The doors didn’t open until 9 a.m., but Angela Davis made sure she was at the front of the line when Tweed opened on Broadway in Corner Brook on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old Corner Brook woman and a few friends got to the store at 7:30 a.m. to be among the first people to legally purchase cannabis in the city.
“We’re just really proud. This is the first time this has ever happened. We wanted to be the first faces this store saw,” said Davis as she waited in the cold.
A regular user, Davis wasn’t concerned about being that first face.
“I think the stigma really has to end with cannabis, because it’s not just lazy stoners who smoke cannabis. It’s everybody. It can help everybody.”
And she agrees users have to responsible.
“We always say as a community always go low and slow.”
Davis said having it available through a store will definitely change the way cannabis is accessed.
“Especially in Newfoundland,” she said, “because we are privatized we can have private companies like Tweed come in. This is really going to help our prices. So, competitive pricing.
“We’re hoping that a lot of dealers won’t be able to match the competitive pricing of privatized markets.”
Once inside the store it didn’t take Eric Berube long to make his purchase after talking with a Tweed employee about the available types of cannabis.
The 38-year-old Corner Brook man said being able to avail of legal cannabis was a good thing.
“Because we are going to be able to get the same cannabis every time. On the street you get some, but you’re never going to get the same again.”
He also said a purchaser has no idea of what’s in the cannabis that is bought on the street.
A regular user for about 10 years, Berube used to get cannabis from a dealer, but said that’s a thing of the past.
He also said legalization will remove some stigma associated with cannabis use.
Tweed is a division of Canopy Growth and is one of two locations where cannabis is sold in the city, the other is at Dominion.
Tweed shop manager Mark Murdoch the store carries many varieties of cannabis. When customers enter they are greeted by a “tweedtender” who will help them made a choice.
“Not only is it a shop, it’s an education centre.”
Murdoch said Tweed is attempting to teach people about cannabis, the different forms and varieties and the effects associated with them. It also provides customers with social responsibility advice.
While glass sniffer jars with information on the available varieties are on display around the shop, Murdoch said the regulations prevent them from displaying any actual flower. Everything is kept in locked cabinets behind the cash registers.
Tweed’s hours of operation will be from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday.
A request to speak with someone at the Dominion store was not answered as of deadline.
