TORONTO -- Loblaw Companies says it's open to the idea of being involved with recreational marijuana, but its focus remains on dispensing medical cannabis.

Shoppers Drug Mart, which is owned by Loblaw, applied for a Health Canada licence last October to dispense medical marijuana.

CEO and chairman Galen G. Weston says he can't "predict the future" on whether the company's plans will change about distributing recreational marijuana as it watches for more details about the proposed legalizaton of the drug.

Weston made the comments at Loblaw's annual meeting (TSX:L).

Last year, he said the company was only interested in being an active player in the medical use of cannabis.

Ottawa introduced last month a suite of bills to legalize cannabis by July 2018.