Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jul 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Ross Marowits
Page: B7

JEAN COUTU WON'T LOBBY FOR THE RIGHT TO SELL MEDICAL POT

The chief executive of Jean Coutu Group Inc., one of the country's
largest pharmacy chains, said Tuesday he is open to selling medical
marijuana but won't lobby the federal government to do so.

"We're not going to actively pursue this," Francois Coutu said
following the company's annual general meeting at its new headquarters
and automated distribution centre in Varennes, Que.

Mr. Coutu said he doesn't know how profitable the sale of medical
marijuana would be for the company, which operates 417 stores in
Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. "I haven't focused on that because
it's going to be a long way before this is happening," he said. "There
are a lot of question marks that are unanswered at this point."

Mr. Coutu's position differs somewhat from those of several other
pharmacy retailers, including Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., the country's
largest, that are vying for the opportunity to sell medical marijuana.

The federal government has committed to legalizing and regulating the
use of marijuana, including for recreational purposes, and last week
established a task force to study how best to do that. Mr. Coutu said
he opposes the sale of marijuana in pharmacies for recreational use.

Under Health Canada rules, patients using medical marijuana are only
allowed to buy it from licensed producers and are not permitted to
grow their own, something they were allowed to do prior to 2013.

But in February, a B.C. court struck down that law as
unconstitutional, ruling that forcing patients to buy marijuana
through the mail from a licensed producer was an "arbitrary and
overbroad" violation of their Charter rights.
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