If you’re looking to score some weed and get high over the Labour Day long weekend in BC, you might be in luck, depending on where you live in the province.
Earlier this week, we learned that the BC General Employees Union and the BC Public Service Agency had reached a tentative agreement, putting a pause on weeks-long job action.
That job action led to significant supply shortages for liquor stores and BC weed shops for days. We visited a few shops and saw complete displays empty.
We also learned that hundreds had lost their jobs and many stores were forced to shut down, at least temporarily. While some of these jobs will likely be restored as supply continues to be replenished, some wonder whether the job action may have had a long-lasting impact on BC’s cannabis industry.
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BC weed stock over Labour Day weekend
The good news is that weed stock over the Labour Day long weekend in BC might be replenished for parts of the province.
Daily Hive spoke with Jaclynn Pehota, the executive director of the Retail Cannabis Council of BC, about supply worries for the long weekend. Initially, it sounded like terrible news for weed consumers.
“Unfortunately, based on what we are hearing, for 90% of these shops, the orders will not arrive in time for the long weekend. The shops that are closed will remain that way, and I know of another 40 stores that will be closing their doors until those orders arrive,” she said.
Minutes later, Pehota told us that the council had received notice that the Liquor Distribution Centre would be shipping over the weekend to certain stores in specific instances. As a result, it’ll likely still be weeks before normal supply levels return, but stores won’t be completely dry.
“This will reduce closures, especially for the Lower Mainland,” she said in response to the notice.
Based on our conversation with Pehota, it does seem like the Lower Mainland will be getting the bulk of the shipments.
Long-term impacts
“We were literally days away from a catastrophic loss of thousands of jobs, full stop, and we have yet to see any indication this government is aware of this fact or concerned about it,” said Pehota.
“All of the choices that led up to this disruption were active choices made by leaders, and for the sake of our sector, I hope that those choices start to reflect a meaningful understanding of both the challenges and potential of legal cannabis.”
Daily Hive spoke to another professional in the cannabis industry who has years of experience working within it and living by the rules set by the BC government.
Audrey Wong is the founder of Zyre, a cannabis vape company that launched in BC in recent weeks, right before Wong learned about the BCGEU job action.
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“We never actually made it to retail stores, maybe a couple who happened to order on the day that it shipped in.”
Wong was one of the people leading the charge to make cannabis legal in Canada in 2017, working as an executive with the BC LDB.
“I came from four years working at the government side, so I forecasted these types of obstacles,” said Wong.
The unfortunate part about how the cannabis model works in BC is that customers can’t directly go to the source.
“The monopoly distribution model means by law, everything has to be sold through the BC Cannabis Stores.”
Wong admits that the current model has some cons.
“But the pro is the logistics setup for a small supplier is much more simple when you deal with one customer and one invoice, and they deal with the logistics and the fulfillment for you.”
Wong expects Zyre products to be fully available in most cannabis retail outlets across the province.
Looking at the larger picture of the BC cannabis industry, Pehota wishes that BC would look at a model like Colorado’s.
“Colorado continues to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in cannabis tax revenue and billions more in spinoff economic activity. We are now several years into legalization and Canada’s cannabis capital has yet to see even a small fraction of that benefit. We are absolutely squandering a slam-dunk economic opportunity that should be benefitting the entire province, not actively impeding small businesses.”