Shoppers Drug Mart signs supply deal with Canadian cannabis company

Feb 28 2018, 4:53 am

Aurora Cannabis, a giant in the cannabis-producing world, has just signed a supply deal with Shoppers Drug Mart in the lead up to federal legalization.

The Edmonton-based company made the announcement on Tuesday, stating in a release that the deal will be subject to Health Canada’s approval of Shoppers’ application to become a licensed producer. If approved, customers of Shoppers Drug Mart will be able to purchase Aurora Cannabis in the near future.

The legalization of marijuana has been a long-awaited move by the government, though the tentative timeframe for legislation has been pushed back from the originally proposed July 1 deadline to sometime in late summer 2018.

The final vote on Bill C-45, the legislation that would legalize cannabis, will take place on or before June 7, meaning that it will be another two to three months after the final vote before legalization will come into effect, landing it in August or September of this year.

Even so, Aurora has been busy leading up to legalization, and had made a $1.1 billion deal to acquire CanniMed Therapeutics earlier this year.

The supply deal with Shoppers means that Aurora Cannabis’ medical marijuana will be available for purchase online, due to Canadian regulations restricting the sale of cannabis in retail pharmacies.

“Partnering with Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest pharmacy retailer, is yet another validation of the scale and maturity of our company, and of the demand for Aurora’s medical cannabis,” Aurora Cannabis CEO Terry Booth said in the release.

“This strategic relationship with Shoppers will further expand our market presence and profile as one of the world’s leading medical cannabis brands.”

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