Walk-in weed: New clinics will prescribe medical marijuana

New walk-ins will prescribe medical cannabis Plans are in the works to open two new walk-in clinics inside Barrie pharmacies.

Barrie will soon have two new, fully-functioning family-style walk-in clinics with a more progressive stance on prescribing medical marijuana.

A plan is in place to build a walk-in clinic inside a pharmacy at the Express Aid on Grove Street in the city’s east end.

The pharmacy’s owner says physicians at the clinic will be able to prescribe medical cannabis as part of their practice.

“Besides the fact that we need more access in the community, and there are a lot of wait times, I think it’s important that if people are considering alternatives to standard care that they are able to access cannabis,” said owner Andrew Schonbe.

There are also plans to open a second clinic in the Pharmacy Express on Leacock Drive.

The clinic director, Justin Whitehall, said a majority of family physicians are uneducated regarding medical marijuana authorizations and so he explained, “We felt that it was important to improve local access in a traditional environment.”

If legislation allows the clinics to distribute medical cannabis, the pharmacy owner says they will be ahead of the curve and ready when the clinics open.

They hope to open the Grove Street clinic in January and start construction on the second location the following month.