Delta 9 Cannabis inks distribution deal with Canopy

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This article was published 28/11/2017 (2904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Delta 9 Cannabis has signed a deal with Canopy Growth Corporation to distribute medical cannabis through Canopy’s online store.

It’s the latest tie-up between the two companies, both of which are federally licensed to produce and sell cannabis to registered medical users. Delta 9 and Canopy are also working together on a plan to operate private cannabis retail stores in Manitoba after marijuana is legalized, which is expected in mid-2018.

Canopy Growth, which is considerably larger than Delta 9 and owns a number of subsidiary cannabis producers, will sell Delta 9’s product through its online store, called “Tweed Main Street.”

Any medical cannabis user who is legally registered to buy from Canopy Growth’s subsidiary Tweed Inc. can purchase products through the Tweed Main Street store, said Jordan Sinclair, director of communications with Canopy Growth. Canopy has more than 60,000 registered clients across Canada, he said. Health Canada reports 201,398 registered medical cannabis clients as of the end of June.

Winnipeg-based Delta 9 is the ninth cannabis producer to partner up with Canopy’s store, but only the second partner that holds a federal sales license needed to actually sell through the store, according to Sinclair. (Health Canada issues separate licenses for cannabis cultivation and cannabis sales, and most of Canopy’s partners for Tweed Main Street haven’t yet received both licenses.)

Even though Delta 9 and Canopy Growth are direct competitors in the medical marijuana market, Sinclair said Canopy will benefit from selling Delta 9’s product.

“We get the advantage that comes from having a bunch of different products on the shelf,” he said.

“Other producers can look at us as a way to showcase their products to consumers, and that way they don’t have to worry about coming up with a (customer) care centre and an e-commerce site and all the rest of it, they can just focus on production and distribution and we can really focus on the rest.”

Canopy Growth’s Tweed Main Street store will continue selling to medical cannabis users after recreational cannabis is legalized, added Sinclair. But the website also serves as a proof of concept for Canopy’s plan to operate online cannabis sales in some provinces.

“We wanted to present what looked like a good e-commerce solution to provincial governments, and we really hope — even if it isn’t part of the first wave of legalization — that maybe it would follow afterwards… We think we have a good, secure model that could transition really, really easily over to (recreational cannabis sales).”

Cannabis produced by Delta 9 will not be immediately available on the Tweed Main Street store, said Sinclair. He estimated it could take ten weeks for Tweed Main Street customers to see Delta 9’s Manitoba-grown marijuana on Canopy’s virtual shelves.

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

@sol_israel