Pot-smokers on Cape Breton Island clamour for more stores

Cannabis demand outstrips supply The only outlet in Cape Breton had to close this week while staff restocked the shelves. Kyle Moore reports.

Two weeks into legalization and demand for cannabis is still outstripping supply.

The only outlet on Cape Breton Island had to close completely this week because they simply didn't have enough stock.

At the NSLC store In Sydney River, N.S., on Wednesday, people were back buying pot, but some are still not satisfied with the selection available.

“I just had to get whatever they had there, pretty much,” said Alex Musgrave. “Just take what you can get now, until they stock back up. They're really low.”

Retailers saw long lineups in the first week it opened and with the appetite still strong to purchase legal pot, producers are having a hard time trying to keep up. That is leaving store shelves bare in some Nova Scotia locations.

Beverly Ware, a spokesperson with the NSLC, says it's a daily issue they are still trying to work out.

“The issue we are dealing with is supply,” said Ware. “So our priority is to get that supply secured and to receive the inventory we ordered back in August. Once we get that supply chain moving smoothly, and, understandably, it's taken license producers some time to be able to get fully up and running and be able to meet their commitments.”

When stock got low earlier this week and the Sydney River store closed, some shoppers wondered if more locations on the island would help ease the current growing pains.

“Whitney Pier would be the best location I must say that, that's for sure,” said one customer, who didn’t give his name.

“There's so many people on this island; there should be more on the island,” said customer Rita MacLellan. “There should be one in Sydney, North Sydney, and Glace Bay. I think there should be many.”

Ware says the supply chain needs to be running smoothly before any adjustments can be made to operations and says there's no timeline for when that might happen.

For now consumers need to be patient, as the newly legal cannabis continues to be rolled out across the province.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.