Imagine you are a 75 years old male and you have a few medical conditions like well controlled prostate cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol and your knees hurt from arthritis. Your friend says you should try cannabis for your sore knees. You also live in a small rural Manitoba town that leans religious and conservative. Where do you go to find out if cannabis for your knees is a good idea? In Ste Anne's, Manitoba, retail cannabis store owner of Supercraft, Sean Stewart and pharmacist and co-founder of Apothecare, Ajay Chahal have you covered. Sean and his knowledgeable budtenders can help you with general and non-medical cannabis questions. If your questions start swinging medical, like asking about if cannabis interactions with the prescription drugs your on, they can virtually hand you off to the pharmacists at Apothecare, based out of Ontario. The medical cannabis system in Canada isn't perfect. Physicians and other prescribers have been known to tell patients to just go to their local retail cannabis outlet and buy cannabis there. Budtenders in retail outlets are legally prohibited from giving out medical advice to their customers, and they really don't have the medical background to do so. Supercraft and Apothecare are filling that gap by providing access to a medical professional at the place where people are already going with cannabis questions.

Ontario entrepreneurs are solving a problem that Trevor confronts on a weekly basis. People going to recreational cannabis stores with health questions like, "Are these gummies okay with my seizure meds?" We know that a large percentage of customers at recreational cannabis stores are using their cannabis for health and wellness purposes. Yet, budtenders are limited in the health information that they can provide. In this episode, Kirk and Trevor learn how two businesses owners are filling in the gaps left by governments’ lack of attention within the Medical Cannabis program. Lisa Bigioni is the Co-Founder and CEO at Stok'd, a retail cannabis store. Anushya Vijayaraghevan is a pharmacist and Co-Founder of Apothecare. Their niche filling collaboration is that Stok'd, an experiential cannabis retail shop, gives customers access to Apothecare, a pharmacist-led virtual consultation service. Together, these businesses provide a pathway for those searching to learn how to use cannabis for their health and wellness. This is another example of how the Cannabis Industry is meeting the needs of those looking to learn the health benefits of using cannabis.