Edible cannabis products have started to roll out and the BC Liquor Distribution Branch says there are going to be different time frames for different products.

Speaking on The Jeff Andreas Show, spokesperson Vivianna Zonocco says currently things like gummies and chocolates are available, but there are some unexpected challenges that producers are facing. “You have to make it shelf stable which I think is a big challenge that licensed producers are facing because we can’t ship refrigerated products. So, that’s a challenge for them because before you could keep brownies in a refrigerator in a store but we can’t do that anymore.”

Zonocco says it will take time to get a stable supply of products, but it shouldn’t see the same issues that occurred when the plant was first legalized. “All of these licensed producers are trying to meet a pent up demand across the country and so we’ve just been trying to manage people’s expectations as this is going to take a little while to roll out. We will probably see drinks this month, but we will probably see a bigger range of edibles over the coming weeks.”

Zonocco says when it put out a call for products in August it received 260 individual products that people came forward wanting to create. The expectation at that point was to on the market by Christmas, but it certainly didn’t have as many products in the market as many had hoped. “They’re struggling to meet the shelf stable requirements. There’s a couple of producers that have gone bankrupt in the meantime. It’s going to be stabilized soon, but again, licensed producers are struggling, there is a finite number of them, health Canada is approving more and more.”

She says it has drinks and teas, oils, powders, chocolates, vapes and cartridges, shatter, hash and other topicals that are all going to be available soon.

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