Attention all Montreal weed smokers: the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) is being sued, and you might be eligible to get in on the (class) action.
Groupe SGF, a law firm specializing in the cannabis industry, announced Thursday that it would be launching a class action lawsuit application against the SQDC on behalf of someone named Gabriel Bélanger, who is both a cannabis consumer and the founder of cannabis concentrate company Origami Extraction.
What's Bélanger's beef with the SQDC?
Well, according to a press release, the plaintiff is "determined to present in Superior Court the fact that he is obliged [...] to make blind purchases when he orders cannabis products on the SQDC website."
Basically, Bélanger argues that the SQDC describes certain cannabis products it sells online as "strain rotating" instead of indicating the particular strain, which violates the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
"All cannabis products which are sold online and which have the mention 'strain rotating' in their description sheet do not comply with the CPA since it provides that consumers must have access to a description which includes the characteristics and technical specifications. By not allowing consumers to know what variety is in the product when ordering, the SQDC forces consumers to make blind purchases," the release says.
Maxime Guérin, a lawyer at Groupe SGF, continues, "A state-owned company appears to be violating its own Consumer Protection Act and it seems abnormal to us that cannabis consumers in Quebec are forced to make blind purchases when they buy cannabis on the only legal cannabis sales site in the province."
If you have bought cannabis online from the SQDC since October 17, 2018 — specifically, dried flower or pre-rolled joints — and the strain displayed on the website was "strain rotating," you would be included in this class-action lawsuit. And if Bélanger wins, you could be entitled to compensation.
That said, Guérin told MTL Blog it could be six months to a year before the court authorizes (or denies) the lawsuit application, though approval is likely.
"Once the appeal is authorized, monitor our page to find out more," the Groupe SGF website says. "Note that members do not have to register to take part in the action."
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
