Ontario Cannabis Store runs out of edibles just hours after online sales begin

The Ontario Cannabis Store was entirely sold out of its new edible products about five hours after they went on sale online Thursday morning.

OCS saidthat at 8:59 a.m. it had roughly 3,000 customers in its "digital lobby" waiting for the new products to become available online.

"In less than half an hour, we were sold out of the soft chew category and other edible products were becoming very limited,"OCS communications directorDaffyd Rodericktold CBC News in an email.

All edibles were sold out by around 2 p.m.

"We now have no edibles available, but still have reasonable stock of vape cartridges and batteries," Roderick said.

OCS saidit's managing the issue around limited product availability the same way it does with its other marijuana inventory.

"OCS.ca will only be replenished after the retail stores have each been allotted an equal share of available product," Roderick said.

"We know the licensed producers are working hard to make more products available and we're confident that these growing pains will be moved through in relatively short order."

Cannabis edibles, extracts and topicalsfirst became available online thismorning.

The province's pot distributor said70 new items tested by Health Canada couldbe purchased online as of 9 a.m. local time.

Among the new products are cannabis-infused chocolates, cookies, soft chews, mints, tea and vapes.

These products were made available in physical Ontario cannabis stores earlier this month.

Cannabis topicals, concentrates and beverages are expected to arrive in stores in future months as licensed producers ramp up their manufacturing capacity and introduce new products to the market.

OCS president Cal Bricker says he is hoping the expansion of products will help combat sales of cannabis through the underground market.