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A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 1 November 2018

Supply shortages plague Canada’s new cannabis marketplace

By ROB GILLIES and TRACEY store on Oct. 17, but he
LINDEMAN hasn’t been back because
Associated Press of the supply problems and
TORONTO (AP) — The name has been getting his pot il-
of the store is High North, legally.
but it might as well be In the capital of Ottawa,
named High and Dry be- Ontario Capital Buds is one
cause for all but about four of the last holdouts after
hours of the first two weeks most of the illegal dispen-
since marijuana was legal- saries in town closed on
ized in Canada, there was Oct. 16 so they could file
no pot to sell. for legal operating licenses.
Trevor Tobin, one of the Business is booming — at
owners of the Labrador 11 a.m. on a recent chilly,
City shop in Newfoundland gray day, the waiting room
and Labrador, said they was packed.
went 10 straight days with- Blake Murchison, 62, was
out supply. among the customers. He
“The producers keep saying didn’t try visiting the gov-
there will be some bumps in ernment’s online store.
the road, but right now it’s “Why? There’s a postal
not a bump in the road. It’s strike!” he laughed. “I’m
a big pothole,” he said. not patient. It’s a matter of
His mother, Brenda Tobin, is In this Oct. 17, 2018, file photo, people check out the sample counter at a cannabis store in convenience, really. Or in-
a part-owner and said that Winnipeg, Manitoba. convenience.”
after she tells customers Associated Press Devyn Stackhouse, a
there’s nothing to buy, “a ing steps to speed up the Ontario, Canada’s most ers at Canada Post, the 30-year-old student at Ot-
lot of them are saying, ‘Oh, process. populous province, won’t nation’s postal service that tawa’s Algonquin College,
well. I guess it’s back to the The provinces are handling have any stores open until handles online marijuana did go to the government
black market.’” the sales and most of the April at the earliest as the orders that are legal coun- website on Oct. 17 and
Legalization arrived Oct. regulations. Reports from new conservative govern- trywide. placed two orders for five
17, and Canada became around the country are ment writes regulations. British Columbia, the third- pre-rolled joints and a
the world’s largest national similarly discouraging when Meantime, police have largest province by popu- gram each of four canna-
marketplace for so-called it comes to supply. shut down at least 11 illegal lation and a place that his- bis strains.
recreational marijuana. But Quebec closed its govern- dispensaries in the prov- torically supplied of much After waiting more than
for now, it’s a superlative in ment-run shops for three ince. of the country’s illegal a week to get a delivery,
name only. days this week because of Ontario residents who want weed, still has just one retail Stackhouse went to an ille-
The first weeks have felt a lack of pot and will con- to make legal purchases store. gal dispensary.
more like a soft opening tinue to keep them shut are flooding the online Across Canada, people “If (the government) were
with few retail outlets oper- Mondays through Wednes- government store. At least are returning to the black serious about access, seri-
ating and rampant supply days until availability is sta- 150,000 orders arrived in market. And some never ous about smothering the
shortages. It’s not because bilized. the first week, more than all left. black market, then more
Canada can’t produce Manitoba Liquor & Lotter- other provinces combined, Corey Stone, a 32-year-old resources would have
enough cannabis products ies said it expects product and the store can’t keep bar-restaurant manager been allocated to the
— licensing those produc- shortages in both brick- up. in Montreal, and his friend OCS,” Stackhouse said, re-
ers has been slow, and the and-mortar and online Contributing to the delivery were first in line at Quebec’s ferring to the Ontario Can-
federal government is tak- stores could last six months. problem is a strike by work- government-run cannabis nabis Store website.q
Iran summons Danish envoy over alleged deadly Tehran plot

By NASSER KARIMI Copenhagen from the rest terror attack on a military
Associated Press of Denmark stemmed from parade in the Iranian city
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran an alleged Iranian plot to of Ahvaz that killed at least
on Wednesday summoned kill an opposition activist. It 25 people. ASMLA con-
the Danish ambassador said a suspect in the case, demned the violence and
to Tehran over Copenha- a Norwegian citizen of Ira- said it was not involved.
gen’s allegations about an nian descent, has denied Denmark condemned Iran
Iranian plot to kill an opposi- wrongdoing and is being for the alleged plot and re-
tion activist in Denmark, the held in pre-trial custody un- called Annan, the ambas-
official IRNA news agency til Nov. 8. sador to Tehran, for consul-
reported. Iran expressed a Iran’s Foreign Ministry tations.
“strong protest” to Ambas- strongly denied the plot Annan left Iran on Wednes-
sador Danny Annan over allegation, calling it part day, shortly after being
what it described as the of enemy plans aimed at summoned to the Iranian
Danish officials’ “hasty, po- damaging Iran-EU relations. Foreign Ministry.
litical” and “uncalculated Danes say intelligence “We are looking at the situ-
actions” in the case. shows Iran was planning to ation in Denmark as being
The development came af- In this file photo dated Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, families of kill a member of the Arab very serious and not least
ter Denmark’s intelligence victims of Saturday’s terror attack on a military parade in the Struggle Movement for because there is a Norwe-
agency said on Tuesday southwestern city of Ahvaz, that killed 25 people mourn at a the Liberation of Ahwaz, or gian of Iranian descent in-
that a police operation last mass funeral ceremony, in Ahvaz, Iran. ASMLA, a group that Tehran volved,” Norway’s Prime
month that briefly cut off Associated Press has blamed for the Sept. 22 Minister Erna Solberg said.q