Pot-Tracking Blockchain System Could Be Used by CVS, Walgreens

Canada’s Shoppers Drug Mart partners with TruTrace on pilot
‘The U.S. is looking at what we’re doing here’: Shoppers exec

A Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. — A Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

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By Kristine Owram

June 17, 2019 at 4:21 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Canada’s largest pharmacy chain and the provider of a blockchain program for tracking medical pot believe their partnership will act as a model for U.S. drug stores like CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

Shoppers Drug Mart, a unit of Loblaw Cos. with about 1,300 pharmacies across Canada, is partnering with TruTrace Technologies Inc. on a pilot program that will use blockchain to identify, track and verify the source and genetics of cannabis used by medical patients. The goal is to make it more like traditional medicine in order to reassure physicians and patients that pot is a safe treatment, said Ken Weisbrod, Shoppers’ vice president of pharmacy business development and initiatives.