Ontario Opens Canada’s First Online Recreational Cannabis Store
The Ontario government has launched the country’s first online store for recreational cannabis sales. Canada Post has officially begun delivering packages of recreational cannabis to customers who have ordered legal products. According to the Ontario provincial government, the first website dedicated to distributing recreational cannabis is now ready to serve customers. Notably, as the first online cannabis store of its kind in Canada, it is a government-run corporation managed by the province.
The “Ontario Cannabis Store” is poised to become the largest legal dealer of recreational cannabis not only in the region but potentially across the country, especially since most physical retail locations are not expected to open until April of next year. In addition to this store, other legal options for purchasing cannabis remain the online shops of several major companies that produce therapeutic cannabis. According to comments from the provincial administration, led by the Conservative Party of Canada, the authorized cannabis regulatory bureau is already in the process of certifying private retail and online stores, but they are not expected to be ready to serve customers until the beginning of the new year.
The main page of the provincial store went live on the night of October 11. The actual shopping section of the site opened to customers on the legalization date, October 17. Upon entering, visitors must confirm they are of legal age (in Canada, individuals 19 and older are permitted to purchase and consume recreational cannabis), after which the site requires users to provide information confirming their residence in Ontario. The store will offer customers a wide range of cannabis strains and various cannabinoid-containing products. Delivery of both cannabis flowers and different types of cannabinoid extracts will be handled by Canada Post’s courier service.
The website promises that all cannabis deliveries will be made discreetly. “Each order will be delivered at a convenient time for you, in plain packaging that is indistinguishable from standard mail,” states the site’s homepage. Upon delivery, the courier will verify the customer’s identity before handing over the package. Due to the nature of the order, cannabis packages will only be handed directly to the person who placed the order, and only to the name on the order.
Additionally, the site promises to take all necessary security measures to protect customers’ personal data. “Since many of our customers may wish to keep their purchases private, the site will only request the minimum personal information necessary to verify delivery,” the site explains. Furthermore, according to site administrators, customer information will not be shared with third parties, as sometimes happens with private retailers, and will be regularly deleted for security reasons.
The store has already secured supply agreements with 32 licensed grower collectives operating in Ontario. On the website, customers can find detailed information about the concentration of cannabinoids and terpenes in each product, as well as thorough descriptions of the effects and aromas associated with specific cannabis strains. To make it easier to search among dozens of varieties, the site features a flexible search system with many contextual filters. In addition to the shopping section, the site also includes a small encyclopedia that visually explains the properties and effects of various aromatic and active substances found in cannabis.
Finally, the site’s management reports that in a separate section, customers can also purchase various devices and accessories for cannabis consumption, ranging from standard bongs, chillums, and pipes to electronic vaporizers designed for the proper use of therapeutic cannabis extracts.
The resource also contains a brief section outlining both the positive and negative effects of cannabis use. Interestingly, the government site not only lists typical negative effects of excessive cannabis consumption, such as dry mouth and paranoia, but also describes the “positive” properties of the plant, like its ability to “significantly improve mood, focus, and appetite” and “stimulate creativity and libido.” Of course, the site notes that due to “individual body chemistry, the same concentrations of cannabinoids can have very different subjective effects on different people.”
Some critics have already praised the information provided on the site, noting its comprehensive coverage of the subjective effects of cannabis and its overall informativeness. In particular, many highlighted the article on the difference between sativa and indica, which points out that this distinction is only a phenotypic variation within a single genetic species of Cannabis.
“While these terms can be useful for distinguishing between two families of cannabis effects, in general, these plant types have similar genetics. Moreover, thousands of years of hybridization between indica and sativa varieties have left very few ‘pure’ cannabis strains on the market. In other words, both the most popular and many craft strains are hybrids of indica and sativa to some degree,” the site notes. “For this reason, it’s best to distinguish plants by their psychoactive effects and their aroma profiles.”
“Perhaps the close relationship between more ‘active’ sativa plants and ‘calm’ indica explains the striking differences in their subjective effects on consumers,” the site’s informational section adds. “While further research in cannabis pharmacology and chemistry may reveal patterns explaining these differences, it’s important to remember that such distinctions mostly depend on the physiological characteristics of each individual.”