A local media report confirmed today that an accident involving a semi-trailer on a highway in Northern BC contained a shipment of medical cannabis.
UPDATE: Aurora Cannabis has confirmed with StratCann that a transport of their product was impacted during a routine transport. A representative says this was an isolated incident, with no business impact.
I can confirm a transport of Aurora’s was impacted during a routine transport. This is an isolated incident, with no business impact
The Clearwater Times posted a short article today referencing a crash on Tuesday, November 17 where a semi-trailer containing “medical marijuana” rolled into a ditch on a stretch of highway about two hours north of Kamloops.
Very few licensed cannabis producers are in that region of BC, although the route is often used for shipping from central and northern Alberta, as well, where several LPs are.
The article gives no reference to any law enforcement action connected to the cannabis shipment, and says the cargo was transferred to another trailer to continue to its destination. This more than likely means it was a legal cannabis shipment.
If it was a shipment from a licenced cannabis producer, there are only a few likely possibilities for its destination. Cannabis is often delivered by ground freight to and from Iotron, a company offering Electron Beam (E-Beam) Sterilization in Port Coquitlam, BC, a service many cannabis producers use. Cannabis could also be shipped between licenced producers for a variety of reasons. And it could also be shipped to the BC LDB’s cannabis warehouse in Richmond BC.
A source who asked to not be named, but is familiar with similar issues as it relates to shipping legal cannabis in Canada says this will only increasingly become a challenge, especially in the winter in Canada. But accidents like this can also be a good opportunity to learn and refine those processes.
“If you don’t have good policy around things like who controls the keys, using tamper evident technology, good transport protocols, this can hurt your business. If law enforcement are involved, you want a clear chain of custody documentation to ensure there’s no question as to the legality of the source, and that it can be quickly put on a new truck and sent to its destination.”
“You also want to make sure it’s safely and securely packaged so it won’t be damaged in shipment, and done so discreetly so it’s hard for others to recognize the nature of the product. A quality risk assessment needs to be done in accidents like this, in case the product is damaged.”
