TORONTO — The head of Canada's largest pharmacy chain says there is a critical role for drugstores to play in dispensing medical marijuana.
Galen G. Weston, president and executive chairman of Loblaw (TSX:L), says he believes patients will benefit more if marijuana is delivered through a pharmacist as opposed to receiving it through the mail, as some do now.
Weston says that's because pharmacists are already trained to deal with managing controlled substances.
He says Loblaw is open to dispensing medical marijuana in all forms, at all their Shoppers Drug Mart and grocery locations, if they get the go-ahead from the federal government.
Under Health Canada's rules, patients are only able to buy marijuana from licensed producers and are not permitted to grow their own.
Ottawa is looking at making changes to these regulations after a B.C. court recently struck down the law as unconstitutional.
The Liberal government has also committed to regulating and legalizing recreational marijuana, although no timeline has been given on that initiative.
