A long, strange trip to buy pot
Ontario Cannabis Store starts selling pot for the first time
KITCHENER — I hadn’t bought any marijuana yet, but already my head was spinning.
Did I want cannabis with an aroma of “extra old cheddar” or “hints of diesel”? Is it better to be sativa- or indica-dominant? What kind of terpenes did I want? Woody? Spicy? Earthy? And what the heck is a terpene, anyway?
These were not questions I had prepared for when I planned to navigate the online shelves of the Ontario Cannabis Store — all in the name of journalism, of course.
The era of legalized marijuana arrived in Canada on Wednesday, which meant thousands of people like me were navigating a maze of government-run stores for the first time. In this province, brickand-mortar retail shops won’t come until April, so the Ontario Cannabis Store is the only legal way to buy marijuana at the moment.
The experience was a little overwhelming. Once you verify you’re over 19 years old, you’re invited to pick from 50 different varieties of dried marijuana, another dozen or so oils and capsules and 14 kinds of pre-rolled joints.
That’s right — the Government of Ontario will sell you a single joint, shipped directly to your house, for as little as $10.35, plus a $5 shipping fee. What a time to be alive.
Then there’s the head-spinning assortment of accessories, from bongs and grinders to rolling papers and vaporizers that are aimed at stealing business away from your neighbourhood head shop. Looking through all the products, I felt like such a dad.
The Ontario Cannabis Store came online at 12 a.m. Wednesday and was immediately hit with a crush of shoppers. Many buyers reported technical delays, although the site stayed operational.
Canadians didn’t seem to mind the minor glitches. Shopify, the Ottawa company behind the e-commerce software running the online cannabis stores, reported more than 100 orders were being processed per minute on Wednesday.
By late afternoon, the Ontario Cannabis Store was warning customers delivery within one to three days was delayed due to a high volume of orders.
“Please expect your order to be delivered within three to five business days. We apologize for any inconvenience,” the website said.
Thousands of Canadians did not appear to be deterred by privacy concerns some have raised about whether the online store’s customer database could be accessed by U.S. authorities. Canadians could be barred for life from the United States if a border officer decides they are an “abuser” of marijuana.
“My fear would be if it’s ever used as part of a criminal investigation or an intelligence operation, that data could be shared with the U.S.,” said Patrick Lalonde, a University of Waterloo PhD candidate and lecturer who specializes in border surveillance.
“Our privacy policies in Canada and Ontario, in my opinion, are full of loopholes.”
The concern is not without precedent. In 2014, the Toronto Police were widely criticized for releasing private suicide data to authorities in the United States, which prevented several Canadians from crossing the border.
“It kind of takes some of the celebration out of legalization,” Lalonde said.
I got off the phone with Patrick and immediately wished I’d spoken to him before I made my purchase. I just wanted to see how the website works, not be a dangerous criminal in the eyes of every U.S. border agent I talk to. What a buzzkill.
The Ontario Cannabis Store offers far more information about cannabis than any LCBO offers on the intoxicating effects of liquor. There’s educational YouTube videos and a crash course in understanding how cannabis works in the body, whether you’re smoking or ingesting it.
The website explains the difference between cannabinoids, or CBD, and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the cannabinoid associated with intoxicating effects of cannabis. CBD, the website explains, is the compound that isn’t intoxicating but is believed to have therapeutic benefits for treating pain, stress and sleeping problems.
Most of the varieties for sale range from around 10 to 20 per cent THC content — explaining that 20 per cent is considered “very strong” and the highest available variety is 33 per cent. Dried marijuana varies in price from $7.95 per gram to $56.50 for a 3.5-gram bag of Pink Kush.
Each product also lists the terpenes, the fragrant oils that gives cannabis its scent and flavour. There are over a hundred of them, and they all affect the plant in different ways.
I learned that marijuana with terpinolene will have scents of smoke, wood and pine, similar to those found in apples, cumin, lilac, tea tree oil or conifers. For a non-connoisseur, it’s a lot to take in on your first visit. And here I thought I was just buying some pot.
Each strain has detailed descriptions, like one called “Dreamweaver,” described as an “indoor indica-dominant hybrid with flavours of pine, spice and citrus.” With names like “White Widow” and “Ghost Train Haze,” I felt like an oblivious teenager buying wine based on labels alone.
I settled on something called “God Bud,” grown in the Niagara Region by a company called Redecan, because I thought with a name like that, well, it has to be good. Right?
I also bought a gram of a variety called “Solar Power” from Symbyl, a brand of Paris, Ont.’s Emblem Cannabis Corporation. I paid for my purchases with a credit card and was immediately sent a confirming email.
Like the LCBO, the prices include taxes. There’s a flat $5 shipping fee on all orders. Someone over 19 must be at your home to show ID and sign for the package, according to the website.
Once you finally settle on what you want to buy, the rest of the transaction is pretty straightforward. It feels a little like buying a pair of shoes online. A very complicated, earthy, spicy, fruity pair of shoes, with notes of citrus, vanilla and pepper.
Now all I need to order is some pizza. In about three to five days.