Alberta cannabis retailers can start online sales, deliveries on March 8: AGLC
Author of the article:
Hamdi Issawi 
On March 8, Alberta will allow licensed cannabis retailers to sell their products online. PHOTO BY RICARDO ARDUENGO /The Associated Press, file Article content
Licensed cannabis retailers get the green light to sell their products online March 8 , the same day Alberta’s regulator rolls up its cannabis sales website and sends it up in a puff of smoke.
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In an email to Postmedia, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis confirmed that the transition will come three months after Bill 80, Alberta’s Red Tape Reduction Implementation Act, received royal assent and set a 90-day timer for the regulator, currently the only authorized online retailer for cannabis products, to withdraw from the digital marketplace and make room for licensed retailers to install their own e-commerce platforms.
Omar Khan, senior vice-president of corporate and public affairs for High Tide Inc., the cannabis retailer behind the brick-and-mortar Canna Cabana stores, said the company’s experience running e-commerce and delivery in Ontario will allow it to “hit the ground running” in Alberta.
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“We’ve already begun the work of setting up our dispatch system, and having drivers lined up in the areas of Alberta where we’re operating,” he said.
In an email to Postmedia, AGLC spokesperson Jacqualine Ladouceur said licensed retailers will also need to obtain an endorsement from the regulator before selling products online and offering delivery services through staff or contractors. And while these retailers may sell products on a mobile version of their website, Ladouceur added, they will not be allowed to use third-party apps.
Online sales and delivery for Canna Cabana stores in Alberta should function similar to the company’s Ontario operation, Khan said, which involves selecting the nearest store from the retailer’s website, where consumers must confirm that they are of legal age to purchase cannabis before placing an order that is then delivered by a store driver who completes a second identification check at the door.
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However, Ladouceur said, online sales in Alberta will also require retailers to practice more rigorous “age gating” to keep cannabis minors from ordering — measures that go beyond self-attesting an appropriate birthdate when prompted on a drop-down selection of a website.
“The age gate in Ontario isn’t as stringent as what we expect to be in Alberta,” Khan said. “Right now we’re searching out various technology options to be able to make that happen.”
In November, when Bill 80 was tabled in Alberta’s legislature, Finance Minister Travis Toews said the move would also allow private enterprises to sell cannabis-related items such as glassware and branded apparel, and represents an effort to “curb the illegal trade in cannabis.”
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Government officials estimate the AGLC will lose only about $200,000 annually in net operating income by giving up online cannabis sales, but Khan said having the ability to sell cannabis online is a valuable tool for licensed sellers.
“it’s good for a lot of the entrepreneurs who have put their own money on the line and set up regulated legal cannabis stores in Alberta,” he said.
After the transition, AGLC remains responsible for buying product from federally licensed producers and distributing it to licensed private retailers w