Red Deer is one step closer to seeing a retail cannabis store in the city.
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The agency that regulates such outlets – Alberta Gaming, Liquor, Cannabis – says on its website that Green Town, located at 1-5111 49 St., has obtained its licence.
“I hope to open end of next week,” said Green Town owner Sam Katzman.
Green Town was one of 50 cannabis providers listed on the AGLC website Friday afternoon. Along with Red Deer’s pot store, Stettler’s Fire & Flower Cannabis Co. also made the list.
AGLC says the number of cannabis licences granted in the province is expected to go from 50 to 250 by next October.
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Katzman said Thursday he would be ordering product immediately. The owner is hopeful a cannabis shortage won’t affect him.
“It’s known that there is a shortage of cannabis, but it’s not as if we’re not going to be able to get the right quantities, the right strands, in order for us to open,” he said.
“The AGLC is working hard that retailers do have cannabis.”
The AGLC is not denying there’s a shortage of cannabis in the province. Kaleigh Miller, the agency’s senior communications officer, said it’s a Canada-wide problem.
The AGLC website indicates its has signed contracts with 15 licensed producers, including Aurora Cannabis Enterprises Inc. and Sundial Growers.
The agency receives shipments from licensed producers, which then get posted at albertacannabis.org for consumers and retailers.
But the shortage means the organization is not receiving the agreed-upon amount of cannabis from all the producers, Miller said.
She said it’s not the producers’ fault, as it takes months to grow the plant.
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Miller said she cannot predict when supplies will be back to normal.
For retailers such as Red Deer’s Katzman, there’s good news: Miller said retailers use the same website as consumers, but they have different log-in credentials.
“What we do get in (shipments), we put that to the retail side as much as possible, so they have a fair variety of stock to choose from when it comes in,” said Miller.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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