How Blockchain Will Track Medicinal Cannabis In Canada

The Vice President of Business Development at Shoppers Drug Mart said they are teaming up with TruTrace Technologies in order to start a blockchain-based ledger to be able to keep up with the quality of the medicinal herb. This is a venture that will address 1,300 of the companies stores across Canada.

Supply-side logistic is just one area where the blockchain tech shows definite promise. It is especially pertinent to medicine because every product needs to be properly sourced to make sure of its safety. According to a recent statement by the VP of Business Development, Shoppers Drug Mart plans to kick off this new technology to help keep an eye on the stock of the cannabis.

The Vice President at the firm, Ken Weisbrod has said that the medicinal cannabis industry is one where transparent oversight is well-needed.

Speaking at the World Cannabis Congress in Saint John, in giving his first-ever public remarks in regards to the shoppers’ cannabis business he said:

“This is the future for medical cannabis in the world. I know the U.S. is looking at what we’re doing here, and it’s really important that we take this leadership stance.”

Shoppers Drug Market Corporation is currently running around 1,300 stores in Canada and has more than $12 billion in cash and stock.

This makes it the biggest pharmacy chain in the nation.

The CEO of TruTrace, Robert Galarza has said:

“We think this push with Shoppers will hopefully lead into a similar relationship with the Walgreens and CVSs of the world. There’s skepticism right now from the medical industry and we’re trying to help breach that; it all boils down to information. Information is power, data is power.”

Medicinal cannabis has been legal in Canada since the start of the century in 2001. In fact, recreational weed was made legal just last year but even so, a lot of doctors won’t prescribe it as a treatment.

Weisbrod said:

“There are about 85,000 physicians in the country and the majority have not embraced this drug yet,” he said. “Quite frankly, they need more information and more data about the drugs they’re putting their patients on.”