitches at the Ontario Cannabis Store. In its first 24 hours, the store website received more than 1.3 million unique visits and handled 100,000 orders. Officials called the response “remarkable” and a notice on the website warned that, because of high demand, delivery would take as long as five days.
Frustrated customers vented on social media. “Are you kidding?” one man wrote on Twitter. “Definitely going to use my dealer from now on, his business is going way up because of your crappy service.”
Others fretted they wouldn’t have their weed for the weekend. “It’s a crapshow! Been waiting 2 days hasn’t even been sent yet,” another angry tweeter wrote. “Imagine beer drinkers being treated like this.”
Both online and brick-and-mortar marijuana stores faced heavy demand and product shortages across Canada.
There may be more headaches to come on Monday, when a union representing Canada Post workers says it may start rotating strikes. Canada Post delivers recreational marijuana in Ontario and several other provinces.
Ontario is developing a licensing scheme for privately-run stores, which are supposed to open in April. In the meantime, the only legal way to buy recreational pot is online from the Ontario Cannabis Store.
The online store is “a disaster,” said one man in line at the Ottawa Compassion Club dispensary on Rideau Street on Saturday. The shop was charging $12.50 for a gram for weed, which was higher than the cost of many strains at the government store; its prices on Saturday started as low as $8.40 per gram.
The man said he didn’t mind paying extra. “They are going rogue and staying open, so they’ll need the money for legal fees if they get busted.”
The man, who didn’t want to give his name, said he tried to order from the Ontario Cannabis Store on Wednesday, but the site crashed. “It’s all a little bit odd. It’s harder now to get cannabis than before, and it’s more expensive.
“It’s a bizarro situation at this point in time.”
Most of Ottawa’s two dozen illegal dispensaries have closed. The provincial government warned that anyone still working at an illegal dispensary after Oct. 17 would not be allowed to apply for a licence to run a legal shop. The new law also has heavy fines for shops illegally selling marijuana and the landlords who rent space to them, and it allows police to close shops.
Another Ottawa dispensary that remained open, Capital Buds on Churchill Avenue, also had a steady stream of customers on Saturday. It closed for a few hours on Wednesday morning, then reopened.
A manager there said he hoped the provincial government could be convinced to allow them to apply for a licence even though they continued to operate illegally. “We are doing a public service,” said the man, who said his first name was Adam.
Some customers are older and don’t understand how to order online, while others don’t have computers or credit cards, which are all needed to buy at the government store, he said.
He plans a meeting with operators of other dispensaries that have closed down. “I know for sure some of them will be popping back up.”
A clerk inside Capital Buds said customers wanted to see the product and talk to staff who could explain the effects of various strains.
The clerk also said he was suspicious about marijuana sold at the government’s online store, where products are from growers licensed by Health Canada.
Another clerk on duty said he used a prepaid credit card to order from the government store on Wednesday. “I haven’t even gotten my email saying it’s been shipped.”
Five dispensaries were raided and closed in Toronto on Friday, but neither of the Capital Buds clerks was concerned about the possibility of a raid at their location.
“We’re not doing anything wrong,” one said with a shrug, plopping dried buds on a scale to measure them before putting them in a plastic baggie. “We’re good!”