Article content

VICTORIA — Before Michael Tan was hired to oversee cannabis sales for the B.C. government, he borrowed a hoodie from his 17-year-old son and stood outside a Vancouver pot shop.

The former retail executive then surveyed about 100 recreational cannabis-users to get their take on legalization.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Meet Michael Tan, the man in charge of B.C. government’s pot sales Back to video

“The biggest take-away was that consumers thought the government was going to take the fun out of pot and that the government would ‘mess it up,’ ” said Tan, executive director of cannabis operations for B.C.’s Liquor Distribution Branch since May. “I wanted to make sure their concerns weren’t realized.”

Since Canada legalized recreational marijuana on Oct. 17, thousands have opted to buy their pot through the mail. In one month, the B.C. Cannabis online store saw 34,000 transactions.

Tan declined to disclose the value of those transactions, but said orders are being processed with Amazon-level efficiency. Cannabis is picked, packed and shipped within one business day, said Tan, who was speaking from the branch’s 60,000-square-foot distribution warehouse in Richmond.