Canada: the largest pharmacy chain in the running to distribute medical cannabis

Medical cannabis may soon be available on the Pharmaprix website, Canada's largest pharmacy chain with more than 1,200 locations.

The Toronto-based network has signed a 5-year agreement with Aphria, an Ontario-based producer of medical marijuana, which would supply the raw material in the form of dried grass or oil.

The agreement now rests with Health Canada, which must decide whether to grant Pharmaprix a license to distribute medical cannabis online. Pharmaprix had submitted its initial application in November 2016.

If approved, the agreement could provide a new driver of growth for Canada’s medical cannabis industry, which has seen a slowdown in the growth of patient registrations since 2016. There are currently 200,000 people registered as medical patients, compared to 75,000 a year earlier.

Pharmaprix is currently the only pharmacy chain to have expressed interest in distributing medical cannabis. To date, only Canada Post has been authorized at the federal level to distribute cannabis for therapeutic use. Some provinces also tolerate medical dispensaries, which provide cannabis to adults only with a prescription.

According to Aphria CEO Vic Neufeld, «Pharmacies should and need to be part of the treatment of patients using medical cannabis.» He also hopes that one day pharmacies will be allowed to dispense medical cannabis over the counter.

For now, Aphria will ship cannabis in bulk to Pharmaprix’s distribution platform, which will then handle shipments to patients. A doctor’s prescription will still be required, even after the legalizing cannabis in Canada.