Step inside a Cannabis NB store
Maria Jose Burgos | CBC News | Posted: October 17, 2018 8:30 AM | Last Updated: October 17, 2018
Legal pot is here. But what do the stores look and feel like?
It's a historic moment. For the first time in 95 years, cannabis is legal in Canada.
In New Brunswick, 20 Cannabis NB stores are open to the public.
Here's what they look like.
Inside Cannabis NB stores, no photos or videos are allowed. Posters around the walls remind people they must respect the privacy of others.
The stores resemble electronics shops, with minimal designs and white and black walls adorned with plasma screens.
Surprisingly, the cannabis aroma is barely perceptible despite the many products on display.
Consumer information on cannabis from the Government of Canada is made available to Cannabis NB customers as a one-page fact sheet.
The information includes safety tips — like starting with a small amount, and working your way up — as well as the risks associated with long-term use.
More information is available online at canada.ca/cannabis.
Brian Harriman, president and CEO of Cannabis NB, said in the coming weeks customers will be able to pick up their online orders at the "express" windows.
There will be no need to walk into the store to get products.
He also said due to the success of the Cannabis NB website, which has had almost one million page views, they are anticipating "a pretty brisk business" throughout the day.
Cannabis NB stores are divided into different sections for bud, concentrates and accessories.
Wall displays feature products like high-end rolling papers, silicone pipes, cannabis grinders and vaporisers like the PAX2 and Summit+.
Brightly-coloured, 3.5 gram boxes of bud from the cannabis producer Zenabis are labelled with the percentage of THC and CBD — compounds in the cannabis that produce different effects — as well as a health warning label and universal cannabis symbol.
While smoking is widely regarded as a riskier consumption method than vaporizing cannabis, more traditional materials — like lighters and rolling papers — are still part of the product offerings at the provincial cannabis authority's retail outlets.
Around 250 different products are carried at Cannabis NB stores.
Silicone pipes will be sold at the cannabis stores as well as online.
For marketing purposes, Cannabis NB is organizing weed into three different categories, or "occasions" depending on its effects.
The categories — Discover, Connect and Refresh — are aimed at consumers who want to unlock their creativity, relax with friends or chill out at home.
All photos by Maria Jose Burgos