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A group of independent cannabis store owners in Saskatchewan are pooling their resources in the hopes of levelling the pot playing field.

The Saskatchewan Weed Pool, the province’s first cannabis cooperative, was created in response to an industry that members say is starting to be largely taken up by chains and publicly-traded companies.

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According to information from the SLGA, approximately two-thirds of the province’s 36 currently-operating cannabis retailers are owned by these large companies.

“We just felt as individual players in the Saskatchewan market that we benefit by consolidating our efforts and our buying power,” said Jim Southam, president of the Pool and owner of Prairie Cannabis in Prince Albert.

Photo by TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post

Following legalization last year, a group of private stores formed the Saskatchewan Independent Cannabis Retailers Network (SICRN). Members of the network came up with the cooperative approach to address the challenges they were facing.