Shoppers Drug Mart getting in on cannabis what does this mean for the industry?

First, a large well known company is finally putting its money where its mouth is yet again. What this will do is spur interest from others to jump in as well flaming the glorious fires of the cannabis economy.
I honestly don’t really know how being a supplier will look like since legislation is lacking a bit on this. The Application to become a Licensed Producer doesn’t really indicate that you can be a separate producer and distributor. The way I interpret it is that to be a distributor you have to a producer. It’s confusing when Shoppers Drug mart says “We have applied to be a licensed producer strictly for the purposes of distributing medical marijuana” according to the CBC article. 

Second, they may have some industry information that isn’t public yet. But in this day in age we should know very soon. Maybe the legislative changes happening include grandfathering the old licensed and any new company that comes in has to abide by the new stricter rules. Which would suck because it’s already so difficult as it is, and expensive!

Third, insurance will cover legal marijuana since the industry would have to apply a drug identification number further legitimizing cannabis in the eyes of fence sitters. 

Whats obvious is that big companies are preparing for something big in the cannabis industry.