We spend a lot of time talking to people from all sorts of backgrounds and places about cannabis using social media. If you’re not following us, make sure you do. TikTok has been an exciting place as it’s a speedy way to reach people and often may be confusing as they are not used to it being a legal substance. We frequently get asked, where can I find cannabis near me, or do you guys have cannabis delivery, or how is it being in a legal country? So let’s talk about cannabis legalization in Canada and what it means to buy weed legally.

Since close to day one of legalization, we have been around, and so much has changed. Initially, there were many fears about access to the underage, smoking in public places, or an increase in serious traffic incidents where cannabis was a factor. All three of these ultimately have been unfounded and studies done over the past three years have shown that. So far, many of the big fears have not come true, at least in the short term. However, it’s important to remember that more data needs to go in, and we need to pay attention for a long time to promote a healthy and balanced industry.

Initially, there just weren’t that many stores to access at the start. Even just living in a significant city and searching dispensary near me means you might have a bit of a drive to get there. Cannabis stores can now be found all over the place and are highly accessible. You have a range of basic stores, value stores, and genuine craft cannabis dispensaries where you can get an experience getting weed in Calgary or weed in Chestermere? We can help you with that. Even better news on top of that is that very soon, cannabis delivery will become available to our customers, whether it’s straight from the store to door or even by the post office.  

The quality of cannabis has also drastically improved since the early days, with many new growers entering the industry and past legacy growers getting tuned up. It wasn’t unheard of to find very dry products, harsh smoke, or terrible packaging in those days. Now going to a cannabis store, you will find many improvements. Many growers include things like Boveda or Integra packs to maintain the moisture content they like. Considerable improvements to processing have been made as well. Getting hand-trimmed buds were impossible, but now it is a standard for higher-end options.

Some of the most considerable improvements to legalization probably have to do with packaging. Big plastic containers that were leaky and oversized caused lots of problems. Now the use of bags, glass jars, and appropriately sized containers have fixed lots of issues, especially hydration. Just visiting a cannabis dispensary, you will see the vast range of packaging for flower, pre-rolls, vapes and edibles. Late in 2021 we even got new gummies with entirely biodegradable packaging.

Changes and improvements with legalization are always happening, but some bigger ones are on the horizon for sure. Health Canada is now required to review the regulations around the Cannabis Act this year, and we are hopeful some changes are made. The biggest on the horizon is around edibles. Health Canada will hopefully look at increasing the potency around edibles or increasing the per bag limit. Currently, an edible can only be 10mg per package. They will have the ability to increase that potency or increase the potency ber container. There’s also a big issue with cannabis beverages and the math and limits around those. That is very likely to change as well.

As cannabis legalization continues, it is obvious the early concerns have been proven to be unfounded. We hope that cannabis dispensaries also mature education and a more well-rounded industry will also be commonplace.