Uber, which also delivers alcohol through its Eats app, has had its eyes for some time on Canada’ growing cannabis market.
ADVERTISEMENTYou can now place orders for cannabis on Uber - but only if you are in Ontario, Canada.
On Monday, the ride-hailing app started allowing users to place their orders via its Uber Eats app and listed cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke on its marketplace.
Once the order is placed, customers can pick up their delivery from their nearest Tokyo Smoke store.
Uber, which also delivers alcohol through its Eats app, has had its eyes for some time on the growing Cannabis market.
The company’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told the media in April that Uber would consider delivering cannabis when the legal coast is clear in the United States.
Canada legalised the recreational use of cannabis more than three years ago in a bid to fix its ailing pot market, where illegal producers still control a large share of total annual sales.
The partnership will help Canadian adults purchase safe, legal cannabis, helping combat the underground illegal market which still accounts for over 40 per cent of all non-medical cannabis sales nationally, Uber said on Monday.
Asked about the possibility of expansion into other Canadian provinces, or into the United States, an Uber spokesperson said there was "nothing more to share at this time".
"We will continue to watch regulations and opportunities closely market by market. And as local and federal laws evolve, we will explore opportunities with merchants who operate in other regions," the Uber spokesperson told Reuters.
Cannabis is equally a growing industry in Europe. Germany’s federal government has signalled plans to legalise cannabis as negotiators for the SPD, Greens and FDP parties are still working out details of their coalition deal following the September election.
In Germany, the SPD, Greens and FDP parties, who are still negotiating a deal to form a new governing coalition following the federal election in September, have signalled plans to legalise cannabis.
According to a survey, Germany could see annual tax revenues and cost savings of about €4.7 billion by legalising cannabis. The move could also create 27,000 new jobs.
