Shoppers Drug Mart to begin selling new medicinal cannabis products

People pass by a Shoppers Drug Mart in downtown Toronto on Monday, July 15, 2013. (Graeme Roy / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

EDMONTON — People searching for new medicinal cannabis products will likely be able to find what they need on a well-known Canadian drug store's website.

Shoppers Drug Mart will partner with Alberta-based Atlas Biotechnologies to provide smoke free, fast-acting products for patients across Canada.

Sheldon Croome, president and CEO of Atlas, says the products are tailored towards the over 50 baby boomer generation and also seniors who want safe, easy and consistent dosages.

“Topical creams, transdermal patches similar to a nicotine patch, inhalers…capsules which is a fast acting edible pill, where in just 15 minutes the patient can see the onset and effects of the cannabis treatment.”

The online partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart opens up a new segment of the cannabis market for Atlas focusing on smoke free and easily administered items.

“This is the progression of eliminating that stigma... it's not like a hippie thing. This is truly a medical product that has pharmaceutical data attached to it, years of use behind it and hundreds of thousands of patients. That data gives patients, prescribing doctors and pharmacists a lot more confidence that our products are going to do what we say they are going to do.”

Shoppers Drug Mart is aiming to have the new products available by the end of 2020.