Ordering cannabis in Manitoba just got a whole lot easier.

Super Anytime, what the company calls Canada’s first “on-demand, multi-retailer, e-commerce platform,” officially came online Wednesday, providing wider access to the province’s cannabis offerings all in one place.

“We’ve been called something like Ritual or Uber Eats for weed, but we prefer an integrated marketing sales and performance channel for cannabis,” Ian Delves, president and co-founder of Super Anytime, told The GrowthOp. “It’s really all about increasing accessibility and giving consumers access to the cannabis with which they are familiar,” Delves said.

The City of Winnipeg is reporting cannabis-related emergency calls almost doubled last year compared with those in 2018 — although it has yet to define the cause.

This year, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) has received and responded to two patients in distress who said they had consumed cannabis-infused edibles, according to city officials.

In 2019, the WFPS reported receiving a total of 42 calls in which the caller reported having consumed cannabis-infused edibles. That almost doubled the number in 2018, when the WFPS reported receiving 23 edibles-related calls.

Edibles are flying off the shelves in Winnipeg, but analysts warn that it’s too early to tell whether the tasty new treats will prove filling or leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Cannabis-infused edibles, extracts, beverages and topicals became available in the province — and most of the country — on Dec. 17, although they have been hard to come by since then.

“We have been kind of cyclically selling out of these products,” John Arbuthnot, CEO of Delta 9 cannabis stores, told CBC. “Anecdotally, I mean, it was a very positive reception.”

If you tried to buy edibles as stocking stuffers before the holidays but Manitoba stores were all out, you're not alone.

Several retail cannabis shops in Winnipeg have been in a pattern of selling out and re-stocking ever since edibles became legal Dec. 17.

"We have been kind of cyclically selling out of these products," said John Arbuthnot, CEO of Delta 9 cannabis stores, which have several retail outlets in the city. "Anecdotally, I mean, it was a very positive reception."

Staff at Tokyo Smoke and Tweed stores in Osborne Village indicated the same sort of trend in their shops late in December.

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.

Cannabis edibles are among the most popular marijuana products. Canadian consumers are waiting for edibles products to be available in stores. Canada legalized edibles, beverages, vapes, and concentrates on October 17, 2019. Health Canada regulations require a 60-day process for cannabis companies to obtain licenses to release their products. Expectations were that edibles could be available in stores by the end of 2019. Now, it appears Manitoba could start selling edibles by next week.

New rules come into effect Jan. 1 in Manitoba that will allow officers to ticket people caught with illicit cannabis, rather than charging them and sending them to provincial court. 

The changes to the province's Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act will also make it illegal to possess cannabis that is not packaged, stamped and labelled in accordance with federal legislation, or to possess more than 30 grams of non-medical cannabis at a time in a public place, in Manitoba. 

Anyone caught could be fined up to $672. 

However, cannabis users will be allowed to remove legally-purchased pot from its original packaging for storage, says a press release from the provincial government. 

The provincial government unveiled new provincial legislation aimed at taking another bite out of the black market for cannabis.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen proclaimed the cannabis possession rules on Monday, which will give provincial inspectors the ability to issue tickets and make seizures related to cannabis. These are the first provincial officials to be given this enforcement capabilities.

The amendment will make it an offence to possess 30 grams of non-medical cannabis in a public place, regardless of how legal the weed is. It will also be an offence to possess cannabis that is not packaged, stamped and labelled in accordance with federal legislation. The fine for all of this will be $672.

The Manitoba legislature started its winter break talking about public cannabis consumption.

The bill, which seeks to expand the province’s ban on public consumption of recreational cannabis, is in limbo until next year.

The province bans smoking and vaping marijuana in public, but the bill, introduced in November, proposes the restriction be extended to include edible products, oils, gels and all other formats.

“To prohibit consumption in public, I think, prevents that concept of having cannabis being a normal, run-of-the-mill, everyday product,” Justice Minister Cliff Cullen told The Canadian Press.

“It’s just not a very good message to send to our youth.”