Some local cannabis stores are waiting for a resupply of edibles after brisk sales over Christmas of the new product left their shelves low on stock.

The initial rollout of cannabis also faced supply issues. Instead of a lack of product grown, however, this time the culprit is more due to the fact Health Canada did not even start looking at the approval process for edible products until after it became legal on Oct. 17. With product hitting shelves on Dec. 16 in Manitoba, there was not much time to build up stock.

“It’s hard to get some of the orders to be fulfilled and there’s been some bottlenecks of whatever the operational issues are that still need to be ironed out,” said Mark Goliger, the CEO of Meta Cannabis.

The new year will also eventually bring a new slate of products that are starting to come on line. Current products were quite limited with chocolates and gummies being the biggest sellers. This should change in the coming months with the addition of cookies, hard candies, topicals and powders which can be added to your own concoctions and drinks.

“Every month that is going to improve because more and more is becoming available to the province,” said Goliger. “The replenishment orders will include not just replenishing top sellers from the first run, but a whole variety of additional new products from other licensed providers.”

A complicating factor is that not every province is selling edibles as of yet, Ontario, for example will not be able to sell until the middle of January.

Christmas served as a major introduction point for new edible consumers as sales of cannabis spiked over the holidays.

This also brought in other issues when it comes to safe consumption and storage.

The Liquor Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba is, in particular, concerned with the safe storage of edibles as it can be difficult for younger people to differentiate between candy and their more adult versions.

“We’ve focused on storing cannabis safely to ensure that it keeps out of the hand of children and pets,” said Lisa Hansen, LCGA communications analyst. “Many of these products, it’s very hard to tell the difference between cannabis edible and not cannabis edible.”

The other learning curve comes from the user’s tolerance for THC and the understanding that edibles will affect people differently than smoking dried flower. The LGCA suggests starting with lower THC levels — something in 2.5 mg range — and working your way up.

It is also important to note they take longer to work than smoking or vaping cannabis.

“Some people may try it and wonder why nothing has happened and they’ll take another bite of their chocolate bar still not feel anything and in the end wind up visiting a hospital because they’ve over-done the cannabis,” said Hansen.