This is one of the most common questions people have when it comes to medical marijuana. There is a great air of mystery around how someone actually acquires the cannabis itself once they have a prescription, since cannabis isn’t like a typical prescription where you can walk into any pharmacy and have them fill it. Your doctor isn’t going to hand you a bag of cannabis either. So you get your prescription but what on Earth are you supposed to do with it? The answer is to find yourself a Licensed Producer (LP).

So What Is an LP?

An LP is a business that has a license to sell cannabis issued by the Canadian government. They are allowed to sell cannabis to medical patients, to other licensed producers and provincial recreational retailers. LP’s are required to follow a whole lot of rules regarding where they can grow, what pesticides that can use, testing for quality and cannabinoid content, who they can sell to, and how much they can sell to an individual. Becoming a licensed producer is a long, expensive process that ensures that every cannabis seed is tracked from seed to sale.

How It Works

It’s a simple process to get set up with an LP to purchase from. The prescribing practitioner completes a registration form with you, fills out the medical document required by that LP, and faxes it over. Within 2 weeks, the LP contacts you to complete the registration process either by email or phone.

Once that’s done, you can begin ordering your monthly allowance. Your monthly allowance depends on how many grams a day you were prescribed and you are able to purchase 1 month’s supply up to 150 grams.

Which LP to Choose?

This is where the process can get a bit frustrating for patients. Just with pharmaceutical companies, LP’s will sometimes give “kickbacks” to doctors who sign patients up with them.  This conflict can sometimes not be in the best interest of the patient as not all LPs carry the same products.

It is the patient’s choice where they want to purchase from and all too frequently, patients aren’t aware of this. While it’s certainly easier to let the doctor tell you where to go, it isn’t always the best decision.

Unless the practitioner specializes in cannabis, knows a lot about various LPs and is confident that the LP they recommend has the right products for you specifically, as the patient you should make the decision of where to go.

This is why deciding on which LP to go with is very challenging. I’m not saying don’t trust your practitioner’s recommendation for an LP, but definitely do some research into that LP and the products they offer.

There are over 80 licensed producers in Canada and that number is certainly overwhelming to a novice cannabis user.

How to Make the Choice

When you’re trying to decide on picking an LP, there are a few key things to look for:

What products do they offer?

Not everyone is able to smoke or vape their medicine, make sure you look not only at the herb they offer, but also the oils.

Where are they located?

Do you want something local so it has less distance to travel to you?

How is their customer service?

This is a huge one. A lot of LP’s have similar products and they all have the same return policies set out by Health Canada. Where they will make the biggest difference is in their customer service. How helpful are they, are they willing to take the time to talk to patients and are they able to thoroughly explain and understand their products? It’s very important to have a knowledgeable and caring licensed producer.

For more information on how to find the right LP for your purposes, contact us today.