Filling cannabis education gap

There are some things budtenders can’t answer.

Weed shop employees can’t tell customers, for example, how their prescriptions will mesh with cannabis. One Manitoba retailer has begun funnelling patrons to a private pharmacist-led business for advice.

“We can act somewhat with anecdotal evidence… but you can’t really guarantee anything,” said Sean Stewart, owner of Supercraft Cannabis.

Staff field dozens of health-related inquiries weekly, Stewart continued. Workers are legally prohibited from giving medical advice.

Supercraft Cannabis has tapped Apothecare, a Toronto-based company, to answer its customers’ questions.

Two pharmacists — Anushya Vijayaraghevan and Ajay Chahal — lead Apothecare. They’ve partnered with roughly 30 retailers in Ontario; QR codes to Apothecare’s website dot the shops, and retail workers mention Apothecare to customers.

Supercraft Cannabis in Ste. Anne is Apothecare’s first step into Manitoba.

“We have such a large group of that older demographic,” Stewart said. “It made a lot of sense on both sides.”

He believes the near majority of Supercraft’s Ste. Anne clientele is at least 60 years old. It aligns with Apothecare’s market — an average client is 61, Vijayaraghevan said.

Sleep, pain and anxiety are clients’ main concerns. They might be on three or four medications, questioning how cannabis fits with their regimens, Vijayaraghevan relayed.

“(It’s) a lot of education around products,” she said. “Majority of the customers, they don’t know that oils or capsules or topicals exist.”

Apothecare doesn’t push products of the retailers it works with, Vijayaraghevan said: “For us it’s purely clinical, and to understand whether cannabis is actually even appropriate for that customer.”

Clients pay a fee for Apothecare consultations. They might be told to avoid cannabis, or that there isn’t enough research to inform their question; in other instances, Apothecare could use Supercraft Cannabis’s menu to show examples of appropriate purchases, Vijayaraghevan said.

“Our primary focus is safety for the customer and also efficacy — whether something is actually practical,” she added.

She and Chahal launched Apothecare after noticing a gap in knowledge amid cannabis legalization. The drug became legal in Canada seven years ago. Vijayaraghevan said she hadn’t received cannabis education by her 2018 graduation — and so, she dove into research.

Apothecare is the only business of its kind in the country, Vijayaraghevan said.

“We’ve legalized marijuana without much education of health-care professionals, which leaves patients vulnerable to misinformation and misuse,” said Arthur Schafer, a University of Manitoba professor who studies bio-medical ethics. He’s the founder of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics.

Cannabis-focused training should be mandatory for upcoming and professional pharmacists and doctors, Schafer said.

The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba doesn’t require registrants to take cannabis education programs. Pharmacists don’t administer medical and non-medicinal cannabis, spokesperson Jessica Eblie noted. (Canadians need a doctor’s note for medical cannabis.)

The Ontario College of Pharmacists requires its members to complete a cannabis course.

It was unclear by print deadline whether cannabis is covered in the University of Manitoba’s pharmacist and doctor trainings.

“Canadians are entitled to impartial, independent, reliable health-care information about the therapeutic use and the recreational use of cannabis and cannabinoids,” Schafer said. “I’m suspicious of for-profit companies stepping in as the prime educators.”

An “alarming proportion” of Canadian budtenders and managers reported fielding medical cannabis questions, an academic paper published in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal in 2023 found.

Eighty-seven per cent of the 211 industry workers indicated receiving medical-related questions, per the paper, titled “An examination of cannabis-related information typically asked by consumers at retail cannabis locations: A Canadian survey of budtenders and managers.”

Having health care-provided information accessible within weed shops would be helpful, Schafer said.

Other Manitoba cannabis shops may join in outsourcing questions to Apothecare if it appears profitable, predicted Steven Stairs, the Cannabis Business Association of Manitoba’s founder.

Supercraft Cannabis isn’t the first to involve health-care professionals. Delta 9 was among the companies to keep doctors on hand when selling medical cannabis pre-legalization.

“(This) could have a huge benefit toward the industry, as long as it’s done ethically and to a broader extent of greater good rather than personal financial gain,” Stairs said.

Apothecare keeps its medical consults private and doesn’t sell data to partner businesses, a public relations spokesperson confirmed.

Apothecare is open to working with other Manitoba retailers, but for now, it’s focused on piloting at Supercraft Cannabis in Ste. Anne, Vijayaraghevan said.

“If this goes well, we would definitely look to expanding across western Canada,” she added, noting Supercraft Cannabis’s Bridgwater location is next.

Apothecare meets with Manitoba clients through tele-consult. An initial half hour consultation costs $75; other sessions, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes, cost $50.

People can book consultations independent of any cannabis retailer through Apothecare’s website, apothecare.ca, or by calling the company’s number at 1-866-880-4325.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com