Alberta cannabis retailers ready to roll with online sales

Online cannabis sales in Alberta are set to change next month with the only current legal seller closing down.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) operates the sole legal online retailer in the province -- AlbertaCannabis.org -- but the site is closing shop on March 8.

"Licensed cannabis retailers in Alberta will be able to offer online sales of cannabis products. Licensed cannabis retailers will continue to offer choices in legal, high-quality products for consumers," reads the AGLC website.

Alberta currently has 748 licensed cannabis retailers, 194 of which are in Calgary.

The government website only brought in about $200,000 in cannabis sales annually, but there's a sizeable black market of unlicensed online sellers. Retailers hope the move to privatize online sales will help weed out bad actors.

"We have seen the illicit market's total share of cannabis sales in Canada go down from about 87 per cent three years ago to just under 50 per cent today," said Omar Khan with High Tide Inc.

The company operates more than 50 Canna Cabana stores in the province and plan to have the online market up and running in Calgary and Edmonton right away.

"Fifty per cent is still representative of a resilient illicit market," he said.

Licensed Alberta retailers will have to apply to AGLC for approval to sell online and will need to meet delivery and age verification regulations from the province.

"In Alberta, in advance of being able to access the website, the consumer will have to verify their age. Not just through self attestation but through something stronger than that," Khan said.

The shut down of the government cannabis selling site comes after legislation was passed in November to allow private retailers into the online market. At the time, Finance Minister Travis Toews said the change "would have the real potential to displace some of the illicit trade that takes place now."