Weed entrepreneurs target at-home delivery market
Hot pink flyers for a service called Weedora are brazenly appearing in Riverdale mailboxes
With the legalization of pot scheduled for next year, a cannabis delivery company is advertising its services by distributing hot pink flyers to city mailboxes amid complaints questioning its methods.
Riverdale resident Pauline Stanley received an advertisement late last week from Weedora, offering seven free grams of marijuana with the purchase of one ounce of a “high end” strain. Interested parties would reach out via text message for service.
Stanley, a mother of two children, aged 9 and 14, reached out to the company under an alias to gather more information. She said prices for an ounce — with names such as “Chemo Kush,” or “UK Cheese 2.0” — are $150 to $250.
Stanley said there’s a school down the street from her home, adding she’s frustrated that a technically illegal recreational drug market can operate unchecked and indiscriminately appeal to youth.
“My door is not a nightclub,” she said. “There are all kinds of school-age kids in the neighbourhood, so how many of these (flyers) were nabbed by teenagers? It’s pretty inviting.
“When I got it, I thought this must be illegal and intrusive,” Stanley said.
Stanley said the advertisement isn’t for medical purposes. The company’s website doesn’t specify. It does state that buyers must be 19 or older to order. “It is our mission to give cannabis lovers the best strains grown by local farmers for the most affordable prices, delivered right to your door in the GTA,” reads the company’s mission statement.
The federal government is planning to follow through with plans to legalize recreational pot on July 1, 2018. Ontario has signalled that can- nabis will be sold from LCBO outlets or through a government-operated server.
Mark Pugash, director of communications at the Toronto Police Service, said the issue is on the force’s radar, but declined to comment.
A request by the Star for an interview with the unnamed owner of Weedora was declined.
Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) said Stanley’s concerns are warranted, adding that the crackdown of dispensaries in Toronto has forced the marijuana market to shift its strategy and continue working in a protracted grey zone.
“It is technically advertising an illegal product for somebody to bring it to your house,” she said. “The marijuana industry is a very smart, savvy, large industry that will find other ways to distribute until the regulation comes into play.”
Fletcher said her ward has seen dispensaries pop up; they were tolerated for a spell and then shut down. “It’s the wild, wild West,” she said. “I believe there must be regulation. This grey area is unfair to everybody, at this point. I think the police need to act a little more swiftly.”