I found Kat on TikTok a few months back and was INSTANTLY amused and loved her infectious , fun energy. Upon on following her more I learned she is in Canada AND manages a recreational cannabis store in the lovely province of Manitoba. Did you know in Manitoba they DO NOT allow their citizens to grow the four alloted recreational cannabis plants? Weird eh?

Thankfully Manitoba people can access recreational cannabis and can go to stores to interact with wonderful humans such as Kat. Kat is the manager of Rasta Lady Cannabis Shop in Morris, Manitoba, one of the only strictly cannabis stores in Morris!

Morris is a small town located about 50km south of Winnipeg with a population of 1,975 people.

I had the pleasure of asking Kat some questions about her cannabis career and more!

Manitoba Cannabis Industry is interesting. I’ve noticed that Manitoba is the forgotten province, as we tend to have less products available than the other provinces. One thing I learned about the Manitoba Cannabis Industry that I found interesting, is that Manitoba does not have a cap on how old a product is. All the other provinces have a rule in place, if the product was packaged more than 6-12 months ago, they will not accept it. But not Manitoba, which means that we get stuck with all the old products. There have been times I order a product that looks amazing, but I get it and it was packaged over a year ago. Manitoba is also a province where you legally cannot grow your own cannabis, which feels like a set back as I know so many Manitobian Budtenders who would love to learn the art of growing.

So when I started in the industry, I was thrown in an empty shop and told to figure it all out on my own. I found cheap notebooks were the key, being able to write down research, what customers say about products, and keep track of what strains I’ve tried. I found that having a notebook with strain info helped me so much with finding the right product for customers, along with helped me remember a lot of information that I usually would not be able to retain.

There are 3 things I would change, the equivalencies on beverages/topicals and the cap on THC levels in edibles. At Rasta Lady we carry Eve and Co Bath Bombs, which you cannot smoke to get high, yet they are equiv to 10g of cannabis, which leaves customers upset when they want to purchase more than 3 at a time. The beverages are so clearly wrong, it actually frustrates customers. The edible limit is obvious as 10mg doesn’t even touch those with any kind of tolerance. Lastly, give Manitobians the right to grow!!