Bedrocan is returning to Canada

October 10, 2024 | David Brown

Bedrocan International recently received a licence to again produce cannabis in Canada.

The Netherlands-based producer of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for medical purposes received their licence to cultivate from Health Canada on September 27.

In a press release, the company says it recently purchased its old Bedrocan facility in Scarborough, Ontario.

The company says this fulfils its “long-held promise of returning to Canada” to grow standardized medicinal cannabis for Canadian patients. Now licensed for cultivation, the company plans to begin production of cannabis in early 2025.

Bedrocan’s CEO Jaap Erkelens on Bedrocan’s attention to patients: “We have had a strictly pharmaceutical approach since our foundation in 2003. We use the knowledge we have acquired in more than twenty years of business to produce cannabis products that benefit patients exclusively. In the same vein as prescribing physicians, patients want a reliable, standardised product with the same therapeutic effect time after time.”

Bedrocan’s approach to cannabis has long been to produce a limited number of cultivars with consistent THC and/or CBD levels, something the company plans to bring with them in their return to Canada.

Bedrocan says they plan to bring several of these standardized cannabis products to the Canadian market, especially their flagship brand Bedrocan®.

The company plans to eventually distribute its products through a third party’s medical sales channel to registered patients in Canada.

Bedrocan was one of the first licenced cannabis producers in Canada, but eventually ceased its activities after selling all its shares to Canopy Growth in 2016.

“We are thrilled to be coming back to Canada,” said Erkelens. “We look forward to serving patients in Canada and positively impacting the Canadian healthcare landscape.”

A previous legal settlement between Bedrocan and Canopy Growth prevented the former from doing business in Canada until Jan. 1, 2020. The company says they have always had plans to return to the Canadian market following the lifting of that agreement early in 2019.

In a post earlier this year, the company said medical cannabis patients in Canada have continued to face challenges with access. The company also recently announced a new high-CBD variety, Bedrolina, produced primarily at its new facility in Denmark.