Business Archives

Cannabis sales increased in BC in 2023-2024

Written by David Brown on September 3, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Government, Retail.

The BCLDB sold 135,348 kg (*Equiv) of cannabis in the year ended March 31, 2024, a 27% increase from the previous year.

In fiscal year 2023-2024, the provincial agency that oversees cannabis and alcohol warehousing, distribution, and sale brought in $3.9 billion in revenue, a 1.7% increase from the previous year, with lower liquor revenue somewhat offset by growth in cannabis sales.

The LDB’s cannabis revenue was $574.5 million, an 18.3% increase from the previous year that it attributes to new retail stores and an expanded product selection. Alcohol revenue was $3.4 billion, a 0.7% drop compared to the prior year, for a total of $3.94 billion in revenue and $1.15 billion in net income.

The LDB’s net income and contribution to the Government of BC was $1.1 billion, a 4.2% decrease compared to the previous year.

Dried flowers, pre-rolls, and extracts and concentrates accounted for 91.8% of LDB’s cannabis sales revenue. It sold 54.1 kg of flower, 24.8 kg worth of pre-rolls, 45.5 kg of extracts and concentrates (gram equivalent), and another 10.1 kg in all other categories.

The extracts and concentrates category saw the highest increase of 36.3% compared to 2022-2023, reflecting the growth in vapes and infused pre-rolls.

The BCLDB added 2,600 new products in 2023-2024, a 37% increase in registered cannabis products compared to the previous year.

The BC Cannabis Store also introduced an online cannabis knowledge training program for all employees in the most recent fiscal year. The stores reached $965 in sales per square foot of store.

The cannabis wholesale division says they established a dedicated area for quality control processes, improving order accuracy, and took steps to improve on-time delivery and order accuracy.

In August 2023, the BCCS completed a market research survey of 1,200 BC adult cannabis users to gain customer insights and refine customer service strategies.

Since launching in August 2022, the LDB says its cannabis direct delivery program has grown to include around 100 participating cultivators worth more than $13 million in direct sales in fiscal 2023/24.

The agency admits the program could be much bigger, and says it is “committed” to a review of its central distribution 15% mark-up, as well as of the direct delivery program and who is eligible.

In April 2023, the LDB made several changes for cannabis producers, like eliminating its requirement that producers maintain mandatory insurance coverage for product expenses, reducing the reporting requirement for producers using the direct delivery program from weekly to bi-weekly, and changing payment terms from 30 to 14 days.

[Editor’s note. This article initially reported total sales in grams, not kilograms. This has been corrected]

Cannabis Jobs Update – September 2024

Written by Staff on September 2, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, International.

The cannabis industry continues to have numerous opportunities available across Canada and internationally. Whether you’re looking for a role in production, management, retail, or finance, there are positions open for a variety of skill sets. Below is a list of some of the current job openings in the cannabis sector.

Adecco is actively hiring several Production Associates for a client in Smiths Falls, Ontario. This role is ideal for those looking to gain hands-on experience in cannabis production.

Canopy Growth has nine positions open across Ontario, Manitoba, and even Germany. These roles span various departments, providing opportunities for professionals with different skill sets.

After some financial restructuring earlier this year, BZAM is again on a hiring spree with 12 positions open in Ontario and BC.

High Tide has dozens of positions open in numerous locations across Canada, as well as for an Operations Manager in Berlin, Germany.

Fika Cannabis is hiring for several Fire and Flower locations in Canada, including one in Whitehorse, Yukon as well as at several Fika Cannabis stores in Canada.

Route 1 Sales Agency is on the lookout for a Sales Representative in Edmonton, while Aurora Cannabis is hiring across multiple categories such as Operations, QA and Supply Chain, Accounting and Finance, and Science and Innovation.

Decibel Cannabis Company is looking for a Financial Analyst in Calgary, AB, and Cronos Group is looking for people to fill several roles in Finance, Legal and Regulatory, Quality Assurance and Quality Control, Sales, R&D and more.

The Ontario Cannabis Store also has several current postings, including a Software Engineer, a Senior Finance Manager, a Financial Systems Manager, a Master Data Specialist, a Senior Manager, Business Architecture, and several other roles.

Auxly Group is hiring for several positions, such as Commercial Planning Analyst, Production Technician, Cultivation Assistant, and more.

One Plant Canna in Kingston, Ontario, is hiring a full-time Keyholder.

The BC LDB is looking for an Assistant Store Manager at its Langley, BC, Cannabis store.

BC is hiring for several cannabis-related positions, from a Wholesale Category Manager to BC Cannabis Store Managers to a Senior Investigator with its Community Safety Unit.

KJ’S Best Cannabis, a cannabis retailer in Mission, BC, is hiring an Inventory Control Supervisor.

AtlantiCann Medical Inc. is looking for a trimmer in Nova Scotia.

Sophia’s Garden (Artisan) Inc., a cannabis producer in Thunder Bay, ON, is hiring a Quality Assurance Manager.

Leaf Infusions is hiring a Production Supervisor at its processing facility in New Westminster, BC.

A cannabis producer in Montreal, Quebec, is looking for a VP of Operations to join their growing team.

Freedom Cannabis is hiring a Priva Technician at its facility in Acheson, AB.

Toke House retail store in Dryden, ON has an opening for a Cannabis Store Key Holder Position.

Les Entreprises C-Médical is hiring a Technicien culture de cannabis and a Journalier at its facility in Mirabel, QC.

Cannabis NB has around ten open positions it its stores.

Circle K is hiring a Part-Time Budtender in Paradise, Newfoundland.

And finally, in our September list, Truro Cannabis is looking for a Regional Sales Manager (Atlantic).

With so many positions available across Canada and internationally, now is a great time to explore new career opportunities within the cannabis industry whether you’re just starting out or looking to make a career change.

Week in Weed – August 31, 2024

Written by Staff on August 31, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This week at StratCann, we looked at the future of retail cannabis in Ontario and Quebec, and spoke with New Brunswick’s Crystal Cure on their decision to close up shop in hopes of a future reset.

Retailers and producers in BC are gearing up for Summer Sesh; Quebec opened its 100th SQDC store; Tokyo Smoke will close 29 locations as it seeks creditor protection; SNDL announced their successful bid to purchase Indiva; and Culture Kizos’ Coterie sour apple blunt was recalled from Alberta.

In finances, Entourage, Greenway, Nextleaf, Heritage, and MTL released their most recent financial reports.

In law enforcement news, New Brunswick confirmed follow-up raids at two unlicensed dispensaries, while police in Nova Scotia again raided several unlicensed cannabis shops.

This week’s profile series featured Vancouver’s Cannabis Training Canada e-learning platform and the recent AGCO approval for its Retail Certification Program.

In other Canadian cannabis news

Health Canada published amendments to the Cannabis Fees Order to simplify the annual regulatory fee exemption process if you sell cannabis exclusively for medical purposes.

A Vancouver Island University alum has helped lead research in developing a new, more cost-effective method for measuring cannabinoids in cannabis products.

CBC spoke with lawyer Matt Maurer and longtime cannabis activist Neev Tapiero about the current state of the cannabis industry.

High Tide’s Omar Khan penned a piece for Postmedia News arguing that provinces like Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba are taking the lead with cannabis policy while Ottawa dithers.

Researchers in St. John’s looked at barriers to licensed private cannabis retailers in Canada based on an analysis of Canadian news media coverage.

The BC Supreme Court dismissed a petition from a prospective cannabis store that had sought a judicial review of a decision made by the Resort Municipality of Whistler not to issue the business a Temporary Use Permit (TUP). The petitioner unsuccessfully argued that the manner in which the TUP was granted was procedurally unfair and that the decision was substantively unreasonable.

An Alberta judge dismissed an application for judicial review of a person who was found to be impaired by cannabis following a Standardized Field Sobriety Test. He had unsuccessfully argued that the evidence did not establish his impairment.

A man in Quebec received a $15,000 fine after pleading guilty to a charge of trafficking in cannabis weighing more than 3 kg. The man was one of 31 people charged as part of a 2014 investigation named Project Nandou. Another 29 defendants in the case will return to court on September 4 for the continuation of the facilitation stage. One defendant has since passed away.

STORZ & BICKEL announced their first “Smokeless September Challenge” to educate consumers on the advantages of vaporization.

BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies is calling for submissions to their Collection on Advances in cannabis and cannabinoid research.

Radio Canada says cannabis use among seniors is rising, and so are related ER visits, a story StratCann and others have covered in the past. As usual, the article and study it references fail to distinguish between when edibles became legal and when they began to enter the marketplace in any significant way.

Blast from the past: In cannabis news from this week in 2018, the media was already blaming a spike in cannabis overdoses on potent edibles, and poor public education.

International cannabis news

Incidents of cannabis smuggling by air passengers into the UK have been increasing significantly, with an estimated 15 tonnes seized so far this year, and 378 people arrested. This is already three times more cannabis seized than in all of 2023. More than half of those arrested in 2023 (71) had flown in from US airports, with 24 from Thailand, and 24 from Canada. Around half of all arrests (184) so far this year are related to cannabis that originated in Thailand, with 75 arrests related to cannabis originating from Canada, and 47 from the US. Sky News showed a video of one Canadian woman arrested there this past week.

California issued several cannabis product recalls for pesticide and microbial contamination.

The cannabis stock market responded negatively to news that the US DEA had pushed cannabis reclassification hearings to December. “We believe both candidates are likely to let rescheduling advance, though we have more confidence in Kamala Harris than in Donald Trump,” said one analyst.

Krautinvest covered recent comments from a spokesman for the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, saying that a pilot project to research the sale of cannabis in pharmacies could be coming at a future date.

And finally, people in the industry are hoping that the California governor will approve new proposals to allow people to smoke weed at some restaurants and buy it at cannabis farmers’ markets.

New Brunswick’s Crystal Cure to close up shop in hopes of a future reset

Written by David Brown on August 29, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, New Brunswick, Producers.

A cannabis producer behind one of a handful of farmgate stores in New Brunswick is closing its doors as it looks to reset its cannabis business from the ground up.

Crystal Cure Inc., a micro cannabis producer in Shediac Cape, New Brunswick, says it will cease its cannabis operations at the end of September, primarily due to delays in securing the financing needed for its planned expansion.

The company’s CEO, Jonathan Wilson, says this is likely not the end of the road for the company but a chance for them to reset their business, building out a new facility that better matches their needs and the realities of market demands.

“Eventually we knew that we were going to have to make a decision,” Wilson tells StratCann.

“We made this decision now before it gets to a point where we can’t meet commitments as we’ve seen happen to others. We are optimistic that this is not goodbye to the legal cannabis industry, but hopefully more of a see-you-soon.”
Jonathan Wilson, Crystal Cure

The company has been operating for several years inside a much larger facility that has remained underutilized. In late 2023, Crystal Cure made the decision to downgrade their licence from a standard to a micro, reflecting that it was already operating with a very small footprint.

The building the company has been operating is 63,000 sq. ft., built at a time when the company was looking at bold early market projections. However, due to this and problems with how the facility was constructed, Crystal Cure wasn’t able to fully utilize the space. Since 2019, the company has also been involved in legal proceedings concerning the construction of its original facility.

“We are still operating out of a tiny, temporary space that was only supposed to be in place for a year,” notes Wilson in a company press release. “However, the construction of our original facility was halted prematurely when the structure was rendered unusable, which now has to be dealt with in a court of law. This has added a lot of costs to a small operation, and also takes away our focus, time, and energy from what matters.”

Wilson adds, “When you combine the added pressure with the current financial ecosystem of the legal cannabis industry, it doesn’t give us enough to be able to survive, let alone generate enough profit from our operations to expand to meet demand. This is one example of the impacts of the short-sighted decisions made by policymakers across the country, impacts that they’ve flat out ignored at both the federal and provincial levels.”

Although the owners had hoped to maintain their current licence while they bring in new investors to build out a new purpose-built facility, Wilson says they had to finally make the tough decision to revoke their licence and shut down operations while they work towards that ultimate goal.

“We love the legal cannabis industry and we believe we will play a part in its future here in Canada,” he explains in a company press release. “However, as ironic as it is, we have to take a step back from it and focus elsewhere in order for us to survive long enough to secure the funding for our expansion. We have found a potential partner that believes in us and understands our vision. We will do whatever is necessary to hang on, even if it means ceasing our current operation and starting again. We are in this for the long-term.”

One thing that had kept the company going over the past year, giving them hope they could hold off this new decision to shut down entirely, was the success of their cannabis farmgate store, Le Backdoor, one of just six in New Brunswick and only a few more in all of Canada.

That’s the part I’m the saddest about,” Wilson tells StratCan. “The supporters of farmgate are the ones who have given us an extra couple of months. This summer has been incredible with new customers and tourists, and the feedback we get has helped let us know we are doing something right. It helped us go a little longer.”

“The part I’m going to miss the most is seeing customers every day.”

In the meantime, Crystal Cure will continue to have a foothold in the cannabis industry through its sister company, Gourmet Chef Packers, which sells living soil, worm castings and other agricultural inputs under the brand Adonis Growing Solutions. Clients include several other licensed cannabis producers.

“We have been working behind the scenes on a project across the parking lot, so to speak, focused on regenerative agriculture and many of the things we hold near and dear.” Wilson adds. “This will allow us to still stay connected to the industry we are so passionate about, while at the same time, being able to work in an exciting environment without the exorbitant excise taxes, fees, and over-regulation that have plagued producers from day one.”

“We managed to survive an additional year longer than we thought, but unfortunately it wasn’t long enough. We made this decision now before it gets to a point where we can’t meet commitments as we’ve seen happen to others. We are optimistic that this is not goodbye to the legal cannabis industry, but hopefully more of a see-you-soon.”

According to Wilson, consumers of Crystal Cures products will have a few more weeks of availability before their limited releases are no longer available.

SQDC opens new store outside Montreal with new product array

Written by David Brown on August 26, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Quebec, Retailers.

The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) opened its 100th cannabis store this week, located in a suburb just outside Montreal.

The newest store is in Richelieu, the first cannabis store in the small city of about 5-6,000 people.

“The Richelieu branch is part of our new desire to improve the customer experience,” says Alexander Bove, Director of Real Estate at the SQDC. “With a surface area of 2,600 square feet, the store has adopted a display by product category. The design promotes user-friendliness and several display islands have been added to the sales area to highlight the product offering. We have 100 reasons to be proud and thank you 100 times to our teams who are fully dedicated to developing the SQDC,”

“Displaying by product category is a new way to present cannabis products to our customers, including pre-rolls, oils, edibles and large formats and differs from displaying by species, such as sativa, indica and hybrid.”
Alexander Bove, SQDC

Although the province quickly revealed numerous SQDC stores in the first few years of legalization, they began shifting away from approving many more new stores in 2023, with a new focus on approving new products to attract consumers. The province also announced the closure of a store in Montreal earlier this year.

The SQDC says it plans to open about twenty branches over the next two years, including nine in total during the current fiscal year. The new Richelieu location is the third store of those nine that the SDQC has opened so far this year.

The new store will also take a new approach to displaying products.

“Displaying by product category is a new way to present cannabis products to our customers, including pre-rolls, oils, edibles and large formats and differs from displaying by species, such as sativa, indica and hybrid. In the sales area, certain categories such as concentrates and accessories are found in separate displays,” says SQDC Director of Operations Alban Troja.

The SQDC has stores in all regions of Quebec and says that more than 60% of cannabis purchases in the province come from their stores.

The SQDC contributed $258.8 million to Quebec in 2023. This is an increase from $232.7 in total revenue for Quebec in 2022-2023 with $94.9 million in net income, $77.8 million in the province’s share of excise taxes, and $50 million in QST.

The province says revenue from sales and tax are entirely paid to the Ministry of Finance of Quebec, and intended in particular for prevention and research in cannabis and the fight against misdeeds linked to the use of psychoactive substances. This claim, however, has recently come under scrutiny.

For the fiscal year ending March 30, 2024, the SQDC reports selling 122,478 kg of cannabis, an increase of 15% compared to the previous year (106,626 kg in 2022-2023). The majority of sales were dried flower (97,918 kg), while 24,560 kg were other cannabis products.

Image via SQDC.

OCS launches more detailed sales metrics for producers

Written by David Brown on August 23, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers, Retail.

Following an announcement in June, the OCS now confirms that starting August 23, it will begin providing more detailed wholesale metrics to cannabis producers.

The Ontario Cannabis Store says the more granular data is intended to assist suppliers’ sales and operations planning and lead to improved inventory availability, fulfilment, and delivery service levels for cannabis stores in the province. The changes will be integrated into the OCS’ existing Supplier Data Program.

In an announcement posted on the OCS’ B2B platform on June 25, the Crown corporation said it would be offering its cannabis producer-partners “greater visibility into the specific authorized stores that are purchasing their products through the OCS,” which includes the types of products each of these stores order from OCS each day at the SKU-level and the number of units ordered from OCS by each retailer, by SKU, each day.

These are changes many Canadian cannabis producers have been asking provincial cannabis agencies like the OCS to provide for some time. Such figures will allow producers to better understand what products are selling better in what parts of the province, providing an opportunity for more targeted sales measures. Alberta and BC have provided similar data programs for producers/suppliers.

The OCS offers two levels to its supplier data program. Level one allows OCS suppliers to access insight into their products’ sales performance across the province. A level two data subscription also provides access to more broad sales figures about other producer/supplier sales. Data for a product portfolio will be available for both Level 1 and 2 subscribers at no additional charge.

Suppliers will only receive detailed and specific SKU and store-level wholesale sales data for their own products, not competitors. This information will only come from the OCS, not from any retailer point-of-sale metrics or retailer inventory data. Suppliers also cannot provide the store-level wholesale sales information from OCS to anyone outside of their organization.

Providing suppliers with this sales data will also build upon the OCS’ Flow Through distribution channel, ensuring suppliers can better forecast sales demands. Flow Through allows retailers to order products the OCS does not typically carry in the world’s largest cannabis distribution warehouse.

Retail cannabis sales continue to cool off in Canada

Written by David Brown on August 23, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Retail.

Retail cannabis sales continue to cool off in Canada after nearly five years of growth, with sales in April hitting a year-over-year low, with $518 million in sales compared to $525 million in sales in April 2023.

The newest figures from Statistics Canada show seven of the past ten months with month-over-month declines from a peak of $564 million in August 2023. While sales surged significantly in the first several years of legalization, in the past year, that momentum has begun to wane.

Statistics Canada does periodically update their previous monthly figures as new data comes in. While the data quality for most months is considered excellent, the most recent four months are considered very good or good.

The newest wholesale cannabis sales figures from Stats Canada show a similar trend, with wholesale sales dropping off from a peak of $597 million in February 2024, followed by now four months of declines.

As of August 13, there were 3,722 licensed cannabis retail stores in Canada.

British Columbia: 523 public and private stores listed as “active”
Alberta: 709
Saskatchewan: 190
Manitoba: 209
Ontario: 1,822
Quebec: 99
New Brunswick: 27 public stores, plus nine private stores and six farmgate stores, for a total of 42
Nova Scotia: 50
PEI: 5, up from 4 in January (+1)
Newfoundland and Labrador: 59
Northwest Territories: 6 brick-and-mortar locations, plus 1 private online store
Nunavut: 2, up from 1 in March (+1)
Yukon: 6

$11 billion in cannabis sales has created 151,000 new jobs and added $43.5 billion to Canada’s GDP

February 1, 2022

AGLC reports its first cannabis profits

March 6, 2024

Stats Canada releases new report on cannabis cultivation at home

September 15, 2022

Cannabis sales continue to increase in Nova Scotia

Written by David Brown on August 21, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Financials, Government, Nova Scotia, Retail.

Nova Scotia brought in $31.2 million in cannabis sales in the three months ended June 30, 2024, a 7.3% increase compared to the previous year and an increase of $1 million from the previous quarter.

The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, which handles cannabis distribution and sales in the province, also added a new cannabis store in the most recent quarter, the fiftieth in the province in May in Shelburne. Sales of locally-produced cannabis declined slightly, by 1.4%, to $9.3 million, or a little under one third of all cannabis sales.

While the provincial agency reported a volume decline in beverage alcohol, the volume of cannabis sold increased in its first quarter of 2024.

“Expanding access to safe and legal cannabis continues to be a primary focus for us, and we continue to look for ways to combat the illicit cannabis market,” said Greg Hughes, president and CEO of NSLC. “We were pleased to add another cannabis store to our retail network this quarter.”

The average basket size for a cannabis purchase in the Bluenose province was $37, with retail customer transactions for cannabis increasing by 7.7% in the quarter. The average price per gram for cannabis decreased again in the province as well, by 2% to $5.90.

As a comparison, total spirit sales in the province in the same time period were $48.4 million; wine sales were $39 million, beer was $75.4 million, and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages were $28.5 million.

The NSLC says all profits go back to the provincial government to help fund “key public services.”

Nova Scotia sold $121 million worth of cannabis in 2023, an 8.9% increase from the previous year. Sales of local Nova Scotia cannabis products accounted for $39.5 million, or 32.7% of all cannabis sales in 2023, a 17.9% increase from the previous year.

In the NSLC’s 2023 annual report released earlier this year, they said that 79% of Nova Scotians lived within 10 kilometres of a licensed cannabis store.

Cannabis sales stay strong in New Brunswick

August 20, 2024

Wholesale cannabis sales increase in BC while prices decline

August 19, 2024

Nova Scotia sold $121 million worth of cannabis in 2023

June 26, 2024

Wholesale cannabis sales increase in BC while prices decline

Written by David Brown on August 19, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Producers, Retail.

The amount of cannabis sold in BC continues to increase while the price continues to decrease, according to the LDB’s newest quarterly report.

The provincial cannabis wholesaler’s Q1 2024 report shows 36,418,336 grams sold in April, May, and June 2024, and more than $140.5 million in wholesale sales. The former represents an 18.8% year-over-year increase from Q1 2023, while the latter is a 10.6% increase over the same period.

Grams sold and wholesale sales were also up from the previous quarter, a period that saw some of the first declines in the province since legalization.

The average price of a gram of cannabis continues to decline in BC as well, down 6.9% from Q1 2023 to $3.86, while the price of a gram of dried flower dropped 6.3% from Q1 2023 to just $3.19.

The number of retail stores in BC increased year-over-year, from 485 at the end of June 2023 to 505 at the end of June 2024, and up from 501 at the end of March. BC breaks down stores into four regions of the province: the lower mainland, the island, the interior, and the north. Three of these regions saw total store counts increase compared to the same period in 2023, while the interior showed its second quarter of declines, down two stores from Q1 2023 and one store from Q3 2023.

Sales of eighths of dried flower continue to decline in terms of grams sold, down 18.6% year-over-year, while 7-gram SKUs increased 64.2%, 14/15-gram SKUs increased 22.7%, and 28-gram offerings increased 13.8% from the same period in 2023.

Year-over-year variance in terms of units sold increased across all product categories except topicals and ingestible extracts, which declined by 11.6% and 32.4%, respectively. The decline in ingestible extracts was due to Health Canada pushing back on certain products within the category, such as Glitches and Jolts.

Within those categories, sales in units of capsules and pills increased 7.9% but were dragged down by a 20% decline in sales of oils and tinctures and a 72.5% decrease in ingestible extracts. Capsules and pills represented 50.1% of total units sold in this category, while oils and tinctures represented 33.5% and other ingestible extracts were 16.4%

In the topicals category, balms saw a 39.6% year-over-year increase, face masks, topical oils, and sprays saw a 299.3% increase, but all other categories saw double-digit declines.

The most significant growth in the vapes category continues to be disposables, with units sold increasing 69.4% year-over-year ($3.4 million in wholesale sales). Infused pre-rolls increased by 24.7% in terms of units sold compared to the same period in 2023, for a total of $18.6 million in wholesale sales. Infused pre-rolls were again the top-selling ingestible extract in Q1 2024 at 46.7% of all units sold, compared to cartridges at 37.7%.

Resin and rosin sales increased year-over-year by 50.9% in terms of units sold, while diamonds, wax, and crumble declined by 12.2%.

Direct delivery

Sales in BC’s direct delivery system, however—which allows some BC cannabis producers to ship products directly to retailers, bypassing the BC LDB’s central distribution warehouse—show an opposite trend, with prices increasing and sales declining.

The total grams sold through the program (617,359) declined 20.8% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023, while wholesale sales ($3 million) fell 18.9%. Meanwhile, the price of all cannabis sold through the program increased by 2.4% to $4.81 a gram, while the price of flower increased by 3.3% to $4.15.

Despite these year-over-year declines, the total grams sold in the program did increase slightly from the previous quarter by 14,834 grams. At the same time, wholesale sales remained relatively steady at about $3 million. The price of cannabis also declined slightly from the previous quarter, at $4.94 a gram for all cannabis and $4.42 a gram for dried flower.

The amount of beverages, pre-rolls, and topicals sold in the program continues to increase year-over-year compared to the previous quarter. Flower showed a slight increase in sales compared to the previous quarter but was down 8.5% year-over-year. The amount of cannabis plants sold through the program continues to increase, while seed sales show a slight year-over-year decrease but a quarterly increase. Plant sales are higher than seed sales by a significant margin.

Pre-rolls are the most commonly sold product in this category, followed by flower and inhalable extracts.

BC LDB warehouse making changes to improve product freshness

May 17, 2024

BC announces cannabis policy changes aimed at helping industry

April 12, 2023

BC provides updates to cannabis sampling rules

July 16, 2024

Week in Weed – August 17, 2024

Written by Staff on August 17, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This week at StratCann, we spoke with the founders of Emprise about the recently expanded recall involving their products and unlabelled HHC, and we looked at the growing number of unlicensed cannabis stores in Ontario.

Meanwhile, a hemp producer in Ontario received more than $600,000 in grants to help develop minor cannabinoids in Canada’s hemp crops, and Florida Governor Sad Ron DeSantis tried to blame a legalization bill in the state on Canada.

In financial news, Galaxie Brands and Freedom Cannabis received CCAA protection. At the same time, Organigram reported net profits, SNDL acquired the rest of Nova Cannabis, and MediPharm announced their Q2 2024 report, as did Decibel, Simply Solventless, Rubicon, and Auxly.

Also, inspectors and law enforcement in New Brunswick have been busy raiding unlicensed stores, hitting several locations this past week.

In other cannabis news…

Truck News provided a reasonably in-depth report on impaired driving rates in Canada, noting that while Canadian truck drivers who cross the US border have maintained a low rate of positivity of cannabinoid detection (1%) pre-and post-legalization, the rate of those who are not crossing the US border has increased slightly, from 5.31% to 7.68%. The article also, refreshingly, notes that a positive test does not necessarily indicate impairment at the time of testing.

Canopy Growth Corporation announced that CEO David Klein will be retiring at the conclusion of the company’s current fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, or when the board names a successor. Some say the role will go to a person who can remove an ancient sword from a stone, while others say it will come down to a majority vote of the board.

Martin Cash at the Winnipeg Free Press spoke with Delta 9 founder John Arbuthnot about the company’s current financial challenges. “What we did not anticipate,” says Arbuthnot, “Was escalation of hostilities from our senior lenders at Sundial.”

The Toronto Star picked up the story about a new board chair for the OCRC/OCS. StratCann readers may remember our coverage of this two weeks ago.

Pure Sunfarms Corp. announced it has completed the first phase of its wildlife enhancement project through the Beneficial Management Practices program. Funding for this project has been provided by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative under the Beneficial Management Practices Program. The program is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.

Police in Morden, MB, issued a ticket for smoking cannabis at an outdoor public place, which carries a fine of $672.

Following their Q3 2024 report last month, Cannara Biotech has now announced what they say was a strong July, which they will be discussing during a live investor webcast on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada has released a report on its pan-Canadian research program to assess the impact of cannabis legalization and use on the mental health of diverse populations.

A new research study out of Australia says cannabinoids are an effective treatment alongside other treatments for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting despite standard antiemetic prophylaxis, but were associated with additional adverse events.

Lifeist Wellness Inc. and its subsidiary CannMart Inc. have entered into a services agreement and a share purchase agreement with Simply Solventless Concentrates Ltd (SCC) to provide operational support services to CannMart, pending SSC’s acquisition. Lifeist will pay SSC a monthly service fee.

On August 14, 2024, members of the Waterloo Regional Police Direct Action Response Team completed two Cannabis Act search warrants at illegal cannabis stores on King Street East and on Walnut Street. A large quantity of various cannabis products, currency, and a quantity of illicit prescription pills were seized. Two were arrested.

Pelham Council in Ontario is once again looking into the issue of the smell of cannabis coming from a local cannabis producer, Redecan. The city has spent more than $400,000 on the issue so far.

International cannabis news…

Officials in California seized more than 2.2 million illegal cannabis packages marked with the universal symbol of legal California cannabis. Much of the packaging resembled popular food and candy brands that could appeal to children, including items resembling Twinkies and Sweet Tarts.

Officials in Nigeria say they found 265.25 kg of cannabis (in Sherwood hockey bags, naturally) imported from Montreal at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on August 7, and another 37.5kg in a container from Canada on August 8.

State regulators in Missouri issued two cannabis recall notices last week involving 135,000 cannabis products—more than double its first massive cannabis product recall precisely one year ago.

Finally, Business of Cannabis reports that the Netherlands has again delayed the official start of its ‘controlled cannabis supply chain experiment’ amid ongoing challenges in establishing domestic supply. The country’s approach officially began with a preparatory phase in December 2023, where a few coffee shops were selected to receive relatively small amounts of legally grown cannabis. The second phase, the “experimental” phase, would mean expanding the program across the country, something politicians connected to the program now say they are not quite ready for.

$600,000 in grants to help develop minor cannabinoids in Canada’s hemp crops

Written by Staff on August 15, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Research.

A Canadian industrial hemp plant breeding company with an emphasis on minor cannabinoids has received more than half a million dollars in funding from the AgriScience Program by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).

Cannabis Orchards Inc., located in Kemptville, Ontario, recently announced two awards that it says will support its research into the genetic improvement of industrial hemp and the advancement of minor cannabinoid research.

The first grant, for $404,305 from the AgriScience Program, supports Orchards’ project that aims to develop seedless triploid hemp lines for the production of cannabidiol (CBD) and minor cannabinoids such as cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabichromene (CBC).

By developing novel triploid hemp lines, Cannabis Orchards hopes to open new markets and maximize yields and profits for hemp farmers by providing them with hemp varieties capable of delivering minor cannabinoid profiles.

Dr. Jamie Ghossein, CEO of Cannabis Orchards, commented in a company press release, “The potential of minor cannabinoids in therapeutic applications is vast, yet they remain underutilized due to their scarcity. Our research and development efforts are dedicated to unlocking this potential, ultimately providing more effective treatment options for a variety of conditions and opening new commercialization opportunities for farmers and the Canadian cannabinoid industry.”

The second grant is for $196,000 from NRC IRAP, which supports a project focused on developing triploid hemp varieties through polyploidization that will increase biomass yield and cannabinoid content, while reducing the risk of unwanted cross-pollination by rendering plants infertile.

Dr. Ghossein added, “This grant from NRC IRAP is a significant endorsement of our cutting-edge research in polyploidy and hemp trait development. Our project will enable the development of seedless triploid hemp varieties, ensuring higher yields and more consistent quality for farmers and cannabinoid processors. By preventing unwanted pollination and enhancing desirable traits, we are paving the way for the next generation of industrial hemp genetics by maximizing yields for farmers and providing high-quality cannabinoid inputs to processors.”

Both projects began in early 2024 and are expected to conclude by 2026.

The company also recently announced that its hemp cultivar Vendetta has been officially added to the Health Canada List of Approved Cultivars (LOAC) as of August 12, 2024. Orchards says the cultivar is the first hemp variety with a near 1:1 ratio of CBD to CBDV (cannabidivarin), a minor cannabinoid.

The company says Vendetta will be available to licensed hemp growers in Canada as feminized seed starting in Spring 2025, and biomass will be made available to commercial processors in Fall 2025 exclusively through Cannabis Orchards. Cannabis Orchards holds a Good agricultural and collecting practice certification for biomass cultivation.

The company offers an array of hemp biomass on its website, including high CBD, high CBG, high CBDV, and feminized hemp seed.

Behind the recent “intoxicating cannabinoid” product recall

Written by David Brown on August 14, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Producers, Products.

The company behind a recent recall of cannabis oils due to the “presumed presence” of what Health Canada considers a cannabinoid called HHC says they had no knowledge about or intention of the ingredient being included in their products.

In addition, the owners of Emprise Canada in Alberta say Health Canada has provided them with little information about how they discovered the “semi-synthetic” cannabinoid derived from CBD called hexahydrocannabinol (HHC).

Anil Jain and Mukhdeep Mangat, the founders of Emprise, which offers an array of cannabis oils and capsules, spoke with StratCann this week to clarify some questions cannabis consumers may have about HHC, the recent product recall, and their plans for future products.

Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) is a natural derivative of THC and can also be produced synthetically from CDB. It has become somewhat popular in the US market in the last few years, drawing concern from some regulators there, in Canada and elsewhere. In 2023, Health Canada even released a guidance document for the industry on what they considered intoxicating cannabinoids, which includes HHC along with delta-8-THC and delta-10-THC.

The two Emprise founders tell StratCann that the recall was based on a handful of reports Health Canada received earlier this year, in which consumers said the low THC products were more intoxicating than they expected. This appears to have led Health Canada to conduct its own testing of the product, in which they say they found evidence of the “presumed presence” of HHC.

Emprise maintains that its own testing, from two independent labs, did not detect any HHC. They have asked Health Canada for more information about how the product was detected, which they say the federal regulator was not able to provide.

They don’t deny the presence of HHC, though. Instead, based on their own internal investigation, they say they believe it was present in a CBN-rich distillate they purchased as an ingredient in some of their products. Since the recall was based partly on a labelling and packaging issue, they say they are planning to soon re-issue the same products with HHC on the label.

Below is our conversation with Emprise:

You mentioned that you believe the HHC is present in the CBN distillate you purchased from a third party. Was Emprise aware of this when you sourced the product originally?

“Emprise had no knowledge that the CBN distillate contained or may contain HHC. Third-party lab analysis provided by the supplier had no indication of HHC, and was compliant with regulations in all other aspects.

“The same applies to final product testing. Prior to products being released for sale, all products were tested by a third party lab. There was no indication of the presence of HHC.”

When did Health Canada inform you they had detected HHC in these products?

“In early June, Health Canada advised us that their Cannabis Lab had detected the presence of HHC. Health Canada had taken samples of only three products. Other products in the recall were included because they also used the same or similar lot of CBN distillate.”

Can you provide a comment on your thoughts about why you think Health Canada would have even been looking for HHC?

“Our understanding is that Health Canada received couple of complaints of adverse health effects (one complaint in about 100,000 doses used). People experienced more significant “high” than they were expecting and had upset stomach and/or nausea. This led Health Canada to investigate the products in question.”

How much has this recall cost Emprise so far?

“The financial impact of the recall is significant. However, we are a strong company with positive cash flow. We are continuing to invest in growing our business, particularly in the area of minor cannabinoids, where we are leading the industry. From many positive calls we have received from retailers and cannabis consumers, our view of the value of minor cannabinoids is reinforced.

“Recently we quadrupled our production space and expanded the portfolio of 70+ innovative manufactured products.”

Some consumers have speculated in comments online, such as Reddit, that HHC was added to the products to get around the 10mg limit. Can you speak to this concern?

“CBN+CBD softgels products are low or no THC products. The maximum THC limit comment does not even apply.”

Given your perspective that this recall was not warranted, does Emprise plan to push back?

“Our perspective, which we have shared with Health Canada, is that currently there are no regulations on unintentional HHC in a cannabis product, or inclusion of the amount of HHC on the label. Furthermore, Health Canada approved labs don’t even have methods for detecting and quantifying HHC. We have encouraged Health Canada to clarify and recommend new regulations for the benefit of cannabis users and other LPs.”

Health Canada issues recall for cannabis products containing undeclared intoxicating cannabinoid

June 4, 2024

Expanded recall notice for products with unlabelled cannabinoids

August 9, 2024

Health Canada releases guidance document on intoxicating cannabinoids, including CBN

December 5, 2023

Galaxie Brands receives CCAA protection

Written by Sarah Clark on August 12, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers.

The parent company of cannabis packager Galaxie Brands was issued an order pursuant to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) on August 6, on application by The Vancor Group Inc.

The Vancor Group is the largest creditor of Equipment Co., Galaxie Brands’ parent company, which owns the equipment Galaxie uses to conduct business. Galaxie Brands is a licensed producer of cannabis under the Cannabis Act and operates as a producer and co-packer of cannabis and cannabis products.

Galaxie Brands processes cannabis into various products for sale to its customers and provides packaging services at its facility in Puslinch, Ontario. However, neither Galaxie nor Equipment Co. cultivates, manufactures, or grows cannabis flower.

Galaxie’s primary customers include other cannabis producers and provincial partners across Canada, including those in Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Yukon, and New Brunswick.

Vancor has invested over $2.7 million in Equipment Co and Galaxie Brands on an unsecured basis. That debt has now matured as of May 31, 2024, and more than $2.1 million in outstanding debt is owed to Vancor. KPMG Inc. has been appointed as monitor of the CCAA process for Vancor.

Vancor is owned by Corry Van Iersel, who also owns True North Cannabis, a chain of cannabis stores in Ontario.

While Galaxie’s production licence is not set to expire until February 2028, the company’s excise licence, set to expire on October 16, 2024, must be submitted by September 16, 2024.

Beginning around September 2023, Galaxie Brands also entered into a payment plan with Health Canada to pay licensing fee arrears.

The plan considers a monthly payment of approximately $15,000 to Health Canada for these arrears. As of August 2024, Galaxie owes about $30,481.05 to Health Canada on account of annual licensing fees for 2023.

As of August 2024, Galaxie is also said to have owed the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) around $4.1 million in unremitted excise tax. In May, the CRA requested that Galaxie prove it has enough money to continue operating and work on a payment plan.

KPMG, the Proposed Monitor, reports that the CRA is the beneficiary of a $535,000 surety bond issued by Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company as security for Galaxie Brands’ excise tax obligations.

Galaxie Brands also has around $569,000 in arrears related to Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) remittances to the CRA.

Equipment Co and Galaxie also owe some $2 million in accounts payable, primarily to suppliers, shipping and logistics services companies, and other cannabis licensed producers.

The main goal of the CCAA Proceedings is to stabilize Equipment Co and Galaxie’s businesses and to allow them to be sold to address these debts through a court-ordered process.

Galaxie’s sales for the period of August 3 to November 1, 2024, are just over $4 million, with a closing cash balance of -$1.4 million.

In 2023, BZAM completed its disposal of Galaxie Brands Corporation via a share purchase agreement, which it had acquired when it took over the Green Organic Dutchman who had taken over Galaxie Brands in 2021.

Galaxie’s brands include WAGNERS, Highland, ZIP, Stunnerz, Glob Headz, Lite Label, Munchie Box, and Cannabis Cartel.

BZAM granted CCAA protection due to ongoing financial challenges

February 29, 2024

Navigating the world of bankruptcy, restructuring in the cannabis industry

February 5, 2024

Delta 9’s monitor files sale and investment process notice

August 3, 2024

Ontario needs coordinated approach to deal with growing number of unlicensed cannabis stores

Written by David Brown on August 12, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario, Retail.

Cannabis retailers in Ontario want to know what the city is going to do about a growing number of unlicensed cannabis stores.

An estimate earlier this year from Toronto said that more than 50 unlicensed cannabis stores were operating in Toronto alone, and some retailers say they believe the number now is even higher.

Cannabis store owner Paul McGovern, a former police officer with Toronto Police Services who stepped down in 2018 to open Vertie Cannabis, says he understands that enforcement priorities are complicated. With a limited budget and many competing issues, targeting unlicensed cannabis stores is likely not seen as being as important as going after car thieves or fentanyl dealers.

He argues that another issue that impedes enforcement in Toronto is that it is the only city in Ontario that doesn’t treat this like a law enforcement issue, instead handing it over to bylaw officers who otherwise inspect bars and restaurants.

McGovern also argues that public awareness is an issue. While store owners might be following this closely, the general public, municipal and provincial lawmakers, and the legal system in general might not. While some in the justice system might still think the landscape is similar to the wave of stores opening in the years before legalization, he says the arguments that might have held up in court then will not now.

“I get the impression that maybe not everybody in the justice system is aware of what’s going on. We’re hyper focused on this in our industry but I don’t think the same is true for the general public or for police agencies. So part of the challenge is helping them understand how different things are today than in, say, 2016.”

“The very fabric of legalization is brought into question because of these stores and their proliferation. It’s a big deal on a lot of levels. I hope Canada can find a way to get it right. I don’t think we can look the other way anymore. This is too big and too meaningful.”
Paul McGovern, Vertie Cannabis

While he thinks there is a lack of funding to address the issue, McGovern says he’d also like to see a more coordinated province-wide approach similar to what British Columbia and, more recently, New Brunswick have done by giving inspectors broader law enforcement powers so they can work hand-in-hand with police to move unlicensed stores towards compliance and seize products.

“So far it’s been a very sort of ad hoc response in Ontario. Every police agency and jurisdiction is responsible for enforcing the law within their borders, and seemingly everybody is doing it a little bit differently.”

But the lack of coordinated enforcement means that retailers like himself are likely losing sales, and local communities and provinces are missing out on tax revenue. Not to mention what he says are likely connections to organized crime behind many of these stores.

“What’s all this costing? In terms of lost sales and the risks this creates for legal businesses, what’s the cost of lost excise, lost sales tax, lost jobs, all of those things? It’s really remarkable when you think about it. How much are taxpayers in Ontario missing out on?

“We really hope something different can happen sooner than later, because how can anyone compete with no tax. With those kinds of margins?”

Ontario recently announced it is planning to add $31 million to its budget to address illegal cannabis stores and websites operating in the province. As part of Ontario’s Budget 2024, it says it plans to provide the funds over three years to the Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Enforcement Team (PJFCET).

The head of Toronto’s licensing and standards department says the city needs more money to enforce the law against a growing number of illegal cannabis stores operating there.

In July, Cambridge Today spoke with Corry Van Iersel, owner of True North Cannabis in Cambridge, who shared similar sentiments.

“We are a legally operating business here and our sales are down 25% because of places like this,” Van Iersel told Cambridge Today. “How can we compete when their products are stronger and cheaper than ours?”

Highlighting another layer of complexity in enforcement is that one of Van Iersel’s two locations is near a store that argues it operates outside of provincial and federal cannabis regulations. While some police agencies in Ontario have targeted such businesses, seizing products and/or making arrests, other jurisdictions take a more cautious approach.

New Brunswick, for example, has said they cannot enforce their own cannabis regulations against stores operating on First Nations’ reserve lands, while officials in British Columbia have said they can but still often do not.

However, these types of stores are not the bulk of the more than 60 operating in Toronto, McGovern points out, nor are they the kind of “activist crusaders” that helped lead the charge prior to legalization. Instead he argues these are businesses just looking to make an easy buck by taking advantage of low enforcement priorities.

“We’ll never achieve the goals of the Cannabis Act unless there is some meaningful enforcement,” he tells StratCann. “I don’t think anyone expects it to go away with just enforcement, but with that said, if we don’t have some enforcement of the rules, why bother having the rules to begin with?

“The very fabric of legalization is brought into question because of these stores and their proliferation. It’s a big deal on a lot of levels. I hope Canada can find a way to get it right. I don’t think we can look the other way anymore. This is too big and too meaningful.”

Featured image from Google Street View of an unlicensed store in Scarborough, Ontario that was raided by OPP earlier this year.

This article has been corrected to note that the featured image is in Scarborough, not Kingston.

OPP raid 7 illegal dispensaries, seize 63 kg of flower, 500 vape pens, 7 arrested

February 9, 2024

Ontario Provincial Joint Force Cannabis Enforcement Team raids online retailer

June 5, 2020

Toronto wants more money from the province to deal with a growing number of illegal cannabis stores

March 27, 2024

Week in Weed – August 10, 2024

Written by Staff on August 10, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This past week at StratCann, a few of our more popular stories were about the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club receiving a $3.2 million fine from the BC government and an announcement from Organigram about new nanoemulsion technology.

Delta 9’s monitor posted a Notice of Sales and Investment Solicitation Process for Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc., and Health Canada is seeking feedback on the PMRA’s new proposed approach for pesticide use for cannabis and hemp.

Meanwhile, cannabis sales rebounded in April/May following post-holiday declines.

In financial news, SNDL released its Q2 2024 results, Christina Lake Cannabis shared its Q1, Q2 2024, Aurora Cannabis shared its Q1 2025, Cronos shared its Q2 2024, Village Farms shared its Q2 2024, and Canopy shared its Q1 2025.

In law enforcement news, the CBSA seized 32 kg of cannabis at Toronto Pearson International Airport, while inspectors in New Brunswick seized more cannabis under new inspection powers.

In other cannabis news in Canada…

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) Board of Directors has approved a new retail training program in Ontario from Cannabis Training Canada Inc., providing an alternative to CannSell.

Health Canada shared some updates to the Cannabis licensing application web pages, including the reduction in the submission requirements for physical security measures, examples of scenarios where an applicant might choose to self-identify as Indigenous affiliated, new content to support descriptions of virtual witnessing of the destruction of cannabis in submission packages, and new content to clarify submission requirements when a Quality Assurance Person works remotely.

High Tide announced that its Cabana Club loyalty program has surpassed 1.5 million members across Canada. The company also announced the closing of $15 million in subordinated debt facility. The debentures will mature on July 31, 2029, and bear interest at a fixed rate of 12% per annum on drawn amounts, payable quarterly.

The transition from the illicit cannabis market to the legal market has occurred more quickly than initially expected in Quebec, says Marie-Claude Lacasse, communications director for Québec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services.

Indigenous supporters of My Legacy cannabis dispensary recently engaged city officials at the launch of Market at 70 King in downtown Oshawa and secured a meeting with Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter.

Owen Sound Police Service responded to a break-in call at a cannabis store on August 2 at 3:20 a.m. Police arrested two youths nearby.

Patrick Lee Warnecke, the owner of an unlicensed cannabis store who had charges against him stayed earlier this year, says he plans to re-open his Best Buds Society store in some capacity.

A Calgary father and son are facing charges after police seized more than $100,000 in illegal drugs during a search in the city’s southwest last month, including more than 4 kg of cannabis.

International cannabis…

Using cannabis daily for years may raise the overall risk of head and neck cancers by 3.5% to 5%, according to a new study from the US that analyzed millions of medical records.

National Geographic takes on the Indica/Sativa myth, which includes comments from Sean Myles, an associate professor of agriculture at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University.

The first human clinical trial to test how cannabigerol (CBG) impacts anxiety and stress has turned up encouraging results among 34 healthy users.

Demecan Group, one of Germany’s largest cannabis producers, recently completed its latest round of funding, bringing its valuation close to 100 million euros. The funding round was led by Florida-based Trog Hawley Capital, marking the first institutional investment by a U.S.-based investor in Demecan, reports Reuters.

There have been more than 20 applications now submitted for cannabis cultivation for personal use associations in Lower Saxony, a state in northwest Germany. Eight have already been approved, and eight have been rejected.

Disgruntled investors have filed a $5 million class action lawsuit against High Times.

Revenue officers in Ireland reported discovering 39 kg of cannabis resin and 11.8 kg of cannabis flower in several shipments originating from the USA, the United Kingdom, India, Canada, Spain, Thailand, Sweden, and New Zealand.

And finally, a Canadian man was indicted on Aug. 1 for smuggling about 20 kg of cannabis into Taiwan for a drug cartel. The man flew from Vancouver with two checked suitcases of cannabis supplied by another man who, court records show, booked the flight and accommodation.

Cannabis sales rebound in April/May following post-holiday declines

Written by David Brown on August 9, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

Retail cannabis sales continued to rebound in May following declines from a peak last summer.

Retail cannabis sales in Canada were $434.5 million (seasonally adjusted), up from $410.5 million in April and $406.8 million in March. Sales dropped to $402 million in January and $386.8 million in February, following a spike in sales at $448.7 million in December.

Cannabis sales continue to increase year over year, with spikes in sales in the summer and the winter holiday season, but the pace of those annual increases has been slowing in the last few years as the market appears to be reaching a possible saturation point.

The current high mark for sales was August 2023, when retail cannabis sales reached $469 million. The previous high water mark was December 2022 at $425.9 million.

Notice of Sales and Investment Solicitation Process re: Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc.

Written by Contributor on August 8, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Producers.

On July 15, 2024, Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc. (“Bio-Tech”) and four related entities were granted an initial order by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”) under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (the “CCAA”). Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc. was appointed pursuant to the CCAA as monitor (the “Monitor”).

On July 24, 2024, the Court approved a sales and investment solicitation process (the “SISP”) to solicit interest in, and opportunities for, a sale of, or investment in, all or part of Bio-Tech’s assets and business operations (the “Opportunity“). The Opportunity may include one or more of a restructuring, recapitalization, or other form or reorganization of the business and affairs of Bio-Tech as a going concern, or a sale of all, substantially all, or one or more components of Bio-Tech’s assets (the “Property“) and business operations (the “Business“) as a going concern or otherwise.

The Property includes a 95,000 sq ft. Health Canada approved cannabis production facility located at 760 Pandora Avenue East, Winnipeg, MB. The Business has been able to cultivate premium quality cannabis at a cash cost of $0.60 to $0.70/gram with an industry-competitive cost structure (favourable labour, land-leasing, and power cost). Further, an opportunity exists for modest capital investment to expand production and further reduce costs.

Interested parties wishing to pursue the Opportunity are to submit a formal binding offer to the Monitor in accordance with the SISP, by the following deadline:

Bid Deadline: 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time on October 28, 2024

Copies of the SISP Procedure Document and other court-filed materials are available at: https://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/delta9. Interested parties who wish to obtain additional information and participate in the SISP may contact the Monitor at: [email protected].

Sponsored content by: Alvarez and Marsal

Organigram announces new nanoemulsion technology in collaboration with British American Tobacco

Written by Sarah Clark on August 7, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Producers, Research.

Organigram announced the preliminary results of a new clinical study on nanoemulsion technology this week in collaboration with its partner, British American Tobacco (BAT).

The clinical pharmacokinetic study looks at the effectiveness of Organigram’s new nanoemulsion technology in providing a more rapid onset for ingestible cannabis products by improving the bioavailability of various cannabinoids.

The full results of the study, concluded this past January, will be published in October 2024. According to the New Brunswick cannabis producer, the preliminary results show faster onset compared to traditional ingestible products, up to double the cannabinoid delivery at peak compared to the control group, and early indicators of a more predictable duration of the effects of cannabis.

The Product Development Collaboration (PDC) is a joint collaboration between BAT and Organigram and was established to focus on developing next-generation cannabis products.

Since 2021, BAT, the British multinational that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco, and other nicotine products, has made several minority investments in the cannabis space, including its 19.9% equity in Organigram in their “Beyond Nicotine” campaign.

In 2023, BAT announced plans to invest another nearly $125 million into Organigram, more than doubling its equity position in the cannabis company from about 20% to 45%.

The PDC was created as part of BAT’s first round of investment with Organigram. The goal is to create a Center of Excellence at Organigram’s Moncton campus, focussed on developing the next generation of cannabis products, IP, and technologies.

The PDC is also in late-stage development of an array of emulsions, novel vapour formulations, flavour innovations, and packaging solutions that will be applied across some products in Organigram’s portfolio in calendar year 2024, according to the cannabis producer’s most recent investor presentation.

“We are thrilled with the study findings,” said Borna Zlamalik, SVP of Innovation and R&D, in a press release. “The patent-pending nanoemulsion technology, FAST™, promises to unlock the power of the ingested cannabinoids and allow consumers to navigate and control their dosage experience more accurately – a key consumer pain point in the ingestible product space. These technological advances underscore Organigram’s commitment to consumers and to developing science-driven innovations.”

“As a responsible licensed producer, our aim is to thoroughly educate consumers about the effects of this technology, empowering them to enjoy a controlled and predictable ingestible experience,” added Mr. Zlamalik.

Such research can also allow a federally licensed cannabis producer like Organigram to better market its products while ensuring any product claims adhere to Health Canada regulations.

Organigram and BAT say they believe the 19-day in-clinic, eight-arm study is one of the largest pharmacokinetic studies targeted at adult-use recreational cannabis products.

The research was undertaken by a third-party clinical research organization that evaluated cannabinoid absorption across three product formats to determine the effectiveness of the innovative delivery system.

Organigram hopes to commercialize FAST™ in the fall of 2024, starting with cannabis gummies. According to their most recent investor presentation, manufacturing scale-up trials for these gummies are reportedly already underway at Organigram’s 51,000 sq. ft. edibles facility in Winnipeg.

“Organigram has always been focused on consumer-centric innovation as one of its core differentiators and our commitment to the development of advanced technologies underscores this commitment,” said Beena Goldenberg, CEO of Organigram. “We are confident that our investment in this technology will pave the way for our continued success in the edibles space both here and in the future abroad.”

Global tobacco giant ups investment in Canadian cannabis producer Organigram

November 6, 2023

Organigram receives final ruling from Health Canada: Jolts are an edible

March 22, 2024

Organigram asks court to overrule Health Canada on edibles extract restrictions

April 24, 2023

Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club receives $3.2 million fine from BC gov

Written by David Brown on August 6, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Government, Retail.

The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, an unlicensed medical cannabis dispensary that has been operating in Victoria since the 1990s, has been issued a $3.2 million fine from the province.

The fine was issued in July following a hearing and appeal. The total fine is $3,235,465.74, which is based on an amount equal to twice the retail value of the cannabis that was sold or possessed by the business for the purpose of sales.

The provincial government’s Deputy Director calculated that the retail value of the cannabis that VCBC sold and possessed for the purpose of sale was $1,617,732.87, following raids in 2019 and 2020. VCBC has until September 6, 2024, to pay the fine and can apply to appeal the ruling until that date.

BC’s Community Safety Unit (CSU) can undertake a range of enforcement activities against unlicensed cannabis retailers, including inspections, issuing tickets, obtaining warrants, conducting seizures, and more. The CSU can also recommend the prosecution of offences under the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act.

The province had previously proposed to fine the VCBC and Smith a combined $6.5 million for selling cannabis without a licence, including $3,235,465.74 to Smith personally.

However, in the most recent compliance order issued by the CSU, Meghan Oberg, Deputy Director of the CSU, says that she did find that Ted Smith was not personally selling cannabis contrary to provincial regulations. She notes, however, that she has not yet made a determination as to whether Smith or any of VCBC’s officers, directors, or agents, may be liable for the monetary penalty imposed on VCBC. This would be determined in a separate hearing.

The CSU is expected to hold another written hearing to determine if the directors of the VCBC will be held personally accountable for $3.2 million, as has been the case with other unlicensed store operators.

A press release from the VCBC says that lawyers Kirk Tousaw and Jack Lloyd will be challenging the compliance order issued by the province.

VCBC Founder Ted Smith stated in a recent online post that stores like his have never been allowed to have storefront access under Canada’s cannabis laws.

“Patients continue to rely on the VCBC because limits on THC in edible products, restrictions on smoking lounges, high prices and the lack of information regarding the potential medical uses of cannabis products in recreational stores, are unacceptable. For these reasons, the 28 year old VCBC has defied the CSU and reopened after every raid, including a third raid in March 2023 for which a fine has not been issued yet. Soon after that raid, Tousaw and Lloyd filed lawsuits and injunctions against both the provincial and federal governments, though no date for that hearing has been set.”

In January, the government issued a $156,125.50 fine against Kit Warren, the operator of another Victoria Cannabis store who faced enforcement actions from the BCU in 2019 and 2020. Two people connected to another unlicensed cannabis store who faced more than $1 million in fines rejected an appeal at a recent hearing in January.

As of June 3, 2024, the BC CSU has conducted 342 education visits to unlicensed cannabis stores, taken 111 enforcement actions, conducted 1,635 investigations of online cases, closed 233 unlicensed cannabis stores, and seized $38.2 million in cannabis. The BCU reports that $1.49 million in penalties have been paid so far.

The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club is one of the oldest and longest continually operating cannabis dispensaries/compassion clubs in all of Canada. It was started in 1996 by owner Ted Smith. While many medical cannabis dispensaries prior to legalization said they sought to fight for medical cannabis access, the VCBC is one of the few who have stuck to their guns on the issue of fighting for access. The club was also at the core of a court case many years ago that made non-flower products like “edibles” and ingestible oils legal for medical use.

Vancouver Island’s VCBC again raided by BC’s Community Safety Unit

July 15, 2020

BC Cannabis Secretariat rejects call for a temporary exemption for the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club

May 14, 2020

Victoria Cannabis Buyers club files lawsuit against BC government

May 2, 2023

Week in Weed – August 3, 2024

Written by Staff on August 3, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This week at StratCann, we looked at the current state of cannabis sampling. This was one of the last pieces written for us by longtime contributor Tim Wilson, who is stepping away from the cannabis beat for a bit. We hope to hear from him again sooner than later!

We also ran our monthly cannabis jobs overview, looked at a recall from Canna Farms due to a labelling error, and checked in on Health Canada’s commitment to providing updates on the state of CBD and NHPs.

Uber Eats and Leafly announced they were expanding their delivery menu options for cannabis stores into the Alberta market, and the OCRC has a new board chair.

It was also a busy week for financial reports from the pubcos. We looked at Cannara Biotech’s Q3 2024 results, Tilray’s Q4 2024, MTL’s 2023-2024 report, Greenway’s annual report, Nova Cannabis’ Q2 2024, and SNDL’s Q2 2023.

Lastly, Delta 9’s monitor filed a sale and investment process notice for Delta 9 Bio-Tech.

In other Cannabis news

ROSE LifeScience Inc. received a Cannabis Research Licence from Health Canada, authorizing non-therapeutic research on cannabis, permitting in-house sensory and other consumer preference testing. ROSE is majority-owned by Village Farms International.

Just months after a successful 4-20 event that saw strong community support, downtown Prince George was once again home to a cannabis street festival on Saturday, July 27. The Street Summer Fest had a 19+ safe consumption site, as well as live music, dancers, food trucks, local businesses, and more.

High Tide announced the closing of $15 million in subordinated debt facility and opened four more stores in Alberta and Ontario.

Christina Lake Cannabis reported a loss and comprehensive loss of nearly $1.6 million from $3.3 million in sales in the three month period ended May 31, 2024

Statistics Canada examined the cannabis industry’s impact on GDP over the past five months. There were modest gains in the legal sector and declines in the illicit sector.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. announced a collaboration with a company that will launch its newly developed CBD lozenge on Aurora’s Canadian medical cannabis patient platform. The agreement between Aurora and Cogent International Manufacturing Ltd is expected to have an initial term of 24 months, and the first SKU is targeted for later in 2024.

A recent study compared the effects of oral THC, microdose LSD, and methamphetamine on brain activity. Although only LSD was said to have significantly increased neural complexity, oral THC did, unsurprisingly, induce an altered state of consciousness with strong subjective effects.

Psychology Today also looked at some of the hype around CBG.

Law enforcement

Eco Green Leaf Bar in Diamond Valley, Alberta, has reopened after being rammed by a truck during a burglary.

Two Cannabis NB employees have been charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of cash and product from their employer, with one then falsely reporting the store had been robbed, reports the Telegraph-Journal.

Officers in New Brunswick used new inspection powers to seize products from an unlicensed store in Saint John.

Police in Saskatchewan intercepted four pallets of cannabis en route from BC to Ontario.

An Ontario farmer found 538 cannabis plants on his land, alerting the OPP.

During July 30 searches on Commercial St. in Nova Scotia, officers found and seized hundreds of small quantity packages of illegal cannabis, tobacco, and vape products, as well as a quantity of psilocybin. Two men were arrested.

A PEI man also landed in jail for driving to work while impaired by cannabis.

In international cannabis news

New Zealand recently approved changes to its Medicinal Cannabis Scheme, allowing companies to export cannabis immediately. Trade Minister Todd McClay said the changes provide opportunities for New Zealand cultivators and manufacturers. The article also includes comments from Helius Therapeutics, the New Zealand Medicinal Cannabis Council, and Regulation Minister David Seymour.

Czech Republic is considering cannabis legalization. While growing up to three plants at home and possessing up to 600 kg of cannabis is being considered, clubs or shops appear to be off the table for now.

New York City’s sheriff’s office says it has shuttered around 700 illegal stores since new state regulations passed in April. Officials had estimated some 2,900 unlicensed vendors throughout New York City—compared to around 60 licensed dispensaries currently operating. New York still has only 150 dispensaries statewide.

And finally, Missouri is banning the sale of drinks, candy and other foods made with hemp-derived Delta-8 THC and other unregulated CBD products.

Delta 9’s monitor files sale and investment process notice

Written by David Brown on August 3, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Producers.

Following Delta 9 Cannabis’s recent CCAA filing, the company’s court-appointed Monitor has begun an investment process seeking interest in, and opportunities for, a sale of, or investment in, all or part of Delta 9 Bio-Tech’s assets and business operations.

On July 31, Delta 9’s Monitor, Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc. (A&M) issued a sale and investment process notice (SISP) and distributed letters and NDAs to known potential bidders, with a bid deadline of October 28, 2024.

If required, an auction will be held on October 30, with a closing date deadline of November 12. The monitor may extend the dates set out in the SISP with the consent and approval of Delta 9 Bio0Tech, Fika Herbal Goods, Delta 9’s Interim Lender, and SNDL Inc.

In a press release earlier in July, Delta 9 stated that obtaining CCAA protection was in the best interest of it and its shareholders, especially in light of recent “aggressive” actions by its creditors, namely recent demand notices from SNDL Inc. on May 21 and July 12 and SNDL’s recent acquisition of all the Company’s senior secured debt for $21 million.

On July 15, Delta 9 announced that it had entered into a binding term sheet for the FIKA Company to act as a plan sponsor to its CCAA proceedings. Through this process, FIKA would acquire Delta 9’s retail cannabis and distribution business while also assisting with a sale and investment solicitation process for the assets of the licensed cannabis production business. In exchange, Delta 9 would receive equity in FIKA.

FIKA will participate in and fund the costs of Delta 9’s CCAA proceedings through interim financing and present one or more plans of compromise or arrangements to Delta 9’s creditors. Under the agreement, FIKA will provide up to $3 million to fund the costs of the CCAA proceedings and up to $13 million to repay the secured obligations owing to SNDL Inc.

A receiving a recent extension of its CCAA filing, granted after a court hearing on July 24, Delta 9 and its subsidiaries—Delta 9 Logistics Inc., Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc., Delta 9 Lifestyle Cannabis Clinic Inc., and Delta 9 Cannabis Store Inc.—included the approval of the $16 million FIKA has offered in interim financing, as well as a key employee retention plan in the amount of $650,00.

In an affidavit posted on July 22, Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot says Delta 9’s current excise tax arrears are approximately $7,800,000. The affidavit continues that in November 2023, the company applied to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for relief of interest and penalties “due to financial hardship.” Arbuthnot believes there is a chance to reduce that amount by approximately $2 million.

Because of Delta 9’s tax arrears, the CRA moved to only renew the company’s excise licence on a 30-day basis, beginning in December 2023. Delta 9 Bio-Tech was also required to enter into a payment plan to address its owed excise tax in monthly payments of $50,000.

To keep the licence renewed, the company must make not only the $50,000 payment but also the go-forward monthly excise tax amount, which Arbuthnot says is a significant financial strain on the company.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has scheduled the delisting of Delta 9’s common shares on the TSX for August 22, 2024, for failure to meet the TSX’s continued listing requirements. Trading in the Common Shares is currently halted on the TSX.

Bio-Tech is the largest cannabis producer in the province of Manitoba and owns a 98,804 sq ft. cultivation and processing facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The facility contains 297 320 sq ft shipping containers modified into modular “grow pods.”

The Company says it has been able to cultivate cannabis at a cash cost of $0.60 to $0.70/gram.

The company was first licensed in 2014 and was one of the first handful of federally licensed cannabis producers under Canada’s first commercial medical cannabis program, the MMPR.

OCRC gets new board chair

Written by David Brown on August 2, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario, Retail.

Connie Dejak, the board chair of the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), doing business as the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), has resigned, ending her three-year term early. Former Toronto City Councillor Gary Crawford replaces her.

Dejak, the President/CEO of Runnymede HealthCare Centre, joined the board in 2019 and became board chair in December 2020. Her term was scheduled to end in December 2025; however, her position is now listed as resigned.

Runnymede HealthCare Centre is a rehabilitation and complex continuing care hospital in Toronto.

Dejak is being replaced by former Toronto City Councillor Gary Crawford. Crawford served as a city councillor for Ward 36, Scarborough Southwest, for nearly 14 years, and submitted his resignation on July 22, 2023.

“We would like to congratulate Gary Crawford, who has been appointed the new chair of the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC),” a communications representative at the OCS told StratCann via email. “His appointment took effect on July 25, 2024. We are confident in his leadership and vision for the future of the organization.

“We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Connie Dejak who had tendered her resignation as Chair of the OCRC board, and we wish her well in her future endeavours.”

“It should be noted,” they added, “that the appointment to the Chair position is made by the government through the Public Appointments Secretariat.”

The board currently has nine members, including the chair and co-chair, all serving part-time positions. The President and CEO of the OCS, David Lobo, reports to the board.

Depending on experience, board members can be compensated up to $200 a day, vice-chairs receive up to $250 a day, and chairs receive up to $350 a day.

From 2019-2023, Dejak received $61,845 in remuneration (2019-2020 $1,525, 2020-2021 $6,975, 2021-2022 $33,425, 2022-2023 $19,950).

As a city councillor, Crawford served as the Budget Chief from 2014 to 2023 and served on committees such as the Budget, Planning and Growth, Economic Development, and the Executive Committee.

He also served on City Boards and Agencies including East Metro Youth Centre, Sony Centre for the Performing Arts as Interim Chair, Harbourfront Centre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Centre for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council. He has chaired the Mayor’s Task Force on the Arts, the Theatres Working Group, and Co-chaired the Film Board.

In 2007, Crawford ran in the Ontario provincial election for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PCPO) from the riding of Scarborough Southwest, but was not elected.

Incorrect labelling leads to recall for Canna Farms Tangerine Dream

Written by Staff on August 2, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Products.

Canna Farms has recalled one lot of its Tangerine Dream five gram dried cannabis sold through its medical sales channel for incorrect labelling as of August 2.

The products were sold with incorrect cannabinoid values, where the total labelled THC and total CBD are lower than the actual total THC and total CBD values in the product.

The printed value of THC was 8.3 mg/g, while the correct amount was 3.7 mg/g. The total labelled THC was 175 mg/g, while the accurate amount was 246 mg/g. The labelled CBD was <0.15 mg/g, while the correct amount should have been <0.1. mg/g. Total CBD was labelled as 0.5 mg/g but should have been 1.4 mg/g

Health Canada has not received any complaints related to the recall as of publication. Canna Farms Ltd. has currently received one complaint which noted that the label on the product was incorrect. Neither Canna Farms Ltd. nor Health Canada have received any adverse reaction reports for the recalled cannabis product lot.

There were 23 units of recalled product sold from May 31, 2024, to July 23, 2024, under lot number 24AER-DF1. Affected clients can contact Canna Farms directly.

Canna Farms’ parent company, MediPharm, recently announced it was closing the Canna Farms BC facility and moving operations to Ontario.

Labelling errors remain the most common reason for cannabis product recalls in Canada.

Cannabis Jobs Update – August 2024

Written by Staff on August 1, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News.

Want to work in the cannabis industry in Canada? There are many positions available, from entry-level to executive, from cultivation to retail, from policy to QAP; there’s a massive amount of marijuana jobs available at any given time.

Check out our July 2024 cannabis jobs roundup below for a small snapshot of the numerous positions available in Canada’s cannabis industry.

Aurora Cannabis is hiring a cultivation manager for its Pemberton, BC, facility and is hiring an applications analyst for a remote work job in Ontario and Quebec, as well as several other positions.

Medipharm Labs is hiring a patient experience associate in Vancouver.

Fika Cannabis is hiring a lead educator for one of its stores in Mississauga while SNDL is looking to hire a product management and supply chain coordinator in Edmonton and a supervisor at Value Buds in Red Deer.

Plantlife Cannabis is hiring for full-time and part-time jobs in several locations in Alberta. Tilray is also hiring for numerous positions across Canada.

Canna Cabana is hiring for several positions in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. Auxly is hiring a machine operator and a cultivation associate in Ontario.

BC’s Queen’s Cannabis has tw o vac ancies coming up for their lower mainland locations.

Motif Labs is looking to fill several positions, including a commercial project manager in Ontario.

Organigram Inc. is hiring a cost accounting manager in New Brunswick, and Wyld is seeking a territory manager in Ontario.

Coterie Brands is hiring a brand ambassador in the Hamilton/Burlington area (part-time), and Canopy Growth is hiring for several positions, such as a regulatory affairs manager and a production assistant both in Ontario.

In Quebec, Cielo Verde Quebec Inc. is hiring a packaging coordinator and Kizos Culture is hiring a general staff member.

Cheeky’s Cannabis in Maple Ridge, BC, is seeking a full-time or part-time budtender. The Herbary in Yukon is also hiring full-time and part-time budtenders.

And, TEC Cannabis Services is hiring a cannabis trimmer/packer and a cleaner in Nova Scotia.

Uber Eats and Leafly announce cannabis “delivery” expanding to Alberta

Written by David Brown on July 29, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

Beginning July 30th, cannabis consumers in Alberta will have another option for product delivery.

Uber Eats, in partnership with Leafly, announced that it would begin accepting orders from licensed cannabis stores at the end of July. The online delivery platform will then inform the store of the order placed on their app, which will then be delivered by store staff.

“More Albertans are accessing legal cannabis than ever before,” said Klaas Knieriem, General Manager of Grocery and Retail for Uber Eats in Canada. “We are partnering with industry leaders like Leafly to help retailers offer safe, convenient options for people in Alberta to purchase legal cannabis for delivery directly to their homes. This will help reduce impaired driving and improve road safety.”

Alberta began allowing retailers to offer online sales and deliveries in early 2022, and BC in 2023. A representative with Uber tells StratCann the company now has 80 retailers in over 30 cities in Ontario and British Columbia.

Some retailers in those markets say the partnership has been beneficial. Others have questioned the value given that Uber and Leafly take a percentage of any sales through their platform, and the store is still responsible for delivery fees.

“Partnering with Uber Eats has been a game-changer,” said Calvin Basran of Queensborough Cannabis in British Columbia earlier this year. “We’ve been able to tap into our strengths—rapid delivery, top-notch service, and strict compliance with provincial regulations—and combine them with Uber Eats’ vast user network to reach new customers across Metro Vancouver. As we get ready to celebrate cannabis culture this 4/20, we’re proud to offer a safe, smooth and convenient shopping experience for cannabis lovers in our community.”

Mike Dunn, the owner of 1922 Cannabis in Toronto, has been using this service for some time now and says he’s very happy with it. His store, he explains, has shifted to doing most of its business in online sales, and working with an app like Uber has allowed him to lean more into delivery without worrying about handling the online infrastructure.

“The user experience, the functionality, the close rate is so much more effective than I could develop with my web-based technology tools,” he explains. “Connecting with a technology leader that understands their customers so well and we can ride off their coattails, they are absolute masters at that. It saved our business.”

Arshi Kalkat, the co-founder of retail chain Dank Cannabis, which is one of the first five retailers participating in Alberta, says they are excited by the opportunity.

“Our focus at Dank Cannabis has always been to bring a stress-free retail experience to our customers since we started our business in 2021,” said Kalkat. “This partnership will help us continue to do that and expand our reach to even more people in Calgary. Just like the in-store experience, our provincially certified delivery staff understand and comply with local regulations around cannabis transactions, including checking ID.

Not everyone has had positive things to say about the service, though.

Jazz Samra, the owner and founder of Sativa Bliss Cannabis, with five locations in Ontario, says he initially used the service when it was first launched in Ontario. However, he says he quickly found it was not worth his time. In addition to buying a monthly subscription to Leafly, he says he had to pay a percentage of each sale to Leafly and Uber, adding up to 15%.

“I had them set up for two of my stores and quickly cancelled one because I found out Uber doesn’t have a customer base (in that region). And I still had to get one of my employees to do the delivery. So I have to take an employee out of the store to do a delivery for an hour, and then I’m paying pretty much my entire profit margin on the sale back to Leafly and Uber. It doesn’t make sense. Leafly is a dinosaur in the industry, nobody is using those things anymore.”

Samara does allow that if third-party delivery services like Uber could also manage delivery, the program might make more sense. But given that retailers still have to take on delivery, he says it’s just not worth it for his locations.

Another Ontario retailer, Jennawae Cavion, founder of Calyx + Trichomes in Kingston, tells StratCann she has opted not to use the service as it eats too much into her limited profit margins. Uber, she says, wanted to charge her a 15% fee for all sales made on their platform, with the retailer while still having to take on the cost of delivery themselves.

Although she says there’s an argument to be made that the sales on the platform might bring in new customers, from her perspective, this would just mean cannibalising sales that might have already come through their own online store.

It’s too expensive, and for what?” asks Cavion. “It’s a terrible deal. Just deliver yourself. It’s not just a bad deal for retailers, it’s also a bad deal for consumers because it will just add to the cost.”

“Just work on your own website optimization. Nobody is buying weed from Leafly and Uber Eats.”

Note: This article has been edited to add comment from Uber.

Week in Weed – July 27, 2024

Written by Staff on July 27, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This past week, we heard from Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Cannabis Council about their disappointment over Israel’s preliminary report proposing massive import fees for Canadian cannabis.

We also examined changes coming to OCS’ warehouse distribution centre and new licensing information from Health Canada that shows a continued YOY decrease in new licence applications.

Tilray and Aurora both announced expansion opportunities for their facilities in Germany.

Cannara reported their Q3 2024 results and Delta 9 had their CCAA protection extended to September 15.

It was also a busy week for cannabis and law enforcement stories, with CBSA seizing cannabis in Nova Scotia and Ontario, while police in London seized a large quantity of cannabis products from a residential neighbourhood.

In other cannabis news in Canada:

Canada has shared new cannabis and industrial hemp contact information for licence holders, applicants, and industry.

Guelph Today covered a research paper StratCann first reported in early June, looking at the accuracy of labels on cannabis oils sold in Ontario.

An “odour app” chronicles behavioural responses to smells in the Metro Vancouver region. The City of Vancouver reports a disproportionately large number of reports with the suspected cause of animal processing (95%), while suburbs like Delta report disproportionately more on garbage and compost (58%), cannabis (73%), and farming (60%) causes.

UBC Medicine researchers awarded over $25 million in CIHR project grants, including just over $1 million for a project entitled “The impact of medical cannabis on driving safety: A driving simulation study.”

International cannabis news

An Ottawa man was found not guilty of smuggling almost $1 million of cannabis into Bermuda in 2023. Ngongo-Eric Sampassa, 32, successfully argued he didn’t know there was cannabis in his baggage. Local media reports that he is the spouse of a Canadian diplomat. Last week, another man from Ontario pleaded guilty to importing cannabis into Bermuda and was sentenced to 8.5 years.

Reuters also looked at the current zeitgeist surrounding the German cannabis market.

California officials are scrambling to test cannabis products for pesticides following a recent investigation by the LA Times and numerous recalls.

Thailand will work towards legislating cannabis for medical use, signalling a U-turn on plans to re-criminalize the plant and another change in the government’s back-and-forth on the subject over the past few years.

The American College of Physicians released eight recommendations, calling for an evidence-based public health approach to cannabis regulation, including the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use.

Finally, the 8th annual Cannabis Research Conference will be held in Colorado from August 7 to 9.

Delta 9 receives amended and restated order for creditor protection through Sept 15

Written by Sarah Clark on July 26, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Producers.

Delta 9 Cannabis, the Manitoba company granted CCAA protection on July 15, due to expire on July 25, has now received an extension of a stay of creditor claims until September 15, 2024.

In a press release earlier this month, the company stated that obtaining CCAA protection is in the best interest of it and its shareholders, especially in light of recent “aggressive” actions by its creditors, namely recent demand notices from SNDL Inc. on May 21 and July 12 and SNDL’s recent acquisition of all the Company’s senior secured debt for $21 million.

Those creditor claims are now held off until September 15, giving Delta 9 and FIKA several more weeks to address them.

On July 15, Delta 9 also announced that it had entered into a binding term sheet for the FIKA Company to act as a plan sponsor to its CCAA proceedings. Through this process, FIKA would acquire Delta 9’s retail cannabis and distribution business while also assisting with a sale and investment solicitation process for the assets of the licensed cannabis production business. In exchange, Delta 9 would receive equity in FIKA.

The newest extension, granted after a court hearing on July 24, Delta 9 and its subsidiaries—Delta 9 Logistics Inc., Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc, Delta 9 Lifestyle Cannabis Clinic Inc., and Delta 9 Cannabis Store Inc.—includes the approval of the $16 million FIKA has offered in interim financing, as well as a key employee retention plan in the amount of $650,00.

Delta 9 receives CCAA protection, enters into agreement with FIKA following “aggressive” SNDL move

July 15, 2024

Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc.

April 2, 2020

SNDL to lay off 106 employees as part of restructuring

July 16, 2024

Changes coming to Canada’s largest cannabis market

Written by David Brown on July 26, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario.

The Ontario Cannabis Store is planning to begin reducing the number of products it carries in its warehouse by several thousand in the coming year and a half as it moves to create a more efficient supply chain amid a glut of product.

The move, which will begin this September, comes as several other provincial distributors have made similar moves to handle a growing number of products, limited storage space at central distribution warehouses, and slowing market growth as demand seems to be reaching a saturation point.

While growth in the Canadian cannabis industry was exponential following legalization in late 2018, that growth has slowed considerably in recent years, matched by a slowing or even contraction in the retail and production space.

To address this, provincial distributors like the OCS, LDB, AGLC, and the MBLL, have been paring down their offerings and shortening the time they give products to grab consumer interest.

One way Ontario has been seeking to address the large array of products (currently 5,000 SKUs) and limited warehouse space is through its flow-through program, which creates an on-demand list of products that can be ordered through the OCS without being permanently stored in its distribution centre.

Introduced in 2021, the flow-through program has continued to expand and evolve over time. The newest announcement will introduce changes like a multi-tier delivery platform that will try to reduce the program’s end-to-end lead times, a common complaint from producers and retailers, as well as additional tools.

In addition to these changes, the OCS is also increasing from four product calls a year to five while reducing the time needed to launch a product into the market and creating a single, harmonized submission process.

In late August, the OCS will also introduce more detailed wholesale metrics through its Supplier Data Program, ideally giving producers a chance to improve product availability. The provincial agency will provide more information to the industry on these proposed changes in the coming weeks and months.

Cannabis stores in Ontario sold nearly $2 billion worth of cannabis in 2023

May 14, 2024

OCS shortens payment processing timelines for Flow-Through products

July 9, 2024

Inside the world’s largest legal cannabis distribution centre

April 28, 2023

Aurora Cannabis receives additional German licences

Written by Sarah Clark on July 25, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Government, International, Producers.

A second cannabis company with operations in Canada announced this week that it is expanding its footprint in the emerging German cannabis market.

Aurora Cannabis announced on July 25 that the Alberta-based producer has been granted two licences by Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) under the country’s new Medical Cannabis Act (MedCanG).

The announcement follows one made earlier this week by the American cannabis company Tilray, which has several operations in Canada.

On April 1, 2024, cannabis was reclassified in Germany as a non-narcotic, allowing adults to possess small amounts in the process of moving towards a regulated commercial supply chain. The country recently began allowing participation in cannabis production clubs.

Aurora and Tilray (through their subsidiary Aphria) are two of the three existing domestic medical cannabis producers in Germany, along with Germany-based Demecan. The latter announced on July 25 that it was now the first German company to receive a cultivation permit for medical cannabis under MedCanG. The licence allows for the cultivation of up to seven different cultivars.

Aurora’s new licences add to the company’s ongoing cannabis production in Germany, which the company says has been underway for two years. Under the new licence, Aurora is also allowed to cultivate an approved “additional product,” with the company saying it has plans to expand its offerings in the German market.

Aurora also expects to be issued a cannabis R&D licence in Germany, which would allow the trial of up to seven additional novel cultivars at the company’s local EU GMP facility in Leuna, Germany.

“We thank the German government for its continued investment in the growth of medical cannabis, made possible by decriminalization, which will improve access to medical cannabis for patients all across Germany,” says Michael Simon, President of Aurora Europe. “Being one of the few companies to receive (an) enhanced licence is a testament to Aurora’s established leadership in the region and unparalleled commitment to making available the highest quality cannabis. We now have the framework to extend our portfolio, invest in domestic research and leverage Aurora’s global cultivation expertise locally.”

Aurora’s medical cannabis production facility in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, in eastern Germany, has been in operation since 2021. The facility cultivates approximately 1,000 kg of cannabis flower annually for the medical supply chain. In addition to Canada and Germany, Aurora operates in the UK, Poland, and Australia.

Germany is being eyed by large cannabis companies like Aurora and Tilray as it’s seen as a gateway into the expanding European market and is considered the largest medical cannabis market in Europe, with a population of 83 million, more than double that of Canada.

Earlier this week, Tilray, another large, publicly traded cannabis company with operations in Canada, announced it had received the first new cannabis cultivation licence issued in Germany.

In February, Germany passed the German Medical Cannabis Act, expanding the country’s medical cannabis laws. Tilray’s Aphria RX has been present in the medical cannabis space in Germany since March 2019, when the company was awarded a licence for the cultivation of medical cannabis in Germany from the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (the “BfArM”).

Other European countries, including Switzerland, Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Malta, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, are also considering or in the process of implementing various cannabis markets being eyed by companies like these.

Germany legalized cannabis this past March, with the law coming into effect in stages. On April 1, personal possession and cultivation became legal. On July 1, the country began allowing cannabis growing clubs. However, the country does not allow the sale of cannabis, except for medical purposes. That bill also made amendments to the country’s medical cannabis laws (MedCanG), paving the way for Tilray’s most recent announcement.

Germany first legalized cannabis flowers for medical purposes in 2017. Although annual domestic production was capped at 10,400 kg, since that time, the amount of cannabis prescribed under the program has steadily increased, fed by imports from countries like Canada. In the first three quarters of 2017, there were just 530 kg of cannabis imported into Germany. By the completion of the first three quarters of 2023, that increased to 14,315 kg.

Cannabis exports from Canada have been increasing and are expected to continue, especially as the issue of oversupply still plagues the Canadian market. Expanding production into new markets like Germany allows companies to better address supply issues in emerging markets without going through extensive export requirements and costs from Canada.

Featured image via Aurora Cannabis

Data presented by Health Canada indicate cannabis exports may continue growing

October 25, 2023

Cannabis exporters’ biggest challenges are regulations, not market demand

April 15, 2024

Canadian cannabis companies increasingly exploring export market

June 14, 2023

Cannabis industry, Global Affairs Canada disappointed with Israel’s preliminary report

Written by David Brown on July 23, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, International, Producers.

Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Cannabis Council say they are dismayed by the recent preliminary decision from the Israeli government to consider imposing import fees on Canadian cannabis products.

The Israeli Commissioner for Trade Levies at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, Danny Tal, recently posted the decision following an investigation that began in January of this year.

According to the report, the preliminary findings determined a fair price and profit margin for Canadian companies selling cannabis into the Israeli market. A final version, with finalized recommendations, is expected later this year.

In the course of the investigation, it was determined that the large volume of cannabis sold into the Israeli medical market from Canada was having a significant impact on both the local market and domestic companies’ ability to compete.

“The root data on which this decision was based was fundamentally incorrect, making the decision unreliable. We object to the process Israel has taken in this investigation. Any government or jurisdiction following should look closely here and not make the same mistakes.”
Paul McCarthy, President of the Cannabis Council of Canada (C3)

According to Tal’s report, these products were sold at lower prices that, he argues, do not reflect the normal course of business and are lower than production costs or prices in the Israeli market, especially given the additional cost of exporting cannabis from Canada.

Based on investigations into Canadian production costs, including packaging and shipping, as well as additional export costs, the commissioner’s preliminary report recommends a floating levy or tariff on Canadian cannabis products, ranging from 63% to 369%.

These figures are based on the commissioner’s investigation into production costs and market rates for domestic sales of cannabis in Canada.

Paul McCarthy, the President of the Cannabis Council of Canada (C3), says the organization is “severely disappointed” that the Israeli government’s anti-dumping investigation completely disregarded the concerns C3 put forward in their response for feedback to the Ministry.

C3 has previously highlighted its concerns that the Israeli government’s investigation leaned on pricing in the “Canada Spot Index” provided by a private, third-party agency, which they say does not represent all of the factors that add to the cost of cannabis exports from Canada.

“This process has been flawed from the beginning,” McCarthy tells StratCann. “The Canada Spot Index is not representative of a domestic whole price for cannabis, nor is it an appropriate comparison with Israeli wholesale prices for bulk product: it includes various mark-up fees that do not belong to producers, packaging costs that are specific to individualized products, and federal and provincial cannabis excise taxes (all of which we pointed out in our response).”

“Investigators failed to assess domestic market conditions correctly,” he continues. “The root data on which this decision was based was fundamentally incorrect, making the decision unreliable. We object to the process Israel has taken in this investigation. Any government or jurisdiction following should look closely here and not make the same mistakes.”

A representative from Global Affairs Canada also tells StratCann that they were let down by Israel’s preliminary decision. Global Affairs Canada manages Canada’s diplomatic and consular relations, promotes Canadian international trade, and leads Canada’s international development and humanitarian assistance.

“We are disappointed with Israel’s preliminary determination in its self-initiated investigation on alleged dumping of imports of medical cannabis from Canada. We are in contact with Canadian industry and we are reviewing the details of Israel’s preliminary determination, and we will continue to closely monitor Israel’s investigation to ensure that it is conducted in accordance with all applicable WTO rules.”

The preliminary report states that the commission will also submit a report on its findings to the World Trade Organization.

The floating prices exist, explains a notice by the commissioner (Translated), “when the foreign producer exports the goods at prices lower than their production costs or their price in the country of origin. Such imports are defined in the World Trade Organization as “unfair trade,” and according to the WTO’s Export Convention, the country may protect its domestic market in such cases by imposing an export levy, which compares the import price to the price that reflects fair competition.”

The World Trade Organization defines such imports as “unfair trade.” According to the WTO’s Export Convention, a country may protect its domestic market in such cases by imposing an export levy, which compares the import price to the price that reflects fair competition.

Israel opens “anti-dumping” investigation into cannabis imports from Canada

January 26, 2024

Canada’s legalization framework serves as roadmap for Israel and other nations

April 3, 2021

Preliminary report: Israel might apply import fees on Canadian cannabis

July 10, 2024

Tilray receives first new commercial medical cannabis licence in Germany

Written by Sarah Clark on July 22, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International, Producers.

Tilray has received the first cannabis cultivation licence issued under Germany’s new Cannabis Act.

The American cannabis company, which operates in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Latin America, made the announcement on July 22. Tilray’s Aphria RX Facility in Germany was the first to receive such a licence in the country.

In February, Germany passed the German Medical Cannabis Act, expanding the country’s medical cannabis laws. Aphria RX has been present in the medical cannabis space in Germany since March 2019, when the company was awarded a licence for the cultivation of medical cannabis in Germany from the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (the “BfArM”).

At the time, the licence allowed for a total of five lots (1,000 kgs) and was the only licensed producer in Germany with permission to grow all three strains of medical cannabis approved by the BfArM.

The new licence, made possible by recent legislative changes in Germany that increased the number of patients and subscribers for cannabis for medicinal purposes, allows the Aphria RX facility to expand its growing capacity. Rather than growing just three cultivars for patients, the company can now grow and sell up to 31.

Tilray says its growing rooms were designed by Kevin Anderson, the master grower behind Tilray subsidiary Broken Coast, located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

“We are thrilled to receive this license as it will provide greater access to some of the highest quality medical cannabis produced in Germany and enable us to expand the range of treatment options available to patients,” says Denise Faltischek, Tilray’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of International, in a press release. “We appreciate the trust that the German Government has placed in Tilray, and we are proud of our team for their groundbreaking work in medical cannabis cultivation and patient care.”

The new licence will allow Germany to better address that growing demand through domestic supply. Anyone who wishes to cultivate, produce, trade, import, export, dispense, sell, otherwise place on the market, obtain or acquire cannabis for medicinal purposes or cannabis for medical-scientific purposes requires a permit from the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices.

In addition to Tilray, Canadian cannabis company Aurora and the German company Demecan were first allowed to grow a combined total of 10,400kg of medical cannabis in Germany beginning in 2019.

Reliable data are still lacking, but it is conceivable that the growing demand for medical cannabis is to some degree, driven by people using the drug exclusively or partially for recreational purposes.

Week in Weed – July 20, 2024

Written by Staff on July 20, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This week at StratCann, we looked at Delta 9 receiving CCAA protection, while SNDL announced it was laying off 106 employees as part of a restructuring process.

We also dove into new cannabis sales figures from Stats Canada, the new adverse reports review from Health Canada, and cannabis clinical trials being hampered by a lack of GMP cannabis.

BC provided updates to its cannabis sampling rules, and the federal government responded to a recent edibles petition tabled in the House of Commons.

A cannabis farmgate store in Victoria moved one step closer to reality, and Purileaf recalled their Frank CBD Oil 100 due to a labelling error.

Lastly, Alberta and BC reached an agreement over wine sales. We point out that the cannabis industry has similar asks.

In other cannabis news

The town of Aurora, Ontario, is frustrated by a cannabis facility that continues to operate against municipal bylaws. The article says the business is i420.club, or the Toronto Cannabis Delivery Club, with more than 20 locations across the GTA. Since the dispute is a bylaw issue, York Regional Police are not involved, according to York Regional Police Const. James Dickson.

The owner of True North Cannabis in Cambridge, Ontario, says he is frustrated by the lack of enforcement against unlicensed stores by the Waterloo Regional Police Services.

Highlighting this ongoing issue in Ontario with unlicensed cannabis stores, one company shared a press release about a new delivery service for an unlicensed cannabis store in Kensington Market.

Council in Esterhazy, SK, denied a second cannabis store, citing concerns that its main street could be lined with cannabis stores. The town of about 2,300 residents currently has one cannabis store.

The Wheatland County Municipal Planning Commission refused a development permit for a cannabis store within the Hamlet of Gleichen, Alberta. The town is home to one cannabis store, the Gleichen Cannabis Store.

The National Post once again trotted out some rage-bait fan fiction about the “failure” of legalization that distorts and misrepresents real issues facing the industry with some boring, run-of-the-mill Trudeau-bad/taxes-bad nonsense.

Law enforcement

NL RCMP seized cannabis, cigarettes, and cash in Grand Falls-Windsor.

The OPP charged three people after executing two search warrants in Dunnville and Cayuga, seizing around $200,000 in cannabis, cannabis products, and currency on July 17.

On July 17, 2024, at approximately 6:00 a.m., officers from the East District in Winnipeg responded to a report of a Commercial break-in at a cannabis shop in the 1000 block of Henderson Highway.

Saskatchewan RCMP says they recently suspended 35 drivers for operating a vehicle under the influence of cannabis during a two-day check stop.

Canada Border Services reported 32 kg of cannabis seized at Halifax International Airport in a video shared on social media.

International cannabis news

A man from Ontario pleaded guilty to importing cannabis into Bermuda this past week. He was sentenced to 8.5 years for the 19.5 kilograms of cannabis found hidden in the lining of his baggage. Last week, a Canadian woman admitted in the Supreme Court that she smuggled a similar quantity into the island.

A New York court has thrown out a suit filed by investors in Canopy Growth Corp, arguing they failed to show that the cannabis producer’s executives had the necessary level of intent for securities fraud when they allegedly misrepresented the success of sports drink subsidiary BioSteel.

California has recalled several vape pens in recent weeks, including two this past week, for the presence of the pesticide chlorfenapyr.

A US federal judge refused to halt New York City’s crackdown on unlicensed sellers of cannabis, citing public safety concerns. New York City has closed 640 unlicensed smoke shops since early May, using enforcement powers under a new state law known as the Smokeout Act.

And finally, US Federal Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed a case brought by a coalition of cannabis companies challenging the federal prohibition on cannabis.

Cannabis farmgate store in Victoria moves one step closer to reality

Written by David Brown on July 19, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers, Retail.

A cannabis farmgate store in Victoria has moved one step closer to becoming a reality.

Victoria City Council has voted to support the application from the Victoria Cannabis Company (VCC) cannabis farmgate store at 340 Mary Street, in Victoria West.

In a 7-1 decision, council voted to direct staff to advise the BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB) of their decision to issue the producer store retail licence (farmgate) to the VCC.

The approval will still be subject to the company’s compliance with the city’s bylaws and permits. The city is requiring the VCC to build a sidewalk adjacent to the facility, which is located near the Galloping Goose Trail, a multi-use trail on a former rail line through the city.

The Victoria Cannabis Company first filed its application for a farmgate store licence in early 2023. The company’s application passed third reading shortly by September 2023, with council sending it back to city staff to address concerns with the location.

BC’s retail cannabis regulations require an approval from local council before considering approval of the application.

In the most recent staff report approved by Council, it was noted that there were no significant concerns about community impact of storefront cannabis retail at the application’s location, that the location would have minimal community impact, and that there were no concerns from police. The report did not have ongoing concerns with odour associated with the store’s adjacent cannabis facilities.

The possible future cannabis farmgate store is located at VCC’s production facility, which is currently home to a nursery, two micro cultivation sites, and a standard processing site.

*Sugar Cane Cannabis’s farmgate store in Williams Lake, BC, which includes an in-store window into their grow room. Image via William’s Lake First Nation.*

The province began accepting applications for producer retail stores (PRS) in November 2022. The program allows micro cultivators, standard cultivators, and nurseries to sell their own products in a retail cannabis store at their own production facilities or sites, as well as an array of products from other producers.

Only one such licence has been approved since then, ShuCanna in Salmon Arm, which was licensed in August 2023. The province has also licensed two similar stores, one in Williams Lake and one in Chilliwack, under special arrangements with local First Nations called Section 119 agreements.

A third farmgate application is also making its way through the municipal process in Pitt Meadows, currently.

More than 100 licensed cannabis facilities could theoretically be eligible to apply for such a farmgate licence. Some BC cannabis growers say the low number of applicants indicates a policy failure, citing concerns with the nearly $10,000 in licensing and application fees and additional costs associated with BC’s retail cannabis regulations.

Kyp Rowe, VP of brand development at VCC, who spoke with StratCann at an earlier date about the application, says their goal is to create a dynamic storefront that can show off not only their own unique cannabis products from cannabis grown on-site, but also other small craft producers in BC. VCC’s location is near the E&N Rail Trail, a popular bike path.

“We are very excited at the opportunity to be among the first potential Production Retail Store locations in British Columbia,” says Rowe. “What sets us apart from other locations is the amount of frontage traffic we have in Vic West. We are not located in an industrial park on the outskirts of town. Our store is just minutes from the sea wall in Lime Bay and has the potential to become a tourist destination.

“Our goal will be to focus on British Columbia producers as well as featuring our own flower grown and packaged on-site. Now, more than ever, small provincial craft producers need an opportunity at the retail level to showcase their products. With all of the pay-to-play for shelf space and the discount retail chains, more and more small producers are getting edged out by large corporations. We want to be able to tell BC’s rich craft cannabis story, and we feel this new farmgate store will give us this opportunity.”

Rowe tells StratCann that he and the VCC team are excited to move forward with the project. They estimate that their sidewalk will be completed in the coming weeks.

BC has a long way to go create a thriving cannabis industry

January 24, 2024

Few BC growers interested in farmgate a year after program launched

October 25, 2023

ShuCanna receives cannabis farmgate store in Salmon Arm

August 15, 2023

Wholesale cannabis sales, CPI increase in May

Written by Staff on July 19, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

Wholesale cannabis sales increased to $553 million in May after a steep decline in April, following record-high rates in March 2024.

Cannabis continues to outperform much of the Canadian economy, with sales declining in five of seven sectors. Excluding petroleum products and other hydrocarbons, as well as oilseed and grain, wholesale sales fell 0.8% in May across Canada.

Wholesale cannabis trade and inventories also saw an increase in May, rising to $294,102 from $289,764 in April. The previous high point was $301,077 in November 2022.

The most recent monthly retail cannabis sales figures show sales rebounded in February and April after dropping to their lowest in nearly a year in January 2024.

While wholesale cannabis sales in May were around $553 million, this was more than double what cigarette and tobacco product merchant wholesalers brought in, at about $228 million.

Wholesale merchants’ sales of cannabis, seasonally adjusted, were up 12.1% in May 2024 from May 2023 and up 19% from April 2024 to May 2024.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada’s consumer price index shows that the price of cannabis increased by one tenth of a point from May to June and from June 2023-June 2024 (71.6).

This small increase was after a seven month decline, which itself was preceded by a brief spike in prices in October 2023. The CPI baseline was set at 100 in December 2018, following legalization.

Price of cannabis in Canada continues to decline, except for medical cannabis

April 18, 2023

$11 billion in cannabis sales has created 151,000 new jobs and added $43.5 billion to Canada’s GDP

February 1, 2022

Retail cannabis sales year-over-year growth continues to slow, retail stores decrease

June 21, 2024

Federal government responds to edibles petition

Written by David Brown on July 18, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government.

The federal government has provided a response to a petition tabled earlier this year calling on an increase of the THC limit for edibles from 10mg to 100mg.

The petition was launched in November 2023 and sponsored by Liberal MP for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Patrick Weiler.

The Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, Ya’ara Saks, posted a response to the petition on July 17, noting that the 10 mg THC limit was established to protect public health and safety and was supported by the recent Expert Panel report on the Cannabis Act.

“The limit draws heavily on lessons learned from, and the limits established by U.S. states that have legalized cannabis,” says the response, in part.

“Health Canada is currently carefully reviewing and analyzing the report and its recommendations,” it continues. “The Panel’s findings will help inform Health Canada’s ongoing efforts to improve the operation and administration of Canada’s cannabis control framework.

Health Canada recently proposed many changes for federal cannabis regulations, which did include a proposal to remove the cumulative 10 mg THC limit for an outermost container of edible cannabis product to allow greater flexibility in packing multiple immediate containers, as long as the immediate containers do not have more than 10 mg of THC each.

Many in the industry, though, have noted that unless there is an allowance for less onerous immediate packaging on those edibles, the change likely won’t result in any cost savings for producers or consumers.

The original petition noted that both the Canada Competition Bureau and the Ontario Cannabis Store have called upon Health Canada to increase THC limits. The industry has argued for years now that the 10mg THC limit on edibles hamstrings its ability to directly compete with the illicit market, with consumers being enticed by higher THC products at a much lower cost.

While other categories of cannabis products like dried flower, concentrates, and vapes have become increasingly competitive with the illicit market in terms of price, edibles remain one of the biggest advantages available to the illicit market.

In an interview with StratCann in 2022, Christina Clarke, the CEO of the Songhees Development Corporation, which operates a provincially-licensed cannabis retail store on Vancouver Island, said she knows that edibles remain one of the main drivers of demand in the illicit market.

Although legal products in nearly every other cannabis product category are competitive with the illicit market in terms of price, quality, and variety, edibles lag behind.

“If people are going to go to the black market because the product they want is not in the regular market, then if it’s a product that’s safe we should be able to sell that in the legal market and not leave it as a product (only in) the black market.”

“The reality is, anybody who’s an edibles user knows, those doses are really quite low for somebody, especially if you’re a regular user of edibles. Your tolerance is such that some of these (edibles) barely do anything. I’m waiting for the market to catch up with what the customer wants.”

Jennawae McLean, co-owner of Calyx + Trichomes Cannabis and the Executive Director of Norml Canada, says she agrees with the idea of opening up the limit to at least allow producers to sell more than 10mg per package, even if the potency on individual servings stays the same.

“(Ten)mg is fine for a suggested serving, but edibles should not be 10mg per pack,” McLean tells StratCann.

“In other regulated markets, the limit per package is not as restrictive as it is in Canada. A couple of weeks ago I was in Las Vegas and was able to get edibles that had many 10mg portions per bar or box.

“Customers mostly get confused about the price per mg (which seems expensive) and the quantity limit,” continues McLean. “Unregulated edibles seem half the price for 10x the potency.”

Canada’s 10mg potency limit was in part informed by feedback from states like Colorado and Washington that legalized cannabis for non-medical purposes several years prior to Canada. When these states initially legalized they had very few restrictions on edibles potencies and saw a lot of problems with people consuming too much, increasing emergency room visits and other health and safety concerns.

These states have since imposed more strict standards, with some only allowing 10mg or even 5mg of THC per serving, but still allowing much more THC to be in a package. Colorado, for example, has had a 10mg per serving limit in place now for several years but allows up to 100mg per package.

“Now is the time to review this area,” adds Beena Goldenberg, CEO of Organigram. “Maybe it was fine at first, the idea of starting slow, but we can now see that after three years, we are unintentionally keeping the illicit market active in this area because we are not providing equivalent legal options to consumers.

“If you could do a 100mg package and you could have ten 10mg pieces in it, isn’t that better?”

Canada’s 10mg edibles limit empowering black market, hamstringing legal industry

June 13, 2022

Petition to increase THC limit for edibles gains traction, MP support

November 15, 2023

Media continues to misreport issues relating to illicit cannabis edibles

March 24, 2024

Adverse reports associated with cannabis declined for third year in a row

Written by David Brown on July 17, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Products, Research.

The number of reports received by Health Canada of adverse reactions associated with cannabis has declined for the third year in a row.

The majority of those reports are associated with legal cannabis products, which also declined in the past year after an increase in 2021.

Of the 159 reports received in 2022, 92 were unique cases associated with legal cannabis products. In 2021, there were 260 reports, 174 of which were associated with legal cannabis products. In 2020, there were 287 reports, 159 of which were associated with legal cannabis products.

In 2019 (October 17, 2018-December 31, 2019), there were 219 adverse reaction reports to Health Canada’s Canada Vigilance Database, with 151 associated with legal cannabis products from the medical and non-medical supply chains.

The majority of reports in 2022 come from the cannabis licence holder.

Of the adverse report cases related to cannabis in 2022, 40% involved males and 28% involved females, while 51% involved cannabis used for medical purposes (self-reported). As in previous years, the majority of cases (53%) involved ingestible cannabis liquid extracts (that is, ingestible cannabis oils and softgels).

However, when looking at only reports associated with legal products, 47% were associated with inhalation, while 46% were associated with oral consumption.

Three-quarters of these reports were considered serious. According to Health Canada, a “serious adverse reaction” is an adverse reaction that requires inpatient hospitalization or prolongation of existing hospitalization, causes congenital malformation, results in persistent or significant disability or incapacity, is life-threatening, or results in death.

The most commonly reported symptoms were headache, seizure, hallucination, trouble breathing, and drug effectiveness.

There was also one suspected case of vaping-associated lung injury (VALI) that was reported as involving a legal cannabis product in 2022.

There were two cases in 2022 associated with legal cannabis products that resulted in fatal outcomes, although one of these was connected to a case in 2021.

That case from 2021, also reported as part of 2022’s results, involved two cannabis vaping products “with other concomitant medications in a patient with complex medical history and several risk factors who experienced seizures which led to hospital admission then death.”

Health Canada notes that while the use of the cannabis vape may have caused an initial seizure in the patient, it was less likely to be the cause of death, which was most likely due to a staphylococcal infection, of which the source was the temporary hemodialysis line placed in the patient to address deteriorating kidney function.

The second fatal case report received in 2022 was connected to a single ingestible cannabis oil product used for medical purposes, with an authorization, to treat symptoms related to arthralgia (joint stiffness). Health Canada notes that the individual had a complex medical history and was using multiple concomitant health medications in addition to the cannabis product, and assessed the event of seizure as “possibly related to the cannabis product while the outcome of death was assessed as unlikely.”

Ingestible oils most common cause of adverse reactions in two annual reports

December 22, 2022

Study finds inaccurate labelling on some cannabis oils in Ontario

June 9, 2024

Hospital visits for cannabis among older Ontarians were increasing even before legalization

May 22, 2024

BC provides updates to cannabis sampling rules

Written by David Brown on July 16, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers, Retail.

BC’s cannabis branch has provided updates on its cannabis sampling rules for cannabis marketing licensees.

The BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB) first updated its regulations in September 2023 to allow cannabis retail store licensees and their employees to accept samples from a federal licence holder.

In BC, a marketing licence authorizes the licensee to promote cannabis for the purpose of selling it in British Columbia. A federally licensed cannabis producer is required to have a marketing licence to promote their products in BC.

Cannabis Retail stores and Farmgate stores (PRS licensees), as well as Section 119 authorization holders, are no longer required to pay a nominal fee for product samples. They may now also share product samples they receive (from federal licence holders and marketing licensees) with other cannabis store licensees and authorization holders.

All licensees and authorization holders must also ensure they keep records relating to cannabis samples.

The newest updates to the province’s handbook for the marketing of non-medical cannabis in BC clarify that the amount of cannabis in the cannabis sample may not exceed 3.5 grams of dried cannabis or the equivalent amount per class of cannabis. This is the equivalent of one gram of cannabis extracts or three cannabis seeds.

However, an exception applies if the class of cannabis is not available in 3.5 g or less of dried cannabis or an equivalent amount. In that case, the smallest available amount of the class of cannabis may be provided as a sample.

A marketing licensee cannot provide cannabis samples to non-licensees such as patrons and members of the public.

A marketing licensee must keep records respecting cannabis samples received from a federal licence holder that contain the following information:

the unique excise tax identifier from the original packaging of the cannabis sample;
the LDB SKU for the cannabis that the sample is from that is registered under the Cannabis Distribution Act;
the date the licensee received the cannabis sample;
the name and licence number of the federal licence holder that provided the cannabis sample to the marketing licensee;
the amount of cannabis for each class of cannabis product in the sample received

A marketing licensee must also keep records respecting cannabis samples provided to another licensee that contain the following information:

the unique excise tax identifier from the original packaging of the cannabis sample;
the LDB SKU for the cannabis that the sample is from that is registered under the Cannabis Distribution Act;
the date the licensee provided the cannabis sample;
the name and licence number of the non-medical cannabis retail store licensee that received the cannabis sample;
the amount of cannabis for each class of cannabis product in the sample provided

A marketing licensee may possess cannabis samples if:

the cannabis sample was supplied to the marketing licensee by a federal licence holder of a cultivation or processing licence;
the marketing licensee is authorized under the Cannabis Act (Canada); and
the cannabis sample is from cannabis registered under the Cannabis Distribution Act.

A marketing licensee may supply cannabis samples to non-medical cannabis retail store licensees for no consideration if the cannabis meets the following requirements:

the supply of the cannabis sample by the marketing licensee is authorized under the Cannabis Act (Canada);
the cannabis sample was previously supplied, for no consideration, to the marketing licensee by a federal licence holder of a cultivation or processing licence; and
the cannabis sample is from cannabis that is registered under the Cannabis Distribution Act.

A marketing licensee who offers or gives, or agrees to offer or give, a cannabis sample, for no consideration, to a licensee or an employee of a licensee is exempt from provincial rules about offering or providing inducements in respect of that offer, gift or agreement as long as the amount of cannabis in the sample does not exceed the maximum amount specified by the general manager for the class of cannabis product in the sample.

The same applies to a marketing licensee who requests, accepts or agrees to accept a cannabis sample, for no consideration, from a federal licence holder of a licence for cultivation or a licence for processing. They are also exempt from provincial rules against requesting or accepting inducements in respect of that request, acceptance or agreement as long as the amount of cannabis in the sample does not exceed the maximum amount specified by the general manager for the class of cannabis product in the sample.

Cannabis producers can now provide samples to cannabis stores in BC

September 25, 2023

Alberta makes changes to cannabis sampling rules, event sales, and more

January 31, 2024

New cannabis patio opens in Mission, BC

June 16, 2024

SNDL to lay off 106 employees as part of restructuring

Written by Sarah Clark on July 16, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Producers.

SNDL Inc. announced an $11 million “restructuring” that includes laying off 106 full-time employees.

The Calgary-based company announced the move on July 16, saying it aims to reduce corporate overhead and improve the efficiency of its organizational structure. SNDL says the process is expected to provide over $20 million in annualized cost savings but will require a “one-time investment” of $11 million over the next 18 months.

As part of these operational adjustments, SNDL is consolidating its cannabis businesses into a single unit under the leadership of Tyler Robson, who has been president of SNDL since January 2023. The consolidation, argues SNDL, is intended to enhance efficiency, improve alignment, and improve process speed within the company’s vertical model.

“This restructuring project and segment consolidation are critical steps in our journey towards better capital deployment, improved agility, focus, and profitability, and will free up resources to invest in profitable growth opportunities,” said Zachary George, Chief Executive Officer of SNDL. “We are committed to enhancing our organizational effectiveness by streamlining processes while leveraging technology and automation.”

SNDL says it expects to achieve most of the anticipated annualized savings by mid-2025, while starting to capture some of the opportunities as early as Q3 2024.

SNDL has been aggressively acquiring other companies through processes like debt acquisition.

On July 5, SNDL announced it had completed its acquisition of the principal indebtedness of Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. from Connect First and Servus Credit Union Ltd. On the same day, the company announced it had entered into a stalking horse purchase agreement for Indiva Limited’s business and assets. In March it announced it was acquiring four Dutch Love cannabis stores.

In May, the Alberta company reported its first profitable quarter for cannabis production, but increased losses for retail. Although these figures represent growth compared to the same quarter in 2023, the company still reported a $1 million loss on its retail operation, up from a $78,000 loss in Q1 2023.

SNDL’s cannabis retail wing consists of its 63% ownership interest in Nova Cannabis Inc., which operates 188 locations under four retail banners: Value Buds, Spiritleaf, Superette, and Firesale Cannabis. These 188 locations represent the largest holding of private retail cannabis stores in Canada, although this is only 9% of all retail stores in Canada.

As of May 9, 2024, there are 84 Spiritleaf locations in Canada (20 corporate stores and 64 franchise stores), four Superette stores, one Firesale store, and 99 Value Buds locations. The majority of these stores are in Alberta and Ontario.

SNDL/Nova’s “proprietary data licensing program” generated $3.5 million in revenue in the first three months of 2024, an increase of 139% from the same period in the year prior. The data licensing program generated $12.3 million in revenue in 2023, compared to $4.2 million in 2022, a 193% increase year-over-year.

The company has seen such growth in this program with its retail cannabis locations that it has expanded the program into its liquor retail segment.

In addition to owning the largest number of cannabis stores in Canada, SNDL is Canada’s largest private-sector liquor retailer, operating 171 locations, mainly in Alberta, under its three retail banners: Wine and Beyond, Liquor Depot, and Ace Liquor.

The company also announced around 85 layoffs in a 2023 restructuring, part of a plan to cut labour and operational costs by nearly $9 million.

Delta 9 receives CCAA protection, enters into agreement with FIKA following “aggressive” SNDL move

Written by Sarah Clark on July 15, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Manitoba, Producers.

Manitoba-based Delta 9 Cannabis announced on July 15 that it had received an initial order for creditor protection.

In a press release, the company stated that obtaining CCAA protection is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, especially in light of recent “aggressive” actions by its creditors, namely recent demand notices from SNDL Inc. on May 21 and July 12 and SNDL’s recent acquisition of all the Company’s senior secured debt for $21 million.

According to SNDL, the total purchased indebtedness brings Delta 9’s total indebtedness owing to SNDL to more than $40 million, making SNDL Delta 9’s senior creditor.

The Initial Order provides for a 10-day stay of creditor claims and proceedings in respect of Delta 9 and its subsidiaries, Delta 9 Logistics Inc., Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc., Delta 9 Lifestyle Cannabis Clinic Inc., and Delta 9 Cannabis Store Inc.

As part of that announcement, Delta 9 also shared that it has entered into a binding term sheet for The FIKA Company to act as a plan sponsor to the CCAA proceedings. Through this process, FIKA would acquire Delta 9’s retail cannabis and distribution business while also assisting with a sale and investment solicitation process for the assets of the licensed cannabis production business. In exchange, Delta 9 would receive equity in FIKA.

FIKA will participate in and fund the costs of Delta 9’s CCAA proceedings through interim financing, and present one or more plans of compromise or arrangements to Delta 9’s creditors.

“We are pleased to have entered into the Plan Sponsor Term Sheet with FIKA in a series of transactions which we believe will maximize value for our stakeholders, shareholders, and creditors,” said John Arbuthnot, CEO of Delta 9. “We appreciate the hard work of all of Delta 9’s employees, management, executive, and board of directors over the past twelve years to help create what has been an incredible growth story for Delta 9. We look forward to working with FIKA through the restructuring process to unlock the value of Delta 9’s assets for stakeholders, and to create the next chapter of growth for Delta 9.”

FIKA will provide up to $3 million to fund the costs of the CCAA proceedings and up to $13 million to repay the secured obligations owing to SNDL Inc.

In an interview in May, Arbuthnot said he did not believe the company was in default.

Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. brought in $16.5 million in net revenue in its most recent quarterly report in May from its retail and wholesale cannabis businesses but reported a net income loss of nearly $5 million.

Delta 9 operates 41 retail locations, 21 under the Delta 9 brand and another 20 retail cannabis stores under the Discounted Cannabis, Uncle Sam’s Cannabis, and Garden Variety brands.

Delta 9’s sales of merchandise and cannabis devices accounted for another $345,955 in revenue, along with $83,392 from B2B sales. It paid $583,235 in excise, up from $454,339 in the previous quarter and $589,267 in the same quarter in 2023.

Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc.

April 2, 2020

Winnipeg’s Delta 9 Cannabis to “temporarily” lay off approximately 40 staff in cost-cutting move

January 9, 2023

Delta 9 receives CCAA protection, enters into agreement with FIKA following “aggressive” SNDL move

July 15, 2024

Week in Weed – July 13, 2024

Written by Staff on July 13, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

Our biggest story last week was the release of a preliminary report from Israel on allegations of product dumping by Canadian cannabis companies.

In Ontario, the OCS shortened payment processing timelines for flow-through products, and a fire at JC Green is estimated to have caused several million dollars in damage.

We spoke with Calgary retailer Chinook Cannabis about their mobile cannabis lounge, The Garden, which was in its third year at the Badlands Music Festival in Calgary before making its way to the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival in Edmonton from July 12-14, in partnership with Plantlife Cannabis.

We also spoke with micro processors who say they are excited by a proposed increase in how much cannabis they can process, and we took a look at the recent increase in the volume of medical cannabis products supplied in New Zealand.

In other cannabis news

Burlington’s first legal cannabis store, Relm Cannabis, reopened in April after a nearly four-month closure due to a burst pipe.

The co-founder of WeedMD (now Entourage Health) was ordered to pay $350,000 for disclosing confidential information about the company’s expansion plan to a friend, who then engaged in insider trading.

Nova Cannabis Inc. announced the opening of its 100th location, Value Buds Belmont, in Edmonton, Alberta. The chain has locations in Ontario, Alberta, and BC.

A new cannabis store has opened in North Vancouver.

The owner of True North Cannabis in Cambridge, Ontario, tells local media they are frustrated by the lack of enforcement against unlicensed stores. In March 2024, an OPP-led coalition of police was given $31 million over three years to crack down on these unregulated stores.

Tilray released the results of a study showing the effectiveness of medical cannabis for people over 50.

Active Canadian hemp licenses declined for the third year in a row from a peak in 2020, reports MJBiz.

In addition to our coverage above, local media spoke with Plantlife Cannabis about their licence to sell cannabis at a festival, one of the first of its kind in Canada.

A neuroimaging study shows differences in brain activity between cannabis users and non-users during cognitive tasks that involve switching behaviour based on changing task requirements. Cannabis users exhibited weaker neural responses during these switches compared to nonusers, although both groups performed equally well on the tasks.

Ohio-based Cannabix Technologies Inc., with locations in Ontario and BC, reports that early testing by Omega Laboratories Inc. has established a delta-9 THC calibration curve for the purpose of quantification. This is using Omega’s preexisting and well-established extraction and detection processes for a cannabis breathalyzer.

A man has been charged with the armed robbery of a CannabisNB on June 17. He’s accused of stealing more than $5,000 worth of money and product from a Cannabis NB location in Riverview on two occasions.

US and Canadian law enforcement officials seized 123 kg of cannabis in Montreal.

Red Deer RCMP recovered $19,000 worth of cannabis stolen from a local store, and

a man from Moncton, New Brunswick, has received a $3,250 fine for selling cannabis without a licence after recently entering a guilty plea.

International cannabis news

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) issued three infringement notices totalling $56,340 to News Life Media Pty Ltd for alleged unlawful advertising of medicinal cannabis on their lifestyle website Body+Soul.

Cannabis advocates in Thailand protested a proposal to ban the general use of cannabis.

Finally, coverage of the challenges of Germany’s legalization effort continues, but the country’s first “social club” has been approved.

Preliminary report: Israel might apply import fees on Canadian cannabis

Written by David Brown on July 10, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International, Producers, Products.

The Israeli Government has released its preliminary decision regarding accusations that Canadian cannabis companies are dumping low-cost cannabis products in the Israeli medical cannabis market.

The preliminary findings have determined a fair price and profit margin for Canadian companies selling cannabis into the Israeli market. A final version of the report, with finalized recommendations, is expected later this year.

The commissioner has decided against imposing a temporary guarantee of any levies and will provide his final recommendations on the matter in the investigation’s final findings.

The investigation was announced in January 2024 by the Commissioner for Trade Levies at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, Danny Tal.

These products, determined Tal’s report, were sold at lower prices that, he argues, do not reflect the normal course of business and at prices that are lower than production costs or from their prices in the Israeli market, especially given the additional costs of exporting cannabis from Canada.

*An example of some of the Canadian cannabis products available in the Israeli market*.

Many Israeli cannabis companies told the investigators that they were forced to sell products at or below cost due to competition with lower-priced Canadian cannabis. Producers also said they were forced to destroy large amounts of cannabis they could not sell, in part due to these imports.

Cannabis Magazine, an online publication in Israel, says that many Israeli medical patients have preferred Canadian cannabis because it is seen as a higher quality than locally-produced products. However, the report also notes that the quality of cannabis from licensed Israeli companies has improved in recent years.

Israel imported 78,394 kg of cannabis from 2020-2023, with 62,345 kg coming from Canada, or about 80%. Other countries of origin were Portugal, Uruguay, and Uganda.

The investigation looked into all Canadian cannabis companies selling products into the Israeli market. They specifically visited Organigram, Decibel, and Pure Sunfarms who welcomed investigators to look closer at their facilities and books.

Once the investigators determined an accepted price and an export price per gram of cannabis, the commissioner calculated overflow rates in the complaint products for each of the three companies that cooperated with the investigation and for the rest of Canada.

Based on these factors, the investigator determined that these companies are entitled to an 8% profit on products sold into their local market. The investigation also determined that a fair price for Canadian cannabis sold into the Israeli market was about $2-8 a gram (in Canadian dollars).

Based on investigations into Canadian production costs, including packaging and shipping, as well as additional export costs, the commissioner recommends a floating levy or tariff of 63% for Decibel, 74% for Pure Sunfarms, 112% for Organigram, and 369% for all other producers.

The preliminary report states that the commission will also submit a report on its findings to the World Trade Organization.

*All prices in CAD unless otherwise noted*

The floating prices exist, explains a notice by the commissioner (Translated), “when the foreign producer exports the goods at prices lower than their production costs or their price in the country of origin. Such imports are defined in the World Trade Organization as “unfair trade” and according to the WTO’s Export Convention, the country may protect its domestic market in such cases by imposing an export levy, which compares the import price to the price that reflects fair competition.”

“Sales at floating prices,” it continues, “may arise in cases where the foreign manufacturer suffers from excess inventory that is not sold in his local market alongside a limited validity of the goods that affects his ability to store unsold production surpluses, or in cases where he wishes to capture market share in the importing country even at the cost of a continuous damage to his profitability due to long-term considerations, range of penetration and establishment of its activity in foreign markets.”

The report found that Organigram exported about 5,000-1,000 kg of cannabis flower to Israel in 2023. The investigator determined that a fair price for their products on the market was NIS$10-20, or about CAD$3.75-$7.50 per gram. NIS is the new Israeli Shekel.

The investigator found an acceptable price for Decibel’s products in the Israeli market was also about NIS$10-20. Pure Sunfarms’ products were determined to be about NIS$5-15 per gram, or CAD$2-6.

Another recent report shows that the use of medical cannabis in Israel has been declining in the last six months. A similar trend has been emerging in Canada.

The report notes that the Israeli market faces similar challenges to the Canadian market and others around the world, dealing with market contraction after an initial rush, over-supply, and other issues.

Many Canadian companies have touted their export sales to countries like Israel as a way to command a better price than in the domestic market and deal with the large volume of product in their vaults.

Despite the increased costs associated with exports, which include special approvals and certifications, producers can often find better payment terms in the export market than selling into provincial markets, where payments can take weeks or even months.

Stay tuned to StratCann for more on this issue as it evolves.

Israel opens “anti-dumping” investigation into cannabis imports from Canada

January 26, 2024

Canada’s legalization framework serves as roadmap for Israel and other nations

April 3, 2021

Canadian cannabis companies increasingly exploring export market

June 14, 2023

OCS shortens payment processing timelines for Flow-Through products

Written by David Brown on July 9, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario.

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) is reducing its payment processing timelines for products sold through its Flow-Through ordering program.

Beginning July 9, the OCS will adjust its payment terms for products sold through this program to “approximately” 15 days, where possible. The OCS’ standard payment term for products is up to 60 days.

The provincial cannabis agency says the change will better support producers by giving them quicker access to cash. This builds on previous changes to payment terms for products sold through its central warehousing system.

Ontario announced its Flow-Through program in 2021. The program allows retailers to order products not stocked in the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) warehouse and has been undergoing a long development phase, from working with just a handful of suppliers to opening the program up to more widespread industry use.

Retailers can order products from Flow-Through that are not normally available through its central distribution warehouse, providing retailers with access to more unique products or even white-label products.

Provinces can often have different payment terms for products sold through their jurisdiction, which can sometimes take several weeks or even months. Such payment terms can be challenging, especially for smaller producers with less available capital than publicly traded companies. Provinces may also apply additional fees and taxes for products sold in their markets.

BC announces cannabis policy changes aimed at helping industry

April 12, 2023

Processing the pain: Financial disputes in a tight cannabis market

October 23, 2023

Much more needed than just a change to tax payment timeline

November 8, 2022

Fire at JC Green Cannabis in Ontario

Written by Staff on July 9, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Ontario, Producers.

A reported explosion and fire at a cannabis facility near London, Ontario, took over an hour to get under control the night of Monday, June 8, reports the London Fire Department.

According to local media, the London Fire Department was on scene around 7:30 PM responding to the active incident. The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office has been called to investigate.

The cause is unknown at this point in the investigation, but CTV reports damages are over $1 million. A company representative tells StratCann that everyone is okay and that they expect to release an official statement in the coming days.

The JC Green facility is located in the former Leesboro Central School in Thorndale, Ontario. Recent social media posts show plants being moved into a field at the facility. The company also grows indoors.

StratCann will provide more information on this story as it evolves.

Update: On July 10, CTV News reported damage was estimated at $5 million.

Updated: On July 12, Rob O’Neill, CEO of JC Green says the fire was caused when an ignition source ignited a fuel source in or around their extraction facility. He adds that there are no charges, fines or orders issued to the company and the company is now in the process of rebuilding the damaged facility. No timeline is yet available when the company will be returned to 100% capacity.

O’Neill adds that there was a “minimal impact” on their outdoor crop and JC Green was recently licensed for an additional 10-acre field, with planting beginning immediately.

“Indoor cultivation was in the dark for a period of time with plants in all stages, we quickly got some emergency systems in place to limp by, power will be restored today, and we will evaluate over the coming weeks,” he adds. “As of now we have not lost anything.

“Assessments are ongoing for finished product loss. Operations will carry on at a limited capacity and expect to be shipping product again in the coming days to weeks.”

“More details will be available when the Fire Marshal’s report is completed,” he continues. “I’m very proud of our dedicated staff members who were on site at the time, they followed procedures and took the correct preclusions to avoid injuries. I’m also very pleased with our senior staff who have assisted in the investigation to get us to the point that the building has been turned back over to JC Green.

“Damages have been limited to a portion of our building related to extraction, processing and product/material storage. Health Canada and the CRA have been contacted to assist in the handling and destruction of damaged cannabis products and ensure we are fully compliant.

“Our insurance company has assembled a team that is working hard to get JC Green back to full capacity. We are thankful to our provincial partners and distributors who have all been reaching out in support as we will have intermittent supply issues of certain products for a period of time. We are in the midst of expanding our facility as well as now rebuilding the damaged space and will return to full capacity and increased capacity in very short order.”

Active Incident – Mutual Aid – Thames Centre – Structure Fire – Evelyn Dr.

LFD on scene assisting Thames Centre with a structure fire involving a cannabis growing facility. Truck 7 deployed for aerial operations. #ldnont pic.twitter.com/hnIYUTDFyU
— London Fire Department (@LdnOntFire) July 9, 2024

Expanding micro processing can benefit all micros

Written by David Brown on July 9, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Micro, Producers.

While some micro cultivators have said they see little need for an expanded canopy, some micro processors say they believe the changes could benefit smaller craft producers.

Kayla Mann, CPA at Habitat Life, a micro cultivator and micro processor in BC, says she sees the changes as especially positive for micro processors and great for micro cultivators, who will have more processors to choose from.

In a previous article, we spoke with several micro cultivators who said they were surprised by Health Canada’s recently proposed changes to micro licensing, which would allow the maximum canopy space to increase from 200 m2 to 800 m2. While some micro cultivators told StratCann they could see expanding their space, limitations like funding or zoning stood in the way.

“This gives us the opportunity to become a more formal processor and bring product in, not just processing our own.”
Kayla Mann, Habitat Life

Mann explains that Habitat Life grows, packages, and distributes its own products under its own brand. She says she understands the concerns from a cultivator standpoint. But for Habitat, being able to expand its processing space under its existing micro licence means it could begin processing for other micro cultivators, potentially even contracting out some of its unique genetics.

Through this process, she explains, Habitat could address its own financial hurdles in expanding its canopy by generating more cash flow on the processing side. She says this could also give the numerous stand-alone cultivators more options when choosing who to use as a processor, ideally giving them more leverage on price and terms.

“This gives us the opportunity to become a more formal processor and bring product in, not just processing our own,” explains Mann. “Cash flow is one of the biggest issues facing the industry for smaller companies, especially if one’s focus is on domestic consumers sales, falling within the payment terms of each province.”

She also says she understands concerns that making micros four times bigger can compromise the integrity of a small craft-style facility. However, she feels the potential new limit of 800 m2 is still within the manageable scope of a small business and certainly still much smaller than many standard producers.

It’s also more cost-effective and manageable than building out a second micro, as some companies have done in recent years.

“I do think there’s a threshold of where craft can go, and I think the proposed changes are likely on the higher end of that, but it’s certainly manageable. For those who imagine growing something that big, I think this is the most cost-effective. The plants still need the same amount of care, so if you’re stretching yourself too far things can happen. But there are ways to address that while maintaining that quality.”

“It’s another size t-shirt for people to put on instead of just extra small or extra large.”
Jonathan Wilson, Crystal Cure

Jonathan Wilson, CEO of Crystal Cure, a micro cultivator and micro processor in New Brunswick, thinks the proposed changes will help carve out a distinction between smaller craft growers that are larger than a micro but still much smaller than many other standard producers who can have a significantly larger canopy.

Wilson explains that the ideal would be a third licence category right in the middle of micro and standard, but he thinks the proposed changes are at least a good step in that direction.

He compares it to the beer industry in New Brunswick, where there are local micro breweries, somewhat larger craft breweries, and then standard large-scale breweries. While the micro breweries have a very limited capacity that allows them to stay mom-and-pop businesses, the craft designation allows a company to still build a brand based on a “craft” style quality but expand it in ways that can benefit from more efficiencies of scale, all without compromising quality.

“I believe in the true micro, the mom-and-pop,” says Wilson. “When you start to get up to 800 metres squared, that’s necessarily a micro. I agree. But this, to me, opens up the possibility of having maybe three licence classes, I hope.

“We know that some micros are going to say they cannot afford to go there, don’t want to go there, don’t have the demand to go there, and that’s fine. But this gives a chance for those who do want to get just a little bit bigger, they can do that.”

“It’s another size t-shirt for people to put on instead of just extra small or extra large.”

Crystal Cure was first licensed as a standard producer, explains Wilson. In 2023, the company announced it had downgraded its cultivation and processing to micro licences. The company had initially developed business plans for a much larger facility, but by the time it found itself licensed in mid-2019, the market had already begun to pivot to more modest expectations.

*The team at Crystal Cure showing off their farmgate licence*

Scaling down to a micro licence not only allowed them to save money on annual licensing fees but better reflected how small the operation actually was, and still is. But with the proposed canopy and processing increase, Wilson says he can see beginning to slowly build up to something a little larger.

Like Mann at Habitat, he says expanding under their current licence, rather than getting a second micro, will be a more efficient way to build the company and brand.

“The timing is actually great for us. We were talking about building another micro and expanding Crystal Cure, but now if this changes where we can grow more under our existing licence, then there’s no need to go and build two other buildings until we maximize these.”

Featured image shows the inside of Habitat’s current processing space as they package dried flower.

2023’s tough year in cannabis

April 3, 2023

Micro licences continue to grow in popularity

December 12, 2022

Micro cultivators, processors and nurseries give their thoughts on regulatory changes

December 21, 2020

Week in Weed – July 6, 2024

Written by Staff on July 6, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This past week at StratCann, we spoke with the industry about proposed regulatory changes, discussing what the government got right and what is missing the mark. We also looked at the five companies now offering cannabis distribution in Manitoba.

We also broke the story of MediPharm’s plans to close Canna Farms’ facility in BC and move its medical sales to Ontario. On Canada Day, we dropped our newest monthly Cannabis Industry Jobs update.

Lastly, this week, our newest company profile features BC’s Fort 20 Farms, a newer micro cultivator with products for sale in BC.

In other cannabis news…

SNDL Inc. announced that it completed the acquisition of the principal indebtedness of Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. from Connect First and Servus Credit Union Ltd. for a purchase price of $28,138,284. As a result, SNDL has become Delta 9’s senior secured creditor with a first-priority security interest in all of the assets of Delta 9 and certain Delta 9 subsidiaries. The Purchased Indebtedness brings Delta 9’s total indebtedness owing to SNDL to $40,653,352.

SNDL Inc. also announced that it had entered into an agreement to offer to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of Indiva and the business and assets of the Indiva Group. The Bid Agreement has been entered into in the context of Indiva’s CCAA proceedings as part of a sales process where the Indiva Assets will be marketed to prospective purchasers.

The Ontario government has told four of its largest provincial agencies, including the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), to allocate 25% of their annual advertising spending to Ontario publishers. StratCann has reached out to the OCS for more information on their past annual advertising expenditures for context. We’ll share that with our readers when the OCS can respond.

Health Canada is hosting a hybrid meeting on July 10 with representatives from several cannabis industry associations discussing various updates from Health Canada on topics such as licensing, compliance, medical access, cannabis inspections, legislative changes, and more. It will include members of AQIC, C3, C-45, Craft Cannabis BC and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Village Farms International, the parent company of Pure Sunfarms, is listed as the 95th largest business in BC by revenue on their performance for the 2023 fiscal year, according to BCBusiness.

The Canadian Cannabis Spot Index was assessed at $4.50 per gram this week, or $3.37 after excise taxes are subtracted, down from last week’s C$4.56 per gram, according to Cannabis Benchmarks.

PEI Cannabis wishes those attending the Cavendish Beach Music Festival this weekend to have fun and be safe. Unfortunately, that safe fun can’t include smoking or vaping cannabis, as the festival website notes that smoking is not allowed due to provincial regulations.

The City of Kawartha Lakes OPP seized 56 cannabis plants growing outdoors. One male was arrested and charged under the Cannabis Act.

International cannabis news

A Canadian woman admitted that she smuggled almost $1.8 million of cannabis into Bermuda. No quantity of cannabis was noted in news reports, just a dollar value.

Collective cannabis growing clubs were allowed to begin in Germany on July 1 formally, but confusion around licensing, regulations and other aspects of the new laws continue to be a challenge.

A federal judge in the US dismissed a lawsuit by several Massachusetts cannabis businesses who argued that the federal prohibition on cannabis is unconstitutional, saying only the US Supreme Court could overturn its 2005 ruling upholding the law.

A move to legalize medical cannabis in North Carolina appears to have died on the vine after the state House of Representatives did not take up the bill.

However, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council in the same state voted to allow the sale of cannabis, opening the door for North Carolina’s first recreational cannabis dispensary to open by the end of the summer, despite being illegal there.

Finally, one in four admissions to adult mental health ward in 2023 on Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, was likely to be linked to cannabis use, a report has found. The figures are based on “clinical judgement,” which means there could be other contributing factors, but doctors think it is more likely to be linked to cannabis than not, reports the BBC.

Five private cannabis distributors now fully licensed by Manitoba’s LGCA

Written by David Brown on July 4, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Manitoba, Producers.

Manitoba has several private cannabis distributors now available for producers selling into the market and looking for an alternative to direct-to-retail shipping or cross-docking.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL) began seeking new applicants to offer cannabis distribution services in Manitoba in late 2023. This past February, the MBLL announced five companies that had successfully applied to participate.

Those five companies, Delta 9 Logistics, Open Fields Distribution, Maqabim Distributors, 100 LBS, and Lineage Distribution, have now passed the second stage of licensing and been issued their Cannabis Distributor License from the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA).

“[Cross-docking] just kind of saved a couple bucks on shipping, but in some cases actually increased lead-time because you now had to wait for orders to pile up before you ship it out.”
Graham Taylor, Lineage Distribution

The first four licences were announced on June 20, while the most recent, Lineage Distribution, was issued its licence on July 3. Prior to this, the province’s cannabis operations launched a pilot project for cross-docking services with four distributors with a goal of decreasing lead times for shipments into the province and improving supplier access to small, rural, and remote retailers.

Graham Taylor, the president of Lineage Distribution, says cross-docking was well-intentioned but didn’t really solve the issue of getting products to retailers faster and more efficiently. Cross-docking is a method of distribution in which goods are received and stored on a short-term basis before being consolidated and sent to retailers.

“That really didn’t solve the biggest headaches that suppliers and retailers were both feeling, which is really poor lead times,” says Taylor. “That just kind of saved a couple bucks on shipping, but in some cases actually increased lead-time because you now had to wait for orders to pile up before you ship it out.”

Now, he explains, companies have the option of more long-term storage to better meet market demands for companies unable or uninterested in shipping individual orders to multiple retailers. Manitoba is one of the few provinces without a centralized warehouse or distribution system, instead allowing producers to ship directly to retailers.

He explains that some companies, like Lineage, had previously operated as distributors by storing products under a federal production licence. However, the new licence allows the province to more directly regulate and oversee the process through the MBLL and LGCA. Lineage also offers distribution in four other provinces.

“The original intent of this is to help bring in the best of the best… for all the independent retailers in Manitoba.”
Sean Stewart, Hundred Pound Hauling

Another benefit of going through a distributor vs. direct-to-retailer, adds Taylor, is that it can provide better inventory management in the province to ensure retailers have consistent access to products.

Sean Stewart, the founder of Hundred Pound Hauling (100 LB), which also has a distribution licence from the LGCA, says his team is taking a different approach to distribution by focusing on unique, exclusive products that can supply his own AAAAA Supercraft Cannabis stores, with two locations in the province, as well as other independent retailers in Manitoba.

Stewart says he sees this approach as similar to the legacy cannabis market, where only certain growers or cultivars could be found at certain stores, or in the clothing or sneaker worlds with unique, limited-edition products that can only be found in specific stores.

“The original intent of this is to help bring in the best of the best, not just for Supercraft, but all the independent retailers in Manitoba,” he explains. “I really want to try to give those advantages to those in the know. We’re hand-picking products, and we’re working with producers to create new formats and unique price strategies that are unique for Manitoba.

Manitoba currently has 206 private retail cannabis stores, 124 of which are in Winnipeg.

In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, Manitoba’s cannabis operations earned a comprehensive income of $31.3 million, a 27% increase from the year prior, or $6.7 million. Revenue generated by cannabis operations in 2022-2023 was $130.9 million, a 14% increase from the year prior, or $17 million.

The MBLL also recently told producers it is putting new rules in place to ensure cannabis sold in the province is fresher.

Featured image via Hundred Pound Hauling

MediPharm to close Canna Farms facility, move medical sales to Ontario

Written by David Brown on July 2, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Ontario, Producers.

Long-time BC cannabis producer Canna Farms is closing shop as its parent company shifts its medical platform to its Ontario facility.

MediPharm Labs, which took over ownership of Canna Farms as part of its 2023 acquisition of Vivo Cannabis, says the move will allow the company to source lower-cost products from other producers. Vivo had acquired Canna Farms in 2018.

The Canna Farms facility was one of a handful of companies to receive a commercial production licence in January 2014. It was also one of the first of these companies to post a profit while large pubcos continued to spend more than they brought in.

Keith Strachan, president of MediPharm Labs, tells StratCann that the decision to ramp down production at Canna Farms’ 47,000 sq ft. facility in Hope, BC, was made earlier this year. This decision reflects the declining price of cannabis and the small facility’s inability to compete with larger-scale growers, especially greenhouse growers.

“We slowly stopped cultivating there due to existing inventory and market conditions and just the ability to buy bulk flower at a better price than what we can grow it for,” explains Strachan.

Canna Farms’ primary business is direct-to-patient medical sales, he continues, which is why MediPharm has maintained Canna Farm’s licence, but says the final crop was planted in the facility earlier this year. In addition, in the company’s Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) for the three months ending March 31, 2024, posted in May of this year, it says that MediPharm had made the decision to begin to relocate Canna Farms’ direct-to-patient medical sales logistics to MediPharm’s Barrie facility.

In that same MDA, the company listed a cost of $323,000 related to “employee compensation for terminated employees and write-downs of the carrying value of inventory at the Hope Facility.”

Strachan says one of the challenges is the facility’s size, which was not small enough to keep its costs down and not big enough to compete at scale.

“There’s lots of great small, craft indoor growers who can fetch a premium price in Canada. And then there’s some great greenhouse and even outdoor growers that could sell a good product at a good price. And you can’t really be in the middle and that’s really where this facility ended up lying. It’s big enough that it wasn’t craft but not big enough that it had the ability to scale.”

Canna Farms’ Health Canada Cultivation and Medical Sales licences expire on December 14, 2027.

MediPharm’s “Barrie facility” is 70,000 sq. ft., and its Health Canada Standard Processing Licence expires September 28, 2026.

MediPharm Labs also operates out of its 29,000 sq. ft. EU GMP Napanee-Ontario facility.

As of September 30, 2023, MediPharm’s management was committed to selling the Vanluven Road facility in Nappanee, Ontario, and the Yale Road facility in Hope, British Columbia.

Featured image via Google Maps

Cannabis Jobs Update – July 2024

Written by Staff on July 1, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News.

Are you looking to work in Canada’s cannabis industry, or to find a new position? There are always many different positions available, from entry-level to executive, from cultivation to labs, from budtending to brand reps; there’s a plethora of pot jobs available at any given time.

Check out our July 2024 cannabis jobs roundup below for a brief snapshot of the many jobs currently available in Canada’s cannabis industry.

The OCS is looking to hire for several positions, including a Social Responsibility Analyst and a Digital Merchandising Specialist, as well as a Social Media Manager and Senior Financial Analyst.

High Tide, Canna Cabana’s parent company, is looking to hire an E-Commerce Specialist. Canna Cabana is also looking to fill many retail positions at locations in several provinces.

Cannara Biotech Inc. in Quebec is hiring for several positions, including a Refrigeration Engineer, a Quality Assurance Associate, an Accounting technician, an Evening Packing Attendant, and an Electromechanic.

Cannabis producer Greentone is hiring a Chargé de projects in Quebec and a Territory Sales Rep in Toronto (remote)

Inspired Cannabis is hiring full-time and part-time budtenders and managers for several locations in BC and Ontario.

Aurora Cannabis currently lists more than a dozen open positions ranging from Total Rewards Specialist and Production Associate to Senior Legal Counsel and Senior Manager.

Decibel Cannabis Company is hiring a Key Account Manager for eastern Canada.

Cronos is hiring for several jobs: three operations positions at its Stayner, Ontario facility, a Sensory Sciences Specialist for its R&D facility in Toronto, a head of Sales in Israel, and a Territory Manager for Vancouver Island.

A Circle K in Brampton, ON is hiring a Cannabis Store Manager.

Fika is hiring a Lead Educator for a retail store in Kitchener, Ontario.

BC’s Pure Sunfarms is hiring a VP of International Business Development, along with several other positions.

Motif Labs is hiring a Packaging Associate in Aylmer, ON.

Gage Cannabis is hiring an Assistant Manager in Toronto.

Cannabis NB is hiring a Store Manager in downtown Fredericton and Cambellton and Customer Experience Representatives in several locations across the province.

Hive Cannabis is hiring a Cannabis Sales Associate in Fort St John, BC, and a part-time Sales Associate in Port Alberni, BC.

The Herbary in Yukon is hiring full and part-time retail clerks.

Adastra is seeking a National Key Account Manager and a Quality Assurance Manager (QAP) in Langley, BC.

You can see some of our past monthly cannabis job listings below.

Cannabis Jobs Update – June 2024

June 3, 2024

Cannabis Jobs Update – May 2024

May 6, 2024

Cannabis Jobs Update – April 2024

April 2, 2024

Week in Weed – June 29, 2024

Written by Staff on June 29, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This past week, we looked at record-low cannabis-related reports to Ontario’s Ombudsman and Manitoba’s announcement of its new cannabis product freshness criteria. The OCS also made a promising move by announcing plans to provide sales data to producers, a move highly welcomed by the industry.

New Brunswick’s ninth private retail store is coming soon to St. Andrews. Organigram announced plans to expand into the German cannabis market. Nova Scotia sold $121 million worth of cannabis in 2023, and several micro cultivators say they see no real need for an expanded canopy.

We also looked into Australia’s cannabis regulator issuing more than $600,000 in marketing fines. Police in Edmonton are still searching for two suspects in a cannabis store robbery, and CanadaBis reported a continued trend of profitability in their newest quarterly report.

In other Canadian cannabis news this past week

One of the big stories this week was a new study of blood tests taken from injured drivers at emergency departments across Canada that revealed that cannabis (16.6%) has now narrowly edged out alcohol (16%) as the most commonly detected single substance. While some media reports predictably sensationalized this report, UBC notes that in most cases the cannabis level was not high enough to indicate impairment and increased crash risk. Drunk driving remains a bigger problem in road safety and public health, notes UBC’s writeup on their research.

David Brough, CEO of Klonetics Plant Science, announced he was stepping down in a post on Linkedin.

Alberta’s Simply Solventless Concentrates Ltd. announced it entered into a share purchase agreement with Lifeist Wellness Inc. for the acquisition of all of the shares of CannMart Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lifeist and the brands Roilty and Zest Cannabis. CannMart Labs Inc., another of Lifeist’s subsidiaries, which is currently in Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) proceedings, is not involved in the Transactions.

UFCW’s BC Budtender’s Union held their Solidariweed 2024 event on June 15th, wowing the crowd with speakers like Jodie Giesz-Ramsay and Dana Larsen.

HYTN Innovations Inc. announced it has been granted a Drug Establishment License (DEL) by Health Canada. This license allows HYTN to engage in the GMP fabrication, packaging, and labeling of non-sterile pharmaceuticals containing both cannabis and psilocybin.

High Tide announced it intends to acquire a Cantopia location in Mississauga for $600,000. Cantopia lists four other locations under its brand, all in Ontario. The company also announced plans to open two Canna Cabana stores later this month in Alberta and Saskatchewan as well, High Tide’s 175th and 176th Canna Cabana locations in Canada.

A new research paper reports that medical cannabis use in Canada increased from 4% to 11% between 2014 and 2019, while recreational cannabis use increased from 9% to 15% between 2014 and 2019.

As we head into the long weekend, the Canadian Border Services Agency reminds people not to bring cannabis into or out of the country.

The Vancouver Sun ran a piece on BZAM’s sale of its facility in Midway, BC, to Christina Lake Cannabis, which was announced in 2023 and finalized months ago.

Pure Sunfarms launched its new ‘Trials by Pure Sunfarms’, offering consumers limited batch, ‘trial’ cultivars, for the first time, launched exclusively to consumers in Pure Sunfarms’ home market of British Columbia. The first small batch release is Trial No. 001 (Gas Face x Purple Kush), beginning July 1.

Ayurcann Holdings Corp. and Arogo Capital Acquisition Corporation announced they entered a definitive business combination agreement.

Law firm Miller Thomson LLP posted a good overview of some of Health Canada’s recently proposed regulatory changes. Remember to get your feedback to Health Canada by July 8!

Also, two were arrested, and cannabis was seized in Saint John, NB, and police in Quebec seized around 1,000 cannabis plants and 100 kg of cannabis in two raids.

International cannabis news

In the US, Kentucky announced it will open applications for the state’s medical cannabis business beginning July 1 as part of an accelerated push to have products available in early 2025. Qualifying patients can apply for medical cannabis cards starting January 1. The state initially will issue 48 dispensary licenses divided among 11 regions.

Brazil’s Supreme Court voted to decriminalize possession of cannabis for personal use, making the nation one of Latin America’s last to do so. The process began in 2015.

The NCAA lifted its ban on cannabis use for Division 1 athletes in championships.

And finally, Cannabis Europa was held June 25-26 in London. Prohibition Partners has some coverage here.

Cannabis-related complaints to Ontario’s Ombudsman lowest since legalization

Written by David Brown on June 28, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario, Retail.

Ontario’s Ombudsman reports a near-record number of complaints in its recent 2023-2024 report, but a record-low amount of issues related to the province’s cannabis industry.

The majority of cannabis-related cases heard by the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario were connected to the Ontario Cannabis Store, or OCS.

Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé’s ninth Annual Report, released on June 26, says the organization only heard six cases related to the OCS in 2023-2024, down from 18 in the previous year and 2,411 in the first year of legalization.

The Ombudsman’s report at the time said that most of these were quickly resolved, helping the OCS and its partners like Canada Post address “serious service gaps.”

In fiscal 2019-2020, following the first year of legalization, OCS-related complaints dropped significantly to just 49. In that same year, the Ontario Ombudsman also received 16 complaints related to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s (AGCO) process for granting licences, as well as other retail sales matters. The Ombudsman’s report says these were resolved by referral to the AGCO’s complaint and appeal processes.

In the following year, 2020-2021, Ontario’s Ombudsman heard 20 cases related to the OCS, and a case where a quorum of council for the Town of Pelham, Ontario, “decided over email not to accept a donation from a cannabis producer,” and that the “Ombudsman found this was wrong and contrary to law, as municipalities are only permitted to make decisions by by-law or resolution.”

Then, in 2021-2022, the organization heard 31 cases about the Ontario Cannabis Store, mostly customer service-related. One of these cases involved a woman who reached out to the Ombudsman after spending several weeks trying to get a refund for an OCS order she had placed that had been destroyed when a postal truck caught fire.

In 2022-2023, the Ombudsman’s office received 18 complaints about the Ontario Cannabis Store, and just six in 2023-2024, out of 27,030 complaints and inquiries total. Over half (57%) of these were addressed in two weeks or less. The Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario says this near-record total case volume is up 10% from the previous year and is among the office’s highest in decades—surpassed only by 2018-2019’s total of 27,419.

Ashley Bursey, manager of communications for the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario says that while the organization cannot reveal the details of any specific complaints due to confidentiality requirements, it often addresses cases related to the Ontario Cannabis Store in regard to delays, customer service, concerns about product quality, or billing issues. She also says that all six of cases mentioned in their most recent annual report have been closed.

“We receive relatively few complaints about the OCS each year, with the exception of 2018-2019, the year the OCS began online retail operations, where it was our single most-complained-about organization,” Bursey tells StratCann. “That year, we received 2,411 cases about the OCS and we established a dedicated team to triage and prioritize these complaints, working collaboratively with senior staff at OCS and the Ministry of Finance.

“Among the issues we identified (including delays, product quality concerns, and customer service issues) was a serious privacy breach involving Canada Post’s online tracking portal, which allowed anyone to see the name and address of an OCS customer if they had a tracking number; this was quickly rectified.”

Inside the world’s largest legal cannabis distribution centre

April 28, 2023

OCS bug gives some retailers early access

January 18, 2023

OCS continues to grow, with nearly $1.5 billion in wholesale sales in 2022-23

December 14, 2023

Manitoba announces new cannabis product freshness criteria

Written by David Brown on June 26, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Manitoba, Other, Producers, Retail.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL) is putting new rules in place to ensure cannabis sold in the province is fresher.

The provincial agency sent a notice to producers on June 26 informing them of new “product freshness criteria” coming into effect July 15 for cannabis flower, edibles, some extracts, and topicals.

As of that date, all cannabis flower, including infused flower products sold into the Manitoba market, must arrive at the retailer no later than nine months from the packaging date.

All edible cannabis products with no “best before” date must also arrive at the retailer no later than nine months from the packaging date. Those edibles with a “best before” date must arrive at the Retailer 60 calendar days or more prior to the Best Before date.

Cannabis topicals must also arrive at the Retailer no later than nine months from the packaging date, but cannabis extracts other than infused flower products will have no packaging date limitations.

Cannabis retailers in Manitoba will also be allowed to refuse delivery or return products that do not follow these new freshness rules. A credit will be issued to the retailer in such cases, at the supplier’s expense. Suppliers can choose to issue a credit in the case of a customer return.

The move from Manitoba comes as other provinces seek to manage a growing inventory of older products. Alberta’s AGLC announced it would be delisting more than 500 slow-moving SKUs in May. BC recently announced similar changes to its policies for accepting new products and storing existing products as the industry closes in on six years of operation.

Unlike most other provinces, Manitoba does not operate its own distribution centre for cannabis sold in its territory, but instead allows producers to ship directly to retailers. They have also recently begun licensing Cannabis Distributor Licenses to third parties offering distribution services. As of June 20, they have licensed four of these businesses.

Manitoba currently has 206 private retail cannabis stores, 124 of which are in Winnipeg.

BC LDB warehouse making changes to improve product freshness

May 17, 2024

AGLC delisting more than 500 cannabis SKUs

May 24, 2024

Why cannabis has no expiry date

May 10, 2021

Micros question proposed increase in canopy space

Written by David Brown on June 26, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government.

Health Canada recently proposed numerous changes to the federal cannabis regulations, including increasing capacity for micro cannabis cultivators and processors, as well as cannabis nurseries.

The industry’s response to these proposed changes has generally been positive. Many of the proposals will streamline specific aspects of the regulations, arguably saving industry and the regulator time and money. The proposal also contains some changes that are likely to benefit consumers, such as allowing more than one gram in a pre-roll or allowing view windows on some dried cannabis packaging.

The increase in the amount of space someone can grow cannabis under a micro cultivation limit is something many micro cultivation licence holders tell StratCann is not a priority, or even something they can afford to take advantage of.

This distills down to several key reasons, says Jeff Aubin of Smoker Farms, a micro cultivator in BC’s interior. The significant issues are the federal and provincial taxes and regulatory fees. But another issue is the challenges small growers like him face in balancing all the stops in the supply chain before their product reaches consumers, and the small portion of that total consumer price that they get to keep.

“It’s completely tone-deaf from the government to even think this is the problem that everybody is facing in the cannabis industry,” says Aubin. He says other micro growers he talks with echo the same sentiment.

“Nobody says ‘Oh I don’t have enough space to grow more weed’. No, it’s always the same. I’m being overtaxed and over regulated to death. And it’s completely unsustainable.”

Aubin says even if he could afford to build more, he likely won’t, noting that he is currently only using about 3/4s of his allowed 200m2, something many other micros tell StratCann as well.

“We’d love to increase the size of our footprint, but just the construction of a new building and the price of construction these days is so daunting compared with price compression of cannabis. Raising capital to expand four times is pretty extreme for a micro cultivator like ourselves.”
Kevin McBride, Kootenays Finest Craft Cannabis

Not all micros are entirely opposed to the change, though. Kevin McBride, the general manager and QAP at Kootenays Finest Craft Cannabis, another micro cultivator in BC’s interior, says he would consider expanding his footprint if he could afford it. However, he also says he would likely build a second micro facility rather than expand his existing footprint.

“It seems like a double edged sword,” says McBride. “We’d love to increase the size of our footprint, but just the construction of a new building and the price of construction these days is so daunting compared with price compression of cannabis. Raising capital to expand four times is pretty extreme for a micro cultivator like ourselves.”

*Kevin McBride, tends to his plants at Kootenays Finest Cannabis*

In addition, expanding that much would mean hiring more people to manage the extra grow space, or risk quality dropping, he continues.

“We’ve got about as much as we can handle here. For us to quadruple our staff, genetics, quadruple everything, I don’t think we could do it even if we wanted to. Not to mention the raising of the capitol to do that.

“If you think about micro, craft growers trying to be as hands-on as possible. Bigger isn’t always better. The bigger you are the more automated you are, the less hands on you are. The quality seems to go down. I don’t think bigger is always better with growing.”

Instead, McBride thinks the offering may be more about benefiting smaller and mid-sized standard cultivators who would gain from some lower fees by being classified as a micro.

“To me, this seems more of an offering to medium to smaller standard LPs to lighten their load as opposed to helping micros.”

“If they wanted to really help us, where’s the help on the excise tax?”

“Nobody says ‘Oh I don’t have enough space to grow more weed’. No, it’s always the same. I’m being overtaxed and over regulated to death. And it’s completely unsustainable.”
Jeff Aubin, Smoker Farms

Aubin at Smoker Farms agrees with the concerns about excise tax but adds that there are many other issues preventing growers like him from profiting, too.

“Excise is the number one thing on the tip of everyone’s tongue,” Aubin continues. “But it’s not just that, it’s provincial taxes and fees as well…So it’s not just the excise tax, it’s the provinces that are really greedy on it, too.

“The provinces are affecting us just as much as anything else. All these provinces have such different rules. There’s no standard when it comes to trying to get your product in a province and there’s no standard how much it’s going to cost, or when you get paid.”

*Josh Beckett inside his micro garden at Magi Cannabis*

Josh Beckett, the owner of Magi Cannabis on Salt Spring Island in BC, takes a similar view to McBride in that he sees the proposal as something more likely to benefit standard cultivators who are already operating within, or close to, the proposed 800m2 canopy, rather than helping micros like himself get bigger.

This is because micro cultivators pay a lower rate in terms of federal regulatory fees.

While micro cultivation, micro processing, and nursery licences pay an annual $2,500 regulatory fee to Health Canada, standard cultivation, standard-processing, and sale for medical purposes licences pay $23,000. And, while micros pay 1% of their revenues on sales up to $1 million (and 2.3% on any revenue over $1 million), standards pay a flat 2.3%.

“What is the benefit of having a micro that’s four times bigger? What does it matter? Why not just go for a standard licence, or would it be better to go for a second micro?
Josh Beckett, Magi Cannabis

Since the cost of adding four times as much cultivation space would be so high, especially with the added costs of construction (and nearly everything else) since COVID-19, he says he doesn’t think most micros will be expanding, but he does see some producers downsizing to a new larger “micro” licence.

“What is the benefit of having a micro that’s four times bigger?” asks Beckett. “What does it matter? Why not just go for a standard licence, or would it be better to go for a second micro? If you were going to quadruple space, wouldn’t it be better to go for another micro licence so you could take advantage of another $1 million of 1% instead of a 2.3% gross licensing fee?

“I’m trying to wrap my head around what the big advantage is here. What is the carrot they are throwing at us with this?”

The most significant current limit for his operation, explains Beckett, is that his location doesn’t allow him to draw more power that would enable him to expand even if he could afford to. Instead, he recently partnered with someone to build a second micro facility elsewhere on the island, an approach he says, like other growers, will be easier to manage as separate sites rather than one large grow.

That’s not to say all micro cultivators won’t look to expand, adds Beckett. But he doesn’t see a trend of any current micros wanting to expand, or even being able to afford to.

These factors, of course, are different for outdoor micro cultivators, who don’t have the same added infrastructure costs, as long as they have the land available to expand. Collier Quinton, co-founder & cultivation director at Weathered Islands Craft Cannabis, a micro and nursery licence holder on BC’s Texada Island, says if the rules come into force, they will consider expanding, but notes they will need to put in more security fencing and extensive work to prepare the land, including excavation, and installation of beds and drip lines.

Similar to other micros, with the current state of the market, he says it can be difficult to justify those expenses or find outside investors.

“We would take a serious look at it,” Quinton tells StratCann. “It makes a lot of sense, but this is also a challenging market and investing more money at this point in time needs to be seriously considered.”

New micros outpaced standard cannabis licences in 2023, while revocations of both increased

December 31, 2023

Health Canada proposes numerous, significant regulatory changes

June 7, 2024

Micro cannabis licences continue to increase across Canada

October 31, 2020

OCS plans to provide sales data to producers

Written by David Brown on June 25, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario, Retail.

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) says it plans to begin providing cannabis producers with more specific cannabis sales data, including access to store-specific information.

In an announcement posted on the OCS’ B2B platform on June 25, the Crown corporation says it will be offering its cannabis producer-partners “greater visibility into the specific authorized stores that are purchasing their products through the OCS,” which includes the types of products each of these stores order from OCS each day at the SKU-level and the number of units ordered from OCS by each retailer, by SKU, each day.

These are changes many Canadian cannabis producers have been asking provincial cannabis agencies, like the OCS, to provide for some time. Such figures will allow producers to better understand what products are selling better in what parts of the province, providing an opportunity for more targeted sales measures. Alberta and BC have provided similar data programs for producers/suppliers.

The OCS is gearing up to roll these changes out in the “coming months,” a development that will build upon the existing Supplier Data Program. This, in turn, will assist cannabis producers/suppliers with sales and operations planning, leading to improved inventory availability, fulfilment, and delivery service levels for Authorized Retail Stores.

The OCS offers two levels to its supplier data program. Level one allows OCS suppliers to access insight into their products’ sales performance across the province. A level two data subscription also provides access to more broad sales figures about other producer/supplier sales. These new changes would occur only under level one.

Suppliers will only receive detailed and specific SKU and store-level wholesale sales data for their own products. This information will only come from the OCS, not from any retailer point-of-sale metrics or retailer inventory data. Suppliers also cannot provide the store-level wholesale sales information from OCS with anyone outside of their organization.

The OCS is seeking industry feedback on the changes to its supplier data program through July 9, 2024.

Featured image via potguide.com

AGCO, OCS rolling out new POS data platform

August 2, 2023

“Data scraping” concerns some Ontario cannabis retailers

February 9, 2023

Inside the world’s largest legal cannabis distribution centre

April 28, 2023

Ninth private retail store coming to New Brunswick

Written by David Brown on June 24, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, New Brunswick, Retail.

Retail chain Cannabis Xpress says it plans to open its third store in New Brunswick soon, the first cannabis store in the small town of St. Andrews, located in the back of the historic Kennedy House Hotel.

The St. Andrews store will be the 17th Cannabis Xpress location in Canada, with the rest located in Ontario. It will also be the ninth private retail store in New Brunswick since the province began accepting applications in 2022.

The provincial government’s goal in adding private stores was to bring cannabis to smaller, under-served communities like St Andrews. Tenders were accepted for Blackville, Bouctouche, Caraquet, Chipman, Dalhousie, Grand Bay, Hampton, St. Andrews, Saint-Quentin, and Salisbury. The closest licensed cannabis store to St. Andrews is currently a thirty-minute drive.

The province currently operates 27 public Cannabis NB stores, up from 25 in March, plus its eight private stores and six farmgate stores, for a total of 41.

The province has also said bringing private retailers to these smaller communities will help compete with unlicensed stores that continue to operate there. The New Brunswick government also recently created new powers for inspection officers to handle such stores. However, it maintains that it cannot enforce its cannabis regulations and laws on First Nations lands.

The owner of Cannabis Xpress, Chris Jones, says his company will continue to apply for new licences as they become available and is interested in acquiring other private retailers in the province.

“We are very excited to finally be opening in the town of St. Andrews, which has a strong local population and an even stronger amount of tourists visiting. Our plan is to continue expansion in New Brunswick and be the only private retailer, so we are looking at mergers and acquisition opportunities in New Brunswick.”

Jones also says that operating cannabis stores in New Brunswick is easier than in Ontario, and the two current locations in the Maritime province are the company’s best-performing stores, with the average consumer purchases (baskets) being higher in New Brunswick than in Ontario.

Cannabis NB’s most recent quarterly report shows product sales for the three months ending March 31 were $22.8 million, an increase of 11% compared to the same period in 2023.

Sales of dried flower increased 9.7% from the same period last year, extract sales (oils and capsules) decreased 9.9%, sales of edibles increased 12.3%, sales of infused beverages increased 4.7%, topicals sales increased 44%, and concentrates sales increased 17%.

New Brunswick has taken some relatively unique approaches to cannabis retail since opening its public-only model in 2018. In addition to being one of only two provinces with a mixed public and private retail mode (BC is the other), it is one of only three provinces (along with Ontario and BC) to have a formal farmgate retail licensing system in place.

There are currently six cannabis producers in New Brunswick now licensed to allow on-site sales direct to consumers, including a cannabis nursery.

In its 2024-2025 Strategic Plan, the provincial cannabis agency also says they are exploring “on-site consumption opportunities” that can increase legal access and “meet the needs of current and potential customers.”

5 ways retailers can grow their sales

March 4, 2024

New Brunswick’s eighth private cannabis store opens in Hampton

February 23, 2024

Ontario issues $200,000 fine for “data deals” to cannabis retailer

April 8, 2024

Week in Weed – June 22, 2024

Written by Staff on June 22, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News.

This week at StratCann, we looked at retail national cannabis sales, which continue to grow, but at a much slower rate. We also looked at a new cannabis patio in BC, and at some recent Indigenous cannabis-related topics for National Indigenous History Month.

In finance-related cannabis news, we looked at the ongoing conflict between BZAM and Final Bell. Atlas Global Brands was granted CCAA protection, BC’s Christina Lake Cannabis filed its year-end report for 2023, and Aurora shared their most recent quarterly report.

Also, a Danish medical cannabis company is looking to bring its unique cannabis oil to Canada.

In other cannabis news this past week…

Vancouver’s Travis Petersen, known as ‘the Nomad Cook,’ was in Winnipeg last week serving up a five-course infused dinner made with cannabis at a pop-up event to a handful of local cannabis connoisseurs.

A property near Mission, BC, with a 16-year history of bylaw contraventions, including unpermitted cannabis production, has racked up over $5,000 in fines.

A new study has found that the rate of cannabis-related disorders diagnosed among pregnant women in Québec increased by more than 20% after legalization, while rates for all other drug- and alcohol-related disorders remained stable.

The Chicoutimi borough council refused to authorize a potential move of the branch of the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) on Racine Street.

A town council in Quebec refused to authorize a potential move by the SQDC. During a meeting of the Chicoutimi council on Tuesday, 4 of the 5 councillors spoke against the approval of the use of sales of products resulting from the cultivation of cannabis in the building in question, located at the intersection of the streets Racine and Sainte-Anne.

Cronos Group Inc. announced an expansion of Cronos Growing Company (GrowCo), with about $71 million provided by an additional credit facility from Cronos intended to assist GrowCo’s expansion to satisfy domestic and international demand.

Village Farms International, a Canadian company that holds one of ten licenses to cultivate and distribute cannabis in the Netherlands, congratulated the country on the expansion of its cannabis supply pilot project.

MediPharm Labs Corp. announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with Remidose Aerosols Inc. to acquire the exclusive rights to the latter’s cannabis products. Current Remidose customers will be serviced through MediPharm starting August 2024.

High Tide Inc. announced the opening of a new Canna Cabana retail cannabis store in Calgary, opening on June 21. This is the chain’s 80th location in Alberta and High Tide’s 173rd Canna Cabana branded retail cannabis location in Canada.

And finally, Fort St John RCMP seized cash, cannabis, and psilocybin in a case they say involves sales to minors.

Vancouver VR company teams up with local retailer to create virtual cannabis store

Written by David Brown on June 21, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

A BC cannabis retailer is partnering with a Vancouver-based Web3 company to develop a virtual cannabis store experience.

ARCannabis, a retail cannabis chain in BC with seven locations, has teamed up with Vancouver’s Metasphere Labs Inc., which recently announced its plans to create an “online cannabis shopping experience with the use of advanced virtual reality (VR) technology.”

The plan is still in the early stages, as the two companies just signed an agreement on June 21. The goal is to develop a platform for consumers to visit a virtual, 3D version of an ARCannabis store, guided by a virtual budtender, to make actual purchases that can be delivered or picked up.

The new VR virtual store will integrate with ARCannabis’ existing backend shopping cart system, powered by another Vancouver tech company, Cova Software. The virtual experience will build on ARCannabis’ current online shopping platform, and provide a chance to interact with that platform in a fully immersive way.

In a press release, Metasphere says the store is also being designed to be embeddable in open metaverse environments and gaming platforms like Fortnite, subject to their terms of service, and presumably with age-gating in place.

“We are thrilled to partner with ARCannabis to bring their vision of a VR virtual store to life,” said Natasha Ingram, CEO of Metasphere Labs. “Our expertise in developing immersive metaverse environments aligns perfectly with AR Cannabis’ innovative approach to retail. This collaboration will set a new standard for the online shopping experience in the cannabis industry.”

Metasphere says it expects the platform to be completed by September 2024.

“We are excited to work with Metasphere Labs to enhance our customers’ shopping experience,” said Joe Le, Co-Founder of ARCannabis. “This VR virtual store will not only showcase our products in a unique and engaging way but also reinforce our commitment to leveraging technology to improve customer satisfaction.”

Retail cannabis sales year-over-year growth continues to slow, retail stores decrease

Written by David Brown on June 21, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Producers, Retail.

Retail cannabis sales rebounded in February and April after dropping to their lowest in nearly a year in January 2024, according to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada.

Although cannabis sales in Canada still show year-over-year growth, the increase in those sales continues to slow as the market reaches a possible saturation point.

Retail cannabis sales in Canada were $539 million in April 2024, after dropping to $518 million in January after the holiday shopping season. Those numbers were up $11 million in February to $529 million, then declined again in March before increasing again in April to $539 million.

Sales numbers are still down from a record high of $564 million in August 2023, which was followed by five months of declines before bouncing back to $539 million in December. Then, in January 2024, retail cannabis sales dropped to $518 million, using seasonally adjusted numbers. This represents a $20 million year-over-year increase from sales figures in January 2023 ($498 million).

Retail cannabis sales have continued to increase on a year-over-year basis since legalization, but the exponential increases have given way to more modest gains as the market appears to be reaching a ceiling in terms of sales.

From January 2019 to January 2020, sales increased from $54 million to $160 million, nearly tripling. These numbers nearly doubled to $310 million by January 2021 and then increased by about one-third to $418 million by January 2022. By January 2023, that figure was $498 million, and in January 2024 it was $518 million, an annual increase of only about 4%.

Wholesale sales, price and volume of cannabis (seasonally adjusted) dropped in April from a record high of $636 million in March 2024. Previously, the high water mark in this category was $606 million in August 2023 followed by several months of declines to a low of $515 million in January 2024 before increasing again in February and March.

2023’s tough year in cannabis

April 3, 2023

Three month decline in retail cannabis sales in 2023

January 19, 2024

5 ways retailers can grow their sales

March 4, 2024

Atlas Global Brands granted CCAA protection

Written by David Brown on June 21, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Financials, Producers.

Atlas Global Brands, the company behind cannabis brands like D*gg Lbs, GreenSeal, and Electric Lettuce along with its subsidiaries, has been granted an initial order under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Atlas Global includes GreenSeal Cannabis Company Ltd., GreenSeal Nursery Ltd., AgMedica BioScience Inc., Wellworth Health Corp., 5047346 Ontario Inc., 8050678 Canada Inc., and Tavivat Naturals Inc. as its subsidiaries. The company says the CCAA order will provide an opportunity to restructure its business and financial affairs.

Atlas Biotechnologies Inc. and Atlas Growers Ltd had previously gone into receivership in 2023.

Headquartered in Chatham, Ontario, Atlas Global operates its business of cultivation, extraction, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution through its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiaries, GreenSeal and AgMedica. Atlas Global operates two licensed cannabis facilities in Canada, one of which has European Union GMP certification, as well as three medical pharmacies in Israel. Atlas Global distributes its products within Canada and to seven other countries: Australia, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.

At the end of 2023, Atlas Global employed 185 full-time employees in Canada and two full-time employees in Israel. In early 2023, Atlas announced it was moving its operations from Alberta to Ontario and laying off 50 workers in the process. In August 2023, the company listed a notice of sale for many of its assets. In January 2024, the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation filed a bankruptcy order against Atlas Growers.

A bankruptcy creditor package filed in February of this year lists $3.5 million in total realized assets. It lists the Agriculture Financial Service Corporation as a secured creditor with the company for a total of $8.6 million.

The Atlas Group is scheduled to return to Court for a comeback hearing on June 27, 2024, at which time it plans to seek, among other relief, an Amended and Restated Initial Order, an extension of the stay of proceedings, and interim financing to allow the Atlas Group to stabilize its operations, consider possible transactions, and emerge from the CCAA Proceedings as a going concern.

One of the Company’s creditors, Stoke Canada Finance Corp., has applied to have a receiver appointed over the Company’s receivables and related assets. Unless resolved, that application will be heard at the Comeback Hearing.

The Company says it continues to believe that the protection afforded by the CCAA will allow it to stabilize operations in order to consider potential restructuring transactions that would benefit all stakeholders, including the sale of all or substantially all of the business or assets of the Atlas Group through a court-supervised sales process.

What’s going on with the BZAM/Final Bell trial?

Written by Sarah Clark on June 19, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Producers.

Initially set for April 22, a motion by Final Bell against BZAM has been again postponed, this time until September 18 and 19, 2024.

In addition, BZAM requested and received a stay extension to and including July 15, 2024. The stay is to provide time for a stalking horse bid by BZAM’s owner to purchase the company, a move Final Bell has not opposed as they believe the move will free up the resources they seek concerning their case against BZAM. UPDATE: That extension was approved on July 15, extending it until and including August 28, 2024.

The trial surrounds BZAM’s announcement in late 2023 that it would be acquiring Final Bell, which was quickly followed by BZAM filing for and receiving CCAA protection a few months later in February 2024. Final Bell argues the CCAA filing contradicts assurances BZAM had given the company before signing the agreement.

That deal saw BZAM acquiring Final Bell Canada by issuing $13.5 million in equity in BZAM and granting Final Bell $8 million in promissory notes. At the time, the deal was said to make BZAM the fifth-largest Canadian LP.

Final Bell reacted to BZAM’s announcement at the time by saying it believes that the company’s initiation of CCAA Proceedings constituted an “improper use of creditor protection legislation to evade its creditors, defraud shareholders, and facilitate a related party going private transaction at an unjustified discounted value in order to circumvent a customary going private transaction requiring shareholder and creditor approval.”

In April, the judge overseeing the proceedings between BZAM and Final Bell postponed the date for a trial between the two companies following last-minute information presented to the court. That date was then set later on for July 15.

In addition, Final Bell filed a motion dated March 18, 2024, that is currently scheduled for September 18 and 19, 2024. The motion seeks a declaration that the equitable damages for which BZAM and its affiliates are liable to Final Bell are subject to a trust.

As part of that motion, although Final Bell had initially sought to have the deal with BZAM rescinded, they have since argued such a process is no longer viable given what it describes as the diminished value of Final Bell Canada since BZAM acquired it.

The company is now seeking equitable damages for the deal once a stalking horse agreement is completed with the current Chairman of BZAM that would provide the cash Final Bell says is needed to pay them out.

The Stalking Horse purchaser, if approved, will become the parent of BZAM and will own all of the Applicants’ business and operating assets, including Final Bell Canada.

As part of their reports to the court, BZAM shows the actual negative net cash flow from operations on a consolidated basis for the ten weeks ended May 4, 2024, of just under $4.7 million. This is compared to a forecasted negative net cash flow of around $4.4 million, as noted in the cash flow.

BZAM enters into agreement to acquire Final Bell’s Canadian operation

December 6, 2023

BZAM granted CCAA protection due to ongoing financial challenges

February 29, 2024

Judge postpones BZAM/Final Bell trial

April 23, 2024

Danish medical cannabis company looking to bring its unique cannabis oil to Canada

Written by Sarah Clark on June 18, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, International.

Danish pharmaceutical company Stenocare says it is exploring opportunities to expand its medical cannabis platform into the Canadian market.

The company, founded in 2017, manufactures cannabis oil for the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, British, and Australian markets.

Although light on details, in a press release, the company says it is currently working with “a network of expert partners from the Canadian cannabis industry” and exploring different models and sales channels, with a goal of signing a commercial agreement to bring it’s “Astrum” cannabis oil to Canada in Q3 or Q4 2024.

Those Canadian partners, continues the press release, have experience with patient support and onboarding programs, navigating insurance claims for medical cannabis reimbursements, and developing and managing what it calls “disease-specific treatment plans.”

Stenocare says that its Astrum cannabis oil uses a specific oil technology that significantly “improves the bioavailability in the patient’s blood” to help better secure consistent uptake of the active ingredients into the bloodstream compared to more ubiquitous MCT-based cannabis oils. The oil was developed in partnership with a Danish pharma company.

The company says it has completed a pharmacokinetic study in dogs that documented two parameters in the lymphatic system that can improve the treatment effect. According to that study, Stenocare’s own cannabis oil formulation improves uptake in the blood and decreases onset time from several hours to just one hour.

“We see Canada as an interesting opportunity for Stenocare and our innovative patented Astrum oil product,” says Thomas Skovlund Schnegelsberg, CEO of Stenocare. “The Canadian market has had limited innovation within the medical cannabis space, and Stenocare has the potential to attract users that are in search of higher bioavailability with the product. With our local network of industry experts, we are currently exploring several interesting avenues for our entry into the Canadian market. We hope to enter into a commercial agreement with a local sales channel during 2H 2024”.

In November 2021, Stenocare announced a supply agreement with Canadian cannabis producer AgMedica Bioscience Inc. In 2022, Stenocare and AgMedica also announced they were the first supplier of oil-based medical cannabis products in Norway “with a portfolio of three full spectrum medical cannabis oil products from the GMP certified Canadian supplier, AgMedica Bioscience.” AgMedica also sells under the Vertical Cannabis brand in Canada.

Stenocare is a publicly traded company. The company reported a CAD$3.5 million loss for the year in 2023. In 2019, the company had to terminate an agreement with CannTrust following the latter’s licence suspension.

Registrations under Canada’s Cannabis for Medical Purposes Access program continue to decline in the wake of legalization, with about 5,000 fewer medical clients registrations and 1,200 fewer registrations for personal and designated cultivation from the previous year. Registrations have been declining month over month since a peak in late 2020.

Indigenous History Month focus: Indigenous cannabis news

Written by Contributor on June 17, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News.

As the cannabis industry matures, Indigenous peoples, our businesses, communities, and equity opportunities are increasingly involved and impacting it.

This review of StratCann news spotlights Indigenous voices in both the successes and disputes, which are being heard loudly and clearly. Regardless of the outcome, the recognition of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian cannabis industry is stronger than ever.

“In the budding landscape of Canada’s cannabis industry, the anticipation grows like the roots of a resilient plant, as Indigenous communities are poised to be welcomed and embraced, cultivating a future where our knowledge and presence flourish.”
Kesean J Kanhai, CEO & Creative Director of Cree Cannabis Company and Reekie’s Coffee

Wab Kinew’s influence on cannabis progression in Manitoba

Eight months after his swearing-in, Wab Kinew and his NDP government approved a change in Manitoba’s provincial legislation to allow its residents to grow from home.

The repeal’s response has been incredibly supported. Kirk Tousaw, one of Toba Grows’ lawyers working hard alongside advocate Jesse Lavoie and the Toba Grown team, shared his perspective, saying, “Premier Kinew’s decision to end Manitoba’s ban on cannabis home gardening was one of the first times since legalization that a legislature has made progressive changes to cannabis policy. Manitobans should be very pleased to have a government that responds to bad laws by fixing them.”

Previously, Melanie Bekevich, owner of Mistik Cannabis Co. and Peace Pipe Cannabis Co., operating in Alberta and Manitoba, shared her team’s enthusiasm at ‘this historical win the government actioned.’ The winner of the GrowUp 2024 Award for Indigenous Retailer of the Year continued to share, stating, “We know this government will work meaningfully with the industry as we work towards a stable and thriving industry. Lifting the ban on homegrown cannabis was a common sense move that aligns Manitoba with the rest of the country.”

Red market controversies

Yes, there are the well-recognized ‘illicit’ and legal markets. Still, somewhere in between reservations, band treaties, and sovereign land claims, there is another market operating within what many claim are the laws of the Indian Act (which many Canadian Indigenous peoples refer to as “the red market”). While the debate of sovereign land and its cannabis legalities has continued for years, it is essential to note there are vast differences in treaties between sovereign communities, the provincial and federal governments, and band leaders’ decisions to allow cannabis sales and operations.

*Winners of GrowUp 2024 Indigenous-Retailer of the Year Award, Othmar Joos, Owner, Mistik Cannabis Co. Melanie Bekevich, Owner, Mistik Cannabis Co. & VP of Retail Cannabis Council of Manitoba.*

In some unique cases, indigenous-run companies and First Nations Bands have had conflicts, such as in December between Indigenous Bloom and Tseycum First Nations on Vancouver Island. Indigenous Bloom signed a lease with the Tseycum First Nation Band in 2019 to operate a store on reserve land. In 2020, the First Nation took over the store and told the owners their previous agreement was invalid. As a result, the court found in favour of TFNB, citing that the Buckshee Lease signed by TFNB was void.

There are many debates and concerns about the sovereign rights of Indigenous bands and the span of their treaties that can be interpreted to allow cannabis to be sold and regulated outside of Health Canada. It is a case-by-case basis, and even in Nova Scotia, courts rejected the Millbrook First Nations Cannabis Sovereignty Argument on June 13. The judge ruled that the defendants did not provide a compelling argument for aboriginal or Treaty rights attached to their cannabis store operations and rejected charges related to the raids.

Yet mere months earlier, New Brunswick said it can’t enforce its cannabis laws on First Nations Reserves. This and other supporting comments were made by Krist Austin, Public Safety Minister of New Brunswick, following the introduction of new legislation meant to give officers from the Department of Justice and Public Safety more power to deter illicit stores. Another recent instance was the raid by Ontario Provincial Police of three indigenous-run unlicensed cannabis stores branded as “Indigo Smoke” in March.

OCS supports BIPOC participants for budtender event

Since its launch in 2021, The Ontario Cannabis Store’s Social Responsibility Strategy, which focuses on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals, has distributed $375,000 to six organizations and $319,000 to Black-led initiatives. In addition to these supporting financial initiatives, $60 million has returned to the Ontario market.

More recently, the OCS has partnered to sponsor Tether, Budtender Community, with a 5-Equity Grant program for their Ottawa Sampling Event to increase the presence and participation of Ontario-based BIPOC brands and Licensed Producers. Tether is partnering with StratCann’s Growing Relationships event series for this one-day industry event.

Katie Pringle, Tether’s CEO and Co-Founder, spoke to this milestone opportunity, stating, “We’re grateful for the support of the OCS at our milestone gathering, Tether’s Ottawa Sampling Event. Tether’s goal has always been inclusivity, encouraging both small and large brands to participate in our events with the mission to amplify diverse voices and perspectives.”

Featured image from inside All Nations cannabis farmgate store in Chilliwack, BC and on the traditional territory of Shxw;ay Village First Nation.

Author: AKB is a biracial Indigenous writer & strategy consultant based out of Kelowna, BC. you can find her on Twitter

All Nations launches their first cannabis store in Shxwhá:y Village in Chilliwack, BC

October 31, 2022

BC again raids unlicensed cannabis shops on K’ómoks First Nation

May 10, 2024

Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples calls for jurisdiction over cannabis possession, sale, distribution in Canada

June 15, 2023

New cannabis patio opens in Mission, BC

Written by David Brown on June 16, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

A cannabis store in BC is taking a second swing at hosting a cannabis-friendly patio space, this time in Mission.

Cheeky’s Cannabis, which has two locations in BC, one in Maple Ridge and one in Kitsilano, first briefly launched a similar cannabis-friendly patio in Maple Ridge earlier this year. Then in May, Cheeky’s partnered with the Mission Springs Brewing Company to host an outdoor cannabis-friendly patio to join the large, family-friendly restaurant and brew pub just off Highway 7 in western Mission.

Both businesses are owned, at least in part, by parent company Springs Group, which also helped to bring the two businesses together to create the cannabis consumption space as part of the restaurant.

Customers of the Mission Springs Brewing Company can sit inside or enjoy several outdoor patio spaces. One is smoking-friendly and now also allows cannabis smoking and vaping. Overlooking the Fraser River, customers can order food and drinks and enjoy them while sharing a joint with friends.

Earlier this year, BC began allowing businesses like cafes, restaurants, bars, and casinos that have approved smoking areas to allow cannabis smoking in those same areas. However, municipal bylaws can still be a barrier. A handful of spaces have opened, although many municipalities in the province do not allow these types of smoking areas, regardless of what is being smoked.

Laura Rowse, the co-owner of Cheeky’s Cannabis, says a previous partnership with a restaurant and pub in Maple Ridge called Billy Miner faced too many challenges from city inspectors, prompting her to launch this new space in Mission. The reception at the new space has been positive.

“Billy Miner was a trial, but we really struggled to keep the location in Maple Ridge open”, says Rowse. “Once we gave up on Maple Ridge, then we looked to Mission and the Mission bylaws allow for smoking on patios. We wanted to take a soft approach and not disrupt anybody. The feedback has been good so far.”

The space has about ten tables accessible from the restaurant, with notices on the door that it is a smoking patio. Customers can also choose a nearby non-smoking patio. Rowse says Cheeky’s supplies matches and ashtrays with the store’s branding, and signs within the space that note it’s in partnership with the cannabis store.

BC allows smoking, vaping cannabis on public patios, cannabis stores can now promote places to consume

February 14, 2024

More outdoor consumption spaces are opening in BC

April 18, 2024

Cannabis consumption spaces beginning to open in BC

March 5, 2024

Week in Weed – June 15, 2024

Written by Staff on June 15, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This past week, we looked at a recent study that found inaccurate labelling on some cannabis oils in Ontario, and another comparing greenhouse gas emissions from indoor cannabis production in Canada and the US.

Also, Manitobans might be waiting a while before they can legally grow cannabis at home; Indiva received creditor protection; and High Tide shared its Q2 2024 report. We looked at a recent court case involving a First Nation in Nova Scotia, and StatCann’s Tim Wilson dove into some of the roadblocks to selling cannabis in pharmacies.

In other cannabis news this week…

Castanet covered StratCann’s Growing Relationships event in Kelowna, speaking with our very own David Brown.

CBC’s Ontario today spoke with Lynda Balneave at the University of Manitoba and Dr. Hance Clarke – Pain specialist and president of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids about the challenges of self-medicating with cannabis.

Entourage Health Corp. announced the results of its 2024 annual general meeting of shareholders.

High Tide Inc. announced that it has entered into binding subscription agreements with arm’s length institutional credit providers for aggregate gross proceeds of $15 million in a subordinated debt financing.

CTV news reported on a “rise” in illegal cannabis stores in Nova Scotia, although it only referenced four being shut down this year. The province now has 50 legal stores following a recent opening in Shelburne.

The Edmonton Journal had a story on cannabis-induced psychosis involving a young man in Alberta.

Health Canada got a shout-out in High Times.

Vancouver cannabis retailer Kingsway Cannabis is currently listed as closed, with both a sign on their door and a notice on their website referring to a “temporary store closure.” Eggs Canna on Commercial Drive is also now listed as no longer open for business.

A Washington State cannabis company is suing a Vancouver, BC business and two people from Richmond for $2 million for not supplying grow operation equipment as per a 2022 agreement.

International cannabis news

A canna-crisis in Massachusetts was averted this week after a change in regulations meant stores in Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket will have enough cannabis for the summer rush. Previously, state law did not allow cannabis products to be shipped to the islands off the coast of the Massachusetts mainland for fear of lack of federal jurisdiction.

SFGate has an interesting piece on the challenges facing the California cannabis industry.

And finally, customs officials in Nigeria said they seized 1,072 kilogrammes of cannabis in a shipment from Canada via container ship.

Nova Scotia court rejects First Nations cannabis sovereignty argument

Written by David Brown on June 13, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Nova Scotia.

A Nova Scotia court has rejected a claim that the members of a First Nation can operate cannabis stores outside of provincial and federal cannabis regulations.

The defendants in the case argued that provincial regulations for cannabis stores in Nova Scotia do not apply to businesses operating within the territory of the Millbrook First Nation and that they do not need to pay provincial or federal duties on the products sold.

In a provincial court ruling from June 7, a judge said the defendant’s case did not make an effective argument for the existence of aboriginal and/or Treaty rights attached to their cannabis store operations, siding with the Crown, who argued the case was “frivolous” and a waste of the court’s time.

The defendant’s lawyer argued that the First Nation had a historical connection to cannabis and cannabis trade prior to contact with Europeans, that the development of federal and provincial cannabis regulations did not include consultation with the First Nation, and that Millbrook First Nation is on unceded territory.

The judge rejected the claim that a Treaty right to sell cannabis exists and rejected claims that there is evidence the First Nation had engaged in the cultivation or selling of cannabis prior to contact with Europeans.

However, the judge also said they welcome a “stronger” argument along the same lines.

“The matter cannot proceed on this foundation. I welcome a stronger one,” wrote Associate Chief Judge Ronda van der Hoek in her decision.

“The Court cannot allow the matter to proceed on such a foundation given its role to protect scarce judicial resources and in light of the Crown meeting the test to summarily dismiss, in the words of the Supreme Court of Canada, “manifestly frivolous” applications. This decision is not taken lightly…. It cannot be understated that decisions affirming and defining, or denying and restricting, aboriginal and Treaty rights are significant for the communities who advance them and Nova Scotians. The Court is aware that we are all Treaty people, but how the Treaties are interpreted must be based on a foundation that warrants consideration. At this time, that foundation has not been established for cannabis sales outside the lawful regime, and the existing regime applies to all Nova Scotians.”

In a similar ruling posted on the same day by Judge van der Hoek, she also rejected efforts to have charges thrown out related to the three raids of unlicensed cannabis stores in the province in 2021.

The defendants in the case heard in a court in Truro, Nova Scotia, attempted to make several arguments intending to have the charges dismissed, including claiming that the Crown could not prove that the cannabis was for sale or that one of the men arrested was not actually working at the store.

The judge rejected these arguments, noting evidence showing the cannabis products were listed as for sale, and the person in question was found behind the counter of the store when police arrived.

One defendant also argued that the Crown had failed to prove the elements of the offences are subject to the Kineapple principle, which prevents multiple convictions for a single criminal matter. The judge said they were willing to hear that argument at a later date.

Another related constitutional challenge by a band councillor from Millbrook First Nation, Chris Googoo, who has claimed a similar treaty right to sell cannabis, had his case dismissed earlier this year after the court found there was not enough evidence to proceed. Since the case was dismissed, the charter challenge did not proceed.

Nova Scotia RCMP officers raided Chris Googoo’s High Grade Smoke Shop, which sits on reserve land in Cole Harbour, NS, in December 2020 as part of a series of raids on several unlicensed cannabis dispensaries operating in the area. Googoo was arrested and charged with illegal possession and distribution of cannabis.

Googoo—who was represented by long-time cannabis rights lawyer Jack Lloyd—staged the constitutional challenge under section 35 of the Constitution Act, which protects Indigenous treaty rights in Canada. Specifically, Googoo is referring to the 1752 Peace and Friendship Treaty, which promises the Mi’kmaw “free liberty to bring to sale to Halifax or any other settlement within this province skins, feathers, fowl, fish or any other thing they shall have to sell.”

“Exercising our inherent treaty rights is something that all of our people should be doing freely, and not have to be harassed by any bodies of government,” said Googoo at a rally of supporters outside a Nova Scotia provincial courthouse in 2022, where he appeared to set trial dates.

Googoo was being backed by former president of the National Indian Brotherhood (precursor to the Assembly of First Nations) and one of the authors of section 35, Chief Del Riley, who has argued that the section grants Indigenous communities the authority to write their own cannabis regulation in parallel to federal and provincial law and to sell cannabis on reserve land. “You’re actually in a hell of a good position here,” he told members of the Millbrook community in April.

However, in 2019 Millbrook First Nations Chief Bob Gloade also said that such businesses are not supported by treaty rights.

“There is no treaty right protecting them in regards to selling, growing or distribution of cannabis whatsoever,” Gloade said. “It’s not a treaty or an aboriginal right because it does not state that anywhere. Our treaty rights basically focus around hunting and gathering not growing and distribution,” he said. “Individuals feel that it is a right and they’re extending it beyond the meaning of how the treaties are laid out in black and white and it puts us in a difficult situation.”

Since then, the Chief has changed his tune.

“Since that time, council has debated and discussed how to advance a cannabis strategy that is respectful of, and a benefit to, all community members, carried out in a way that prioritizes community sovereignty, safety, and well-being of everyone,” Gloade said in 2021.

“This is consistent with our inherent right to govern and our fiduciary duty to exercise jurisdiction over matters such as the community’s health and safety as a whole,” he said. “We continue to discuss the development of a cannabis regime and measures necessary for the Millbrook First Nation residents’ safety and enjoyment of life.”

Last year, the Assembly of First Nations called on federal politicians to “recognize First Nations jurisdiction over cannabis and remove regulatory barriers that exclude First Nations from the marketplace.” Thus far, federal and provincial governments have held that Indigenous communities can harmonize their regulations with Canadian law, and governments have attempted (to varying degrees of success) to help with that process.

Millbrook First Nation is one that finds itself in just such a position, and they have had a rocky relationship with the legal cannabis industry. Initially hopeful that legalization would be a source of economic opportunity for the community, in 2018 the band council invested $5 million in licensed producer Zenabis’ growing facility in Stellarton, NS, which opened in 2019 but was decommissioned in 2022, less than three years later. Financial statements show that Millbrook had lost more than $4.2 million on that investment, amidst a broader market downturn for public cannabis companies.

In 2022, Millbrook First Nation published a report following a community consultation exploring the idea of sovereign cannabis regulations, concluding that there was significant community support for “developing Millbrook laws and regulations.” A group called the Mi’kmaq Cannabis Association has also formed in the wake of the raids and has argued that “cannabis can be regulated informally by the customs and conventions of the Mi’kmaq people.”

An almost identical case in Cape Breton, where an Indigenous man was arrested for operating a dispensary on reserve land, was dropped by the crown suddenly in 2022, averting a planned constitutional challenge. “I’m kind of upset about it,” said defendant Albert Marshall. “I would have liked to have gone all the way to the end of it—right to the Supreme Court—to justify our inherent right to trade medicine, to trade plants.”

An Indigenous man in BC sued the provincial government in 2023, arguing that both federal and provincial cannabis laws ignore First Nations’ and Indigenous peoples’ jurisdiction.

Ongoing issue of jurisdictional authority

The issue of jurisdiction around cannabis laws is contentious in Canada as it relates to First Nations and Indigenous authorities. Canada’s Cannabis Act and Regulations provide the authority to regulate the sale of cannabis to provinces and territories. Many provinces, including BC, along with the federal government, have said that their own respective cannabis regulations are laws of general application, meaning they apply to all areas in those jurisdictions, including Indigenous land.

In 2020, BC’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, said the province does not recognize such sovereignty in regard to federal and provincial cannabis regulations, but it is hesitant to enforce the law on First Nations territory out of fear of a court challenge.

Meanwhile, the New Brunswick government claims it is powerless to enforce its cannabis laws on First Nations land.

In 2023, the federal Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples called for jurisdiction over cannabis possession, sale, and distribution in Canada.

Indiva receives creditor protection

Written by Sarah Clark on June 13, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Ontario, Producers.

Ontario-based cannabis edibles producer Indiva Limited announced on June 13 that it had been granted an order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in order to restructure its business and financial affairs.

The CCAA filing follows an update from Indiva in early June announcing that its liabilities under an amending agreement with Alberta-based SNDL had been extended to June 13, 2024. In April 2024, Indiva repaid $2 million of the principal amount outstanding from a strategic investment of $22 million provided by SNDL in 2021.

SNDL is a major investor in Indiva and stands to take over the business through a stalking horse transaction. In their most recent quarterly report, Indiva announced a net loss of $1.8 million.

Indiva says the decision to file for creditor protection provides the company with a stay of proceedings in favour of the Indiva Group, the approval of debtor-in-possession financing, and the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. as monitor of the Indiva Group. The initial order also relieves Indiva of some reporting obligations under securities legislation and stock exchange rules.

The stay of proceedings and DIP Financing will provide the Indiva Group with a chance to consider potential restructuring transactions and maximize the value of its assets for the benefit of its creditors and other stakeholders, which could include the sale of all or substantially all of Indiva’s business or assets through a court-supervised sales process.

The Indiva Group says it also plans to seek approval to launch a sale and investment solicitation process (SISP) for its business and assets in the near term. Indiva also intends to enter into a transaction for SNDL Inc. to acquire the business and assets of the Indiva Group through the stalking horse transaction.

Located in London, Ontario, Indiva is a cannabis producer with an array of edibles and extracts in the Canadian market, including Pearls by Grön, No Future Gummies and Vapes, Bhang Chocolate, Indiva Blips Tablets, Indiva Doppio Sandwich Cookies, and Indiva 1432 Chocolate.

Earlier this year, SNDL reported its first profitable quarter for cannabis production and increased losses for its retail cannabis holdings.

SNDL has invested in several cannabis companies in the industry’s production and retail sectors. In May, SNDL alleged that Mantioba-based Delta9 Cannabis was in default of its financing agreement with SNDL and demanded immediate payment of a $10 million convertible debenture financing. Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot denied the claim.

Comparing greenhouse gas emissions from indoor cannabis production in Canada, US

Written by Sarah Clark on June 11, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, International, Research.

The Canadian cannabis industry has a higher rate of emissions than its US counterpart, although that rate varies significantly depending on which province.

This higher emissions rate is mainly due to colder climates, requiring more heating of indoor facilities, combined with the efficiency of each province’s electrical grid.

The investigation, led by a researcher at McGill University in Ontario, looks at the “global warming potential” (GWP) of indoor cannabis operations in Canada, calculated on a kg CO₂ per kg of dried cannabis flower basis. Although this has been studied in the US, this study is the first to compare American numbers with the Canadian industry.

BC was found to be the most efficient province for growing cannabis due to milder climates and a less polluting electrical grid. In comparison, Alberta was found to be the province with the highest GWP, given its colder climate and more emissions from the power grid used to keep those grow rooms temperature-controlled.

Indoor cannabis operations in colder locations have a higher GWP primarily because of the increased need for natural gas-powered heating, which can account for half of the facility’s GWP. Cannabis grown outdoors can be six to ten times less carbon intensive than indoor cannabis and can reduce those impacts by 90%.

However, the researchers’ assumptions that electrical grid efficiency would be a strong determinant of the GWP of cannabis production was incorrect, as the climate itself was a factor in how much energy was needed. In more humid climates, for example, more power is required to manage that humidity through the growing and drying/curing process, leading to higher GWP.

After BC, PEI, Ontario, and Quebec were the most efficient places to grow indoor cannabis in terms of GWP, while Manitoba, Yukon, Saskatchewan, and Alberta were the least efficient. The research paper also asks if this count is at least partly mediated through incentives for growers in those less-efficient provinces to adopt more carbon-efficient growing methods. In the case of Alberta and Quebec, switching to electrical forms of heating rather than natural gas could lower the GWP.

“Colder locations have higher GWP because of the increased need for NG-powered heating processes. Heating via NG combustion easily accounts for 50% of the GWP. It could be said that production of cannabis grown in QC and AB could be having a disproportionate effect on the carbon footprint of the industry versus cannabis grown in ON and BC. There is a need to question whether incentives for QC and AB producers to adopt carbon-reducing strategy is needed.”

One suggestion the researchers make is to better label and identify less carbon-intensive products for consumers, encouraging them to make more environmentally friendly choices.

Week in Weed – June 8, 2024

Written by Staff on June 8, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

The biggest cannabis news this week in Canada was Friday’s big package of proposed regulatory changes from Health Canada, which we gave a brief overview of (more analysis in the coming weeks once the industry has had a chance to process all this).

We also looked at new changes in Alberta to allow private label cannabis products and a recall from Health Canada due to the “presumed presence” of HHC.

Retail chain Four20 filed an NOI under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, a Conservative MP from Alberta says he would vote to recriminalize cannabis if given a chance, and the SQDC contributed $258.8 million to Quebec in 2023.

In Quebec, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke shared feedback on its new cannabis regulations, and in Ontario, Legacy Supply Chain announced its processing licence.

In law enforcement news, there were several raids and arrests announced at unlicensed cannabis stores in New Brunswick, as well as Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Ontario.

In other cannabis news this past week…

CBC ran an article discussing the low number of people interested in a pardon for a cannabis offence. Nearly five years since the program was launched, the Parole Board of Canada says only 845 pardons for cannabis possession have been granted.

In BC, North Saanich council approved a cannabis store. This final vote follows a months-long process that included several rounds of public engagement and a public hearing on May 27.

Indiva Limited provided an update to the information contained in its press release dated April 2, 2024, regarding its agreement with SNDL Inc. Indiva says the date by which it is required to have satisfied certain current liabilities under the Amending Agreement with SNDL has been extended to June 13, 2024.

ZYUS Life Sciences Inc. received a Cannabis Drug License for its processing facility located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which is dedicated to the manufacture of pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoid formulations.

Greenline announced the launch of its new payment processing platform, BLAZEPAY™, a fully integrated, compliant, and secure payment solution for all Canadian cannabis retailers.

Redecan Cannabis announced a new flower SKU, ‘Purple Churro’, available in 3.5g and 14g dried flower formats in Ontario, Alberta, and coming soon in Manitoba and British Columbia, with further national expansion expected later this summer.

Bud Bash held an event at Parkdale in Toronto on June 6, and the C-45 Quality Summit was held in Hamilton on June 7, featuring speakers from Health Canada, the OCS, and AGLC.

Canopy Growth Corporation announced the establishment of an at-the-market equity program that allows them to issue and sell up to US$250 million of common shares of the Company. Canopy Growth intends to use the net proceeds from the ATM Program, if any, for investments in businesses and/or to fund any potential future acquisitions and for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment of indebtedness.

International cannabis news

Most of the earnings from the illicit cannabis market in the Netherlands stay in the country, according to Statistics Netherlands. About 1.4 billion euros stay within the Dutch economy, while about 0.2 billion euros go abroad.

The government in Victoria, Australia, has announced its launch of a trial to research the effects of medicinal cannabis impairment on driving.

Australia Greens senator David Shoebridge has pledged to press on with the party’s bill to legalize adult use despite a senate committee rejecting the proposal last week.

Health Canada proposes numerous, significant regulatory changes

Written by David Brown on June 7, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government.

Health Canada released numerous proposed regulatory changes to the federal cannabis rules and regulations on June 7, as part of a 30-day consultation process ending on July 8, 2024.

The proposed changes include regulatory amendments that are aligned with the findings and recommendations from the federal government’s expert panel’s final report on the Legislative Review of the Cannabis Act.

The proposed changes aim to encourage more diversity and competition in the legal cannabis market by reducing the regulatory and administrative burdens faced by licence holders.

The health agency that oversees cannabis published a Notice of Intent in the Canada Gazette, Part I, and is seeking feedback on potential amendments to the Cannabis Regulations.

Those proposed changes include:

Increasing the threshold for micros from 200 m2 to 800 m2 and the micro processing licence possession threshold from 600 kg to 2,400 kg of dried cannabis or its equivalent.
Increasing Nurseries canopy size for seed production increasing from 50 m² to 200 m2, allowing them to harvest up to 20 kg of flowering cannabis for seed production.
Removing the requirement for actual THC and CBD on product labels, only total THC and CBD.
Increasing the number of permitted alternate Quality Assurance Persons (QAPs) to “one or more” from the current allowance of “up to two”.
Licensed processors would no longer be required to provide printed copies of the consumer information document with every cannabis product package sent.
Formalizing COVID-19 era “flexibilities”.
Adding grounds for suspension of any licences held by the same licence holder, should they have unpaid fees or have failed to submit a required statement of cannabis revenue for a licence as required under the Cannabis Fees Order.
Amending the Industrial Hemp Regulations to remove the maximum THC concentration of 10 parts per million for industrial hemp grain derivatives; the testing requirement; labelling for wholesale; and import and export requirements.
Allowing for differentiation in colour between the lid or cap of a container and the container itself.
Permitting cut-out windows on packaging for dried or fresh cannabis products and cannabis seeds, while upholding the exclusion of cut-out windows for all other classes of cannabis.
Allowing dried or fresh cannabis products, in addition to cannabis plants and cannabis seeds, to be packaged in transparent containers while maintaining existing rules prescribing opaque or translucent packaging of all other classes of cannabis.
Removing the cumulative 10 mg THC limit for an outermost container of edible cannabis product to allow greater flexibility in packing multiple immediate containers, as long as the immediate containers do not have more than 10 mg of THC each.
Removing the requirement to file an NNCP to Health Canada for dried and fresh cannabis products.

More on these proposed changes next week from StratCann. You can read more about them here.

Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke shares feedback on new cannabis regulations

Written by David Brown on June 7, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers, Quebec, Retail.

The Kahnawà:ke Legislative Commission in Quebec released the results of a call for feedback on its recent Cannabis Control Law draft Regulation Concerning Suppliers, and Regulation Concerning Alternate Board Members Feedback Report this week.

The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke, located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada.

On December 6, 2023, the Kahnawà:ke Legislative Commission (KLC) shared that the final Regulation (Regulation Concerning Dispensaries and Dispensary Licences) for the Kahnawà:ke Cannabis Control Law was enacted at a duly convened Council meeting held on December 4.

Only two responses to the survey were published, both of which shared concerns about the proposed regulations being aligned with Health Canada’s cannabis regulations. In response, the commission argues that while its long-term goal is to have “complete control and jurisdiction over the cannabis industry, we are not currently equipped to replace the role of Health Canada.”

“In order to take over their complex role, it will take significant time to develop and implement and will require drafting and amending the Law and its regulations,” continued the official response from council.”

Ietsénhaienhs Tonya Perron, who helped to lead the cannabis file for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) for several years, told StratCann in an interview in 2021 that the process of creating cannabis regulations in Kahnawà:ke has been an act of balancing community concerns.

“It’s a fine line to walk between all of those differing opinions, but that’s what makes our community so beautiful and so unique, the councillor told StratCann at the time. “People come from different places in the way that they think. But one thing that’s for sure is that everybody in the community definitely states that it’s up to us to decide what needs to be done here and not for anybody else to tell us what should be done here.”

The feedback and responses were compiled during the 30-day review period of the draft regulations that took place from April 12, 2024, to May 13, 2024.

The MCK announced a memorandum with Health Canada in 2021 in relation to their cannabis production regulations. The memo, which harmonizes federal and MCK cannabis production regulations, was years in the making. In late 2018, the community passed their own Cannabis Control Law, and draft regulations to regulate production, sale, and personal medical production.

The memorandum established channels of communication between the Mohawk Council and Health Canada regarding inspections of production facilities and information sharing, as well as assisting the community in better understanding supply chain management. The MCK regulations also require that any cannabis producer must be owned by a member of the community.

Those regulations closely mirror the federal cannabis regulations while allowing for additional approvals by the MCK. In addition to production, the regulations cover cannabis sales, which are to be limited to three stores. Although MCK was open to harmonizing its cannabis production rules with Health Canada, the organization has no similar plans with the province of Quebec, which only licences its own provincially-run cannabis stores. Numerous cannabis stores operate within the community without council approval.

Despite all these regulations to allow the community to manage cannabis production and sales, Perron also explained to StratCann that there are many concerns and differing opinions within the community. While some are open to allowing the industry a foothold in their community in some fashion, others have been deeply opposed. Much of this opposition, she explains, is deeply rooted in those trying to protect the community from drug use and addiction that can arise from generational trauma that is still present today.

“The opinions of the community are from one spectrum to the other, so it’s a balancing act for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, and even just for the community decision making process. On the one hand, we have been a zero tolerance community, so public policy was zero tolerance of illicit drugs. Obviously the word illicit is important because once cannabis became legal, it took it out of the illicit definition. There are a number of community members who still want it to be zero tolerance, but there’s a number of community members on the other side of the spectrum that see this as economic opportunities, a way to push jurisdictions.

“So there are very different mindsets,” she continued. “Some want it in a regulated fashion, and then there’s some obviously who don’t want it regulated, who just want the opportunity to have revenue generation from it. So you have these two diverse opinions, and then you have some people in the middle.”

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke’s approach to legalizing cannabis in their community

July 12, 2021

Tyendinaga Mohawk Council asking people to not attend Indigenous Cannabis Cup due to COVID-19

September 10, 2020

Canada’s first Indigenous-owned cannabis producer releases first products to a First Nation retailer

April 23, 2021

Health Canada issues recall for cannabis products containing undeclared intoxicating cannabinoid

Written by David Brown on June 4, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Producers, Products.

An Alberta-based cannabis company has recalled several cannabis oils and softgels due to the “presumed presence” of hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), considered by Health Canada to be an intoxicating cannabinoid.

HHC is a “semisynthetic CBD” often synthesized from CBD.

The recall involves six lots of products from cannabis producer iNaturally Organic Inc’s Emprise CBN+CBD 50mg Softgels, NuLeaf Naturals 1800 mg Full Spectrum Hemp Multicannabinoid Oil Softgels, and NuLeaf Naturals 1800 mg Full Spectrum Hemp Multicannabinoid Oil cannabis extracts.

The NuLeaf Naturals oil contains Delta 9, CBC, CBD, CBG, and CBN each at 3 mg per softgel. The NuLeaf Naturals softgels contain CBC, CBD, CBG and CBN, each at 15 mg/ml.

The recalled products were sold in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon, and through medical cannabis platforms Herbal Dispatch, Open Fields Winnipeg, and Médicibis.

Health Canada says the recall is due to the identified hazard of the presumed presence of hexahydrocannabinol, which consumers may not be aware of. To date, iNaturally Organic Inc. says it has received two adverse reaction reports about these products. Health Canada has received three adverse reaction reports and one complaint related to these products.

There were 8,526 units of Emprise CBN+CBD 50mg Softgels distributed, 2,286 units of NuLeaf Naturals 1,800 mg Full Spectrum Hemp Multicannabinoid Oil Softgels (with Delta 9, CBC, CBD, CBG and CBN each at 3 mg per softgel) distributed, and 2,534 units of NuLeaf Naturals 1,800 mg Full Spectrum Hemp Multicannabinoid Oil (CBC, CBD, CBG and CBN, each at 15 mg/ml) distributed from December 2022 to May 31, 2024.

Health Canada says consumers should immediately stop using the product, either returning the product to where it was purchased or disposing of it.

Mukhdeep Mangat, VP of operations at Emprise, tells StratCann that they have independent lab tests showing no presence of HHC and were surprised by Health Canada’s findings.

“Analytical testing laboratories working with iNaturally Organic did not detect HHC in any of the products prior to batch release.”

“iNaturally Organic received two adverse event reports about all three products combined. Health Canada received three adverse event reports and one complaint. The adverse event reports and complaint total six reports after sale of well over 10,000 units total of the three products, or less than one in 1,000 units.

“iNaturally Organic prioritizes the health of its customers and is investigating Health Canada’s assertion of presumed presence of HHC, despite no evidence of HHC in the products from analytical testing laboratories working with iNaturally Organic.”

Alberta now allowing private label cannabis products

Written by David Brown on June 3, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers, Products.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) announced on May 31 that it will now allow private label cannabis products, effective immediately.

In an online bulletin, the AGLC says it had amended certain sections of its Cannabis Representative Handbook (CRH) and the Retail Cannabis Store Handbook (RCSH) to allow for the new change.

The AGLC requires license holders to notify the agency if a product registration is a Private Label.

According to the new AGLC rules, private label cannabis products, also known as Store Brand or White Label cannabis products, “must be listed at a wholesale price equal to or greater than the lowest general listed products that the cannabis supplier has in the same category and product type.”

No private label cannabis product arrangement between a cannabis supplier and a cannabis licensee can prevent the supplier from entering into another arrangement to produce private label products for another licensee. Such products cannot be used as an inducement.

All such private label products are still subject to approval by the AGLC. The AGLC had first floated the idea in 2023.

A “Private Label” product can include a licensee-specific name or logo, a licensee-trademarked name or logo, or a statement such as “manufactured exclusively for name of licensee.”

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario began allowing such products in 2022 after brief opposition to the program.

Cannabis retail association ABLE BC says that in December 2023, the LCRB wrote that one of the next cannabis market controls to be reviewed is white-labelling.

A handful of cannabis companies have entered into white label relationships for products in Canada.

AGLC delisting more than 500 cannabis SKUs

May 24, 2024

Alberta finally, officially makes sale of retailer-branded apparel legal

August 4, 2022

AGCO reverses course, will allow retailers, LPs to white label products

March 24, 2022

Retail chain Four20 files NOI under Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

Written by Sarah Clark on June 3, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Financials, Retail.

The parent companies of cannabis retail chain Four20 Premium Markets filed a notice of intent to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act on May 29.

The parent companies, 420 Premium Markets Ltd., 420 Investments Ltd., and Green Rock Cannabis (EC1) Ltd., filed the notices of intent following a $9.8 million judgment against 420 for repayment of a bridge loan and related interest and costs to Tilray subsidiary High Park Shops Inc. High Park was created for the purpose of the acquisition of Four20.

Tilray had initiated litigation against 420 after a failed attempt by Tilray to purchase 420 for approximately $110 million in 2019.

At the time, Four20 had six licensed cannabis retail locations and another 16 locations secured in Alberta. The retailer currently lists 35 locations in Alberta and Ontario.

Four20 then filed a statement of claim against Tilray in 2020 in an Alberta court for $110 million plus $20 million in damages after Tilray chose to end its deal to buy the retailer, with Four20 saying the BC-based cannabis producer had not acted in good faith.

According to court documents, High Park then filed a Counterclaim on March 20, 2020, in relation to a loan advanced in connection with the Arrangement. High Park had advanced $5 million to Four20 under the Loan on August 29, 2019, and a further $2 million on November 29, 2019.

On April 14, 2020, Four20 defended the Counterclaim, arguing that the money advanced to it under the loan agreement was not due because High Park’s and Tilray’s alleged notices of termination of the agreement were invalid.

High Park filed an application for summary judgment in relation to the loan on March 2, 2023. On February 7, 2024, a court granted High Park summary judgment against Four20 on its counterclaim for $7 million plus interest.

The Applications Judge then dismissed Four20s application for an interim stay of the Judgment on March 22, 2024, pending the determination of an appeal on the merits, with Four20 arguing that Tilray had “buyer’s remorse” and felt they had overpaid for the retail chain.

That appeal was dismissed in April 2024, with the judge finding that Four20 had not demonstrated that it would suffer irreparable harm. In that case, the judge wrote, “There is no dispute that Four20 received the Loan proceeds of $7,000,000 and has used those funds to build out its retail store network. Four20 asserts that paying back the funds it borrowed, pending appeal of the Judgment, would be a greater harm than High Park going without the funds that it lent Four20 under the Loan. I disagree.”

Cannabis Jobs Update – June 2024

Written by Staff on June 3, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News.

Want to work in Canada’s cannabis industry? There are always many different positions available, from entry-level to executive, from cultivation to labs, from budtending to brand reps; there’s a plethora of pot jobs available at any given time.

Check out our June 2024 cannabis jobs roundup below for a small snapshot of the numerous positions available in Canada’s cannabis industry.

In BC, Inspired Cannabis in Vancouver is looking for an Assistant Manager, and Canadian Clinical Cannabinoids is hiring a Territory Manager, also in Vancouver. Green Mile Original, a micro cultivator processor in Coquitlam, is looking to hire a QAP. A Little Bud in White Rock is looking to fill a Customer Service Flex Role.

Alberta’s Plantlife Cannabis is hiring for several positions and multiple locations in the province. Battle River Pharmaceuticals Inc. is hiring a Production Worker/Housekeeper in Ponoka. Hybrid Infusions is hiring a Cannabis Processing Team Member in Edmonton. Stigma Grow is looking for Seasonal Summer Student Production Workers in Red Deer.

COST Cannabis is seeking applicants for the role of Retail Store Associate in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. 5 Buds is hiring a Cannabis Supervisor in North Battleford. Valiant Distribution Inc. in Regina is hiring a Territory Sales Representative. The Joint Cannabis is hiring at several of its locations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Tokyo Smoke is looking for a Store Manager in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Delta 9 is hiring for two positions in Manitoba, a Processing Associate and a Category Assistant. Fiddler’s Green in Winnipeg is looking for a Bud Ambassador for Friday and Saturday Nights. UP IN SMOKE CANNABIS in Winnipeg is looking for a retail store supervisor.

Ontario’s Motif Labs is seeking a Junior Project Manager for their facility in Aylmer. The OCS is hiring a Senior Software Engineer in North York, Ontario. This position currently offers a fully remote work schedule. Pop’s Cannabis Co. is looking for a Supervisor for its store in New Liskeard. Sessions Cannabis is hiring a Key Lead/Delivery Driver in Kincardine. Medical Saints is hiring a Senior Post-Harvest Technician in Lincoln.

Quebec’s EXKA Inc. is seeking an Administrative Technician. Rose LifeScience is hiring a Packaging/Processing Team Lead in Huntingdon, QC and several other positions. Turning Point Brands Canada is looking to hire a full-time Sales Coordinator in Laval, QC.

Tilray is seeking a Superviseur Emballage/Packaging Supervisor in Masson-Angers, QC and many other positions across Canada. Cannabis retail chain Canna Cabana is hiring for numerous positions in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, BC, and Saskatchewan. Aurora Cannabis is looking for a Total Rewards Specialist in Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec (remote opportunity) along with several other positions available here.

Sana’a Cannabis in Miramichi, New Brunswick, is hiring a Post Harvest Technician. Cannabis NB is looking to hire a Bilingual Customer Experience Representative (occasional) in Tracadie.

AtlantiCann is hiring a Cultivation Technician in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. Cannabis TEC Cannabis Services has a position for Trimming and Packaging in Liverpool, NS.

Garden in PEI is hiring a Procurement Manager in Charlottetown.

Toko Smoke is looking to hire a Budtender in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland. A Circle K in Deer Lake, NL is hiring a Budtender and a Part-Time Budtender in Paradise, NL.

The Herbery in Whitehorse, Yukon, is looking to hire a Budtender.

Keep checking back with StratCann for more monthly job listings. Want to be included in our next monthly update? Message us here!

Week in Weed – June 1, 2024

Written by Staff on June 1, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers, Retail.

This past week, StratCann spoke with the owner of Nunavut’s second cannabis store and looked at a growing number of cannabis workers who have joined unions. Also, the Alberta government announced it will be researching the impact of legalization on the province’s youth.

BC’s T’iitsk’in Spirit Ventures are reviving production at the former CannTrust facility in Ontario, a bumbling break-in at a West Kelowna cannabis store was captured on video, and Ontario retail chain Shiny Bud filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

A recent study in Ontario looking at the effects of edible cannabis on simulated driving and blood THC levels found that driving impairment was not correlated with blood THC.

As part of our in-depth Insight series, we looked at a better way of measuring THC in cannabis.

Canopy continues to lose money, but less than before. AgriCann Solutions Corp., the parent company of Newline Ventures Inc., a micro cultivator and processor located in Vernon, BC, continues to struggle.

Decibel reported a net loss and declining revenue in a new quarterly report. Nextleaf Solutions reported a $1 million loss in the first three months of 2024. Simply Solventless reported its seventh consecutive quarter of positive EBITDA.

In BC, illicit cannabis distribution has led to a forfeiture order related to two properties.

In other cannabis news this past week

MP Patrick Weiler presented a petition in the House of Commons on May 30 from NORML Canada to raise the THC limit for edibles. Weiler was the sponsor of the petition.

Councillors in Centre Wellington, Ontario, again declined to allow cannabis stores in their township, citing concerns with their ability to manage locations, as well as some standard reefer madness.

A federal labour arbitrator has given Air Canada the green light to test a strand of a flight attendant’s hair for cannabis after two of the man’s housemates and fellow employees claimed he was smoking a bong and making jokes about hijacking.

A retail cannabis licensee who had their application denied by the Kahnawà:ke Cannabis Control Board had their request for a stay of the retail licence allocation process overseen by the Board denied by a federal judge. The Board rejected the application on the basis that “the Declaration of a Natural Person [he] filed in support of [his] pre-eligibility application did not accurately reflect [his] close personal or business relationship to other applicants.”

Village Farms International, Inc., the parent company of Pure Sunfarms, announced it has increased its ownership of Quebec-based Rose LifeScience Inc. by 10% to hold an 80% interest.

Ghost Drops announced a partnership with SOMAÍ Group, an EU-GMP European biotech company with international distribution channels for cannabinoids.

Organigram signed a three-year supply agreement with Avida Medical in the UK. Over a three-year period, Organigram says it plans to supply 1,700 kilograms of medical cannabis flower to Avida Medical, with 500 kilograms expected to be delivered in the first year of the agreement.

Foreign Policy Magazine did an in-depth look at the Canadian cannabis industry and the recent expert panel report on the Cannabis Act.

A study in Alberta found an increase in hospitalization rates among younger adults (18-24) before legalization, yet no increased risk was associated with cannabis legalization for either younger (18-24) or older adults (25+).

Researchers in Canada, led by Lynda G. Balneaves, published a case study on cannabis use in a Canadian long-term care facility.

Researchers in Ontario published a paper called Geographic clustering of cannabis stores in Canadian cities: A spatial analysis of the legal cannabis market 4 years post-legalisation. Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, had the most extreme clustering where neighbourhoods in clusters had a median of 10 stores (and a maximum of 25 stores) within 1000 m.

Paul Mahon, the editor-in-chief of Ontario Farmer, wrote about the effect cannabis revenue figures have had on total farm cash receipts in Canada, leading to aggressively skewed figures.

Several Canadian companies will be taking part in the KCSA Cannabis Virtual Investor Conference Tuesday, June 29–Wednesday, June 30, 2021.

And finally, Denton’s ran a helpful breakdown of the US cannabis rescheduling process and the controversy around a Farm Bill amendment that would effectively ban Delta-8, Delta-9, and THCA.

More budtenders joining unions in Canada

Written by David Brown on May 30, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

A “green wave” of cannabis store employees has been joining a union representing more than 40,000 workers across multiple sectors in Ontario.

UFCW 1006A represents workers at more than a dozen cannabis retail stores in Ontario, with employees at a Sessions Cannabis location in Hamilton, Ontario, recently voting to join the union. The union says it also represents employees at cannabis growing facilities in Canada and the US.

Employees at Superette in Ottawa also recently renewed their contract, covering six workers at the store for three years, to March 28, 2027. Employees at the store had first joined the union in 2021.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, one of Ontario’s largest private sector local unions, represents some 42,000 members in industries like grocery retail, food processing, restaurants, hotels, security, retail commerce, laundry, warehousing/distribution, transit, and cannabis.

The Sessions Cannabis in Hamilton, located in Red Hill, is the second Sessions Cannabis location in Hamilton to join the union in 2024. Sessions has five locations in Hamilton and more than 40 stores in Ontario.

The new bargaining group at Sessions Red Hill consists of 10 members working as budtenders and key leads at the store. The union says the key issues for employees who joined the union include benefits, health and safety concerns, staffing, scheduling, workload, and increased responsibilities with no additional pay.

“UFCW 1006A is proud to be the best union in Ontario for cannabis workers,” said Union President Wayne Hanley. “With the protection and security of UFCW 1006A representation, cannabis workers are transforming their lives and workplaces for the better. We are proud to welcome our newest members from Sessions Cannabis in Hamilton.”

Workers at Superette Wellington (Tokyo Smoke) in Ottawa also ratified their first union contract in 2021, signing a term from March 28, 2021, to March 27, 2024, covering 25 employees at the cannabis store.

A second, third, and fourth Tokyo Smoke location joined the union in 2021. In 2022, employees at a Tokyo Smoke in Thunder Bay and Toronto joined UFCW 1006A and in 2023 a Tokyo Smoke in Hamilton.

The first Sessions Cannabis location in Hamilton also joined the union in 2021, followed by workers at a Timmins Sessions Cannabis location in 2022. However, Sessions president and CEO Darryl Allen says the employees at the Timmins locations voted to decertify their membership in 2023, but a representative for UFCW Canada Local 1006A says it’s still represented by the union. Workers at Plateau Cannabis in Ottawa voted to Join the union in 2022, as well.

(Note: This article has been edited to include the claim and counter claim about decertification of the Timmins Sessions location).

UFCW 1006A is not the only organization representing cannabis workers in Canada. The BC Budtenders Union, a division of UFCW 1518, has slowly been gathering members since it became the first union to represent budtenders in Canada in 2020. Employees at around ten stores in BC have joined the union, as well as one producer (Potanicals).

In April, employees at two new Trees Cannabis locations in BC joined a union representing cannabis industry budtenders. The organization is hosting an event in Victoria, BC, on June 15, called Solidariweed, to bring together members and other workers.

In addition, the union recently announced that workers at Canna Cabana in BC have voted to authorize strike action as the organization heads to mediation with the company. This is not a guarantee of a strike, but the option will provide the union with more leverage in those negotiations.

In March, employees at a recently opened Canna Cabana location in Vancouver joined the union. A post on the union’s Facebook page says the two-year contract for those employees includes a 6.5% wage increase, retroactive pay on all wage increases to November 11, 2023, doubling the call-in premium to $1.00 per hour, and “timely and fair redistribution of cannabis samples from sales reps.”

BC began allowing producers to provide samples to retailers in 2023.

Employees at Eggs Canna on East Hastings in downtown Vancouver voted to join the union in early 2022 but changed course shortly after that, voting to decertify union membership, meaning it no longer acts as their bargaining agent.

Second cannabis store opens in Nunavut

Written by David Brown on May 28, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Nunavut, Retail.

A second cannabis store opened in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in April, to help serve the Territory’s population of just over 40,000 people.

The store, Higher Experience, is located about a 15-minute walk from Iqaluit’s first cannabis store, Nuna Cannabis, which opened in 2021. The territory began accepting applications for private retailers in 2020. The population of Iqaluit, the territory’s capital, is about 7,000.

Prior to this, the only way for Nunavummiut to buy cannabis was from two businesses under a licence category the territory calls Registered Suppliers. Residents can still order online or by phone from Canopy/Tweed or AgMedica/Vertical Cannabis.

In the most recent annual report from the province for 2020-2021, revenues from online cannabis sales through the NULC’s partners accounted for less than a tenth of a percent of total revenues the Commission earned in the year.

Higher Experience’s application had been in the works for several years. Kevin Ikeno, one of the owners at the store, said it was a long process, but he’s excited to now be open.

“We’re phenomenally excited to finally get [a licence],” Ikeno tells StratCann. “It has been a long time coming, but we’re very happy to now be open for business. The community has been fantastically welcoming. They’ve been very friendly.”

Unlike most provinces, Nunavut has no central delivery, so the Territory’s two stores must arrange for orders from each of the approximately 40 registered wholesale suppliers.

The territory allows two other licence types in addition to its registered suppliers: physical cannabis stores and what it’s calling remote sales. These two licence categories can also be combined.

There are also two subclasses of physical stores: enclosed cannabis stores and integrated cannabis stores.

Enclosed cannabis stores can be either stand-alone buildings or located within an existing commercial space such as a multi-unit building. Higher Experience is located at 760 Queen Elizabeth Way in Iqaluit, the Territory’s capital.

The age of access in Nunavut is 19.

h/t nunatsiaq.com

BC’s T’iitsk’in Spirit Ventures revive production at former CannTrust facility in Ontario

Written by David Brown on May 27, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Ontario, Producers.

A company owned by a First Nation in BC is looking to grow cannabis in CannTrust’s old facility in Ontario.

T’iitsk’in Spirit Ventures Ltd. (TSV), owned by the Uchucklesaht Nation in BC, recently acquired the facility through a reverse vesting order structure earlier this year under numbered company 1000832157 Ontario Inc. According to court documents, the purchaser intends to begin growing cannabis at the facility again at 1396 Balfour Street, Pelham, Ontario (previously known as the “Fenwick Premises”).

The move recently caught the eye of a Ward Councillor in Pelham, as activities at the site had begun again. Ward 1 Councillor Wayne Olson told Pelham Today that he stopped by the facility recently to introduce himself and provide suggestions on how the owners could engage with the community.

“I told (the representative) that maybe they should have a public meeting. They seemed open to that,” Pelham Today reported Olsen as saying.

The facility, and others in the community of Pelham, have generated a lot of negative attention from Council and some community members over the past few years regarding concerns about light, odour, and noise pollution. The facility itself was also at the centre of concerns with allegations of unlicensed activities under its previous owners.

Three executives connected to CanTrust at the time, Peter Aceto, Mark Litwin, and Eric Paul, faced charges after the Ontario Securities Commission (OCS) and the RCMP declared they were aware of these activities. They were acquitted when the OCS decided it could not obtain a conviction.

Mayor Marvin Junkin told Pelham Today that the town has not received any notification of the facility’s sale or the company’s plans to begin cannabis production.

The Uchucklesaht Nation, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, owns and operates the Thunderbird Spirit cannabis brand.

Representatives from the Uchucklesaht Nation were unavailable for comment at press time.

Featured image via Google Maps

Week in Weed – May 25, 2024

Written by Staff on May 25, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International, Other.

This week, we reported on the AGLC delisting more than 500 cannabis SKUs and new legislation passed in New Brunswick that gives inspectors more power to deal with over 100 illegal cannabis stores in the province (as well as two recent raids in the province).

We also looked into one of the bigger stories in the mainstream media, showing that senior Canadians have been increasingly ending up in the ER due to cannabis use. While much of the mainstream media spun this as being because of legalization, the numbers show this was increasing in the years leading up to legalization and has actually declined somewhat in the most recent years of data.

We also looked at Indiva’s newest quarterly report for Q1 2024 and took a deep dive into what it would look like to move the cannabis file from Health Canada to Agriculture.

In other cannabis news

A final application to open a cannabis retail store in Delta, BC, will be heard at a public hearing next week. If green-lighted, the store would be the ninth approved by council, but also likely the last as a city moratorium continues on accepting and considering any new applications.

Cannabis workers at the Friendly Stranger in Dundas, ON, have voted in favour of joining UFCW Local 175.

SNDL says Delta 9 is in default of certain obligations. Delta 9 disagrees. SNDL is demanding repayment of its 10% senior secured second-lien convertible debenture in the principal amount of $10 million. Frederico Gomes, an analyst with ATB Capital Markets tells the Winnipeg Free Press that there are financial terms on such convertible debentures that typically include covenants that the company maintains a certain ratio between debt to EBITDA or a minimum cash balance.

New research from the International Journal of Drug Policy took a deep dive into “Canadian THC units” and the public health benefits of other jurisdictions adopting a similar approach.

The Canadian Cannabis Tourism Alliance released its plan to make Canada the cannabis tourism capital of the world.

Cult MTL reviewed 1964’s infused poutine from the SQDC.

Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the University of Toronto, and ICES linked recent population-based survey data from over 11,000 youth in Ontario, Canada, to health service use records, including hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and outpatient visits, showing that teens using cannabis are at 11 times higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder compared to teens not using cannabis.

Blacklock’s Reporter says in-house Department of Public Safety research shows that one-third of cannabis users are still utilizing the illicit market. This isn’t really new information to anyone following the sector, although Blackrock and other media outlets have pointedly framed this as if it shows that legalization has failed.

Speaking of the illicit market in Canada, the OPP seized more than 5,000 cannabis plants and arrested two in Pembroke.

A 45-year-old woman from La Pêche, QC, was arrested and received a $500 fine after a witness contacted the police, mentioning that the driver was driving while smoking cannabis.

Meanwhile, cannabis impairment cases are few and far between in New Brunswick, says criminal defence lawyer David Lutz.

International cannabis news

Some cannabis companies and trade groups are pushing the US Congress to close a loophole in the farm bill that allows the production and sale of intoxicating substances derived from legal hemp (think Delta-8 THC and Delta-10). The hemp industry wants to leave the federal definition of hemp unchanged.

Another big story in the US this past week was new research published in the journal Addiction that shows the number of Americans who smoke cannabis on a daily or near-daily basis now exceeds those who drink alcohol as often.

And finally, in a significant policy reversal, Thailand says it now plans to require permits for medical and research use of cannabis. The country’s Prime Minister has pledged to re-criminalize cannabis by the end of the year after it was decriminalized in 2022.

AGLC delisting more than 500 cannabis SKUs

Written by David Brown on May 24, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Government, Producers.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) has notified several licensed producers that they will soon be de-listing more than 500 slow-selling SKUs from their central warehouse.

Several producers received recent notices from the AGLC, informing them the SKUs will be put into the agency’s Do Not Purchase list.

A representative from AGLC confirmed with StratCann:

“AGLC is reviewing our cannabis product listings in order to streamline our supply chain, better manage inventory and remove some slow moving SKUs. Simplifying our supply chain will create more efficiencies and allow Alberta to focus more on best-performing products. This impacts between 550-600 SKUs. We are working with stakeholders to make this transition gradually over the next month to allow sell-through of impacted products.

“Alberta continues to have a wide range of products available for retailers and consumers. We encourage Albertans to talk with their retailer to find something similar if a product is no longer available.”

The move will allow the AGLC to free up warehouse space through their third-party vendor for faster-moving products. BC recently announced similar changes to its policies for accepting new products and storing existing products as the industry closes in on six years of operation.

This sort of “SKU rationalization” is not uncommon, in or outside of the cannabis industry, and other provinces have instituted similar measures, although at times with more notice.

One complaint StratCann heard from more than one producer who reached out to us on the issue was a sense of frustration that this policy change came with little to no advanced notice. Another producer, speaking on background, says they had received an initial notification from AGLC last week informing them that certain SKUs would be delisted effective immediately, before receiving a second notice giving them 30-45 days before they would be delisted.

Although the reasoning behind such a quick delisting process is unclear, the province has been making efforts to provide more opportunities for its local cannabis industry.

Sources close to the file say the regulator is interested in topics like farmgate and even direct delivery, which could potentially offer more opportunities for local producers and retailers to distinguish themselves from bigger chains.

The AGLC uses a third party company, Connect Logistics, to manage its warehouse and wholesale distribution.

AGLC reports its first cannabis profits

March 6, 2024

AGLC reverses decision on including CBN, THCV in THC total

September 18, 2023

AGLC reduces SKU listing fee listing for cannabis producers

October 1, 2023

New authority for inspectors in New Brunswick to deal with more than 100 illegal cannabis stores

Written by David Brown on May 21, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, New Brunswick, Retail.

New Brunswick recently passed new legislation to give provincial inspectors more authority to target a growing number of illegal cannabis stores.

Bill 29, An Act Respecting Cannabis Control Act, passed third reading on May 15, and gives inspectors more authority and increases fines for those operating illegal cannabis stores, as well as their landlords.

The legislation was also debated by the Standing Committee on Economic Policy, where several questions were raised by Robert McKee, MLA for Moncton Centre, and Kevin Arseneau, MLA for Kent North, fielded by Bruce Fitch, the Bill’s sponsor.

According to Fitch, as of April 1, 2024, 107 illegal cannabis stores are operating in the province. Of these, 74 are operating in First Nations communities, says Fitch. Provincial representatives have in the past repeatedly said they do not have the authority to enforce their cannabis regulations on First Nations reserve lands, and this legislation is not expected to change that.

During debate of the bill in the Committee, Fitch did not directly respond to several questions from both McKee and Arseneau about how this new legislation would apply to these First Nations-affiliated stores, or about the current provincial government’s stance on these types of stores, instead making references to the complexity of the issue, often referring to provincial and federal jurisdictions or explaining the difference between provincial and federal rules. This mirrors similar statements made by the RCMP.

The legislation increases penalties to $5,000 if you operate a store, $2,000 if you are selling illegal cannabis (but not necessarily operating a store), and $5,000 for a landlord who knowingly allows such an operation on their property.

Law enforcement in New Brunswick has raided several unlicensed cannabis stores in recent months, with one recent raid in April, two in March, and two more arrests and products seized from an unlicensed dispensary in Saint John in January.

A court recently issued a $20,000 fine following a raid in 2022, while charges against two men connected to the company have been withdrawn.

There are 25 Cannabis NB stores in the province, plus a handful of licensed, privately-run cannabis stores.

Week in Weed – May 18, 2024

Written by Staff on May 18, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

This past week at StratCann, we looked at a new report from the OCS highlighting 2023 sales data in Canada’s largest province, the latest figures from Health Canada showing a continued decline in participation in the federal medical cannabis access channels, and the complexities of handling cannabis exports.

We also looked into two new minor regulatory changes: one in Alberta, where the AGLC is making changes to retail secure storage requirements, “simulated or actual mixing” of cannabis, and more; and one in BC, where the LDB will be making changes to how long they will hold older products before returning to the vendor.

In financial news, we looked at new quarterly reports from Auxly, Organigram, MediPharm Labs, Delta 9, and Rubicon Organics.

Lastly, we featured BC’s Island Genetics in our ongoing company profile series, with special thanks to cannabis nursery Life Cycle Botanics.

In other cannabis news this past week

CTV News in Saskatchewan continued their coverage of efforts to increase THC testing among drivers in the province and the questions about the accuracy of said tests to determine impairment.

Police in Ottawa say they are stepping up enforcement against impaired drivers, including cannabis-impaired drivers.

Bella Bella Investment Group Ltd’s application for a cannabis facility on Annacis Island in BC has been withdrawn.

A US company, Ombra Group Inc., is developing a THC breathalyzer and working on clinical trials in Canada.

Aurora Cannabis announced the appointment of Rajesh Uttamchandani to the Company’s Board of Directors.

David Suzuki published a very broad general-interest opinion piece on Hemp at Rabble.

International cannabis news

The US Justice Department has formally moved to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous substance. The formal rule proposal to the federal register begins a lengthy approval process, beginning with a 60-day public comment period before the change can take effect.

“This is monumental,” Biden said in a video posted to Twitter about the reclassification, which was first reported prior to the announcement by POLITICO. “Today, my administration took a major step to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug.”

Cannabis stocks also enjoyed another brief rally on the heels of this announcement.

Lastly, The Conversation asked the question: “How can we measure the size of Australia’s illegal cannabis market – and the billions in taxes that might flow from legalizing it?”

BC LDB warehouse making changes to improve product freshness

Written by Staff on May 17, 2024. Posted in British Columbia, Business, Cannabis News, Government.

BC is updating its rules for how long cannabis can sit in its warehouse before it will be returned to the producer.

In a notice sent out to producers on Friday, May 17, the British Columbia LDB wholesale division noted upcoming changes to the inventory thresholds for licensed producers. This means changes to the maximum storage time at the LDB distribution centre in Richmond and a new maximum age limit at the time of delivery to the LDB distribution centre.

The stated intent of these changes is to improve product freshness. The change will also likely allow the LDB to maximize storage space in their 70,000 square-foot warehouse. There are more than 125 licensed cannabis producers registered to do business with the LDB.

Under the new rules, which the LDB will begin using in November 2024, cannabis flower, pre-rolls (including infused), and cannabis edibles products must be delivered to the LDB distribution centre within three months from the packaging date. Inventory of these products will be held for a maximum of six months from the date it is received by the LDB.

Other categories of cannabis products will be required to be delivered within five months from the packaging date. These categories will be held for a maximum of nine months from arrival at the LDB distribution centre.

Inventory that exceeds these timelines will be put on hold and returned to the producer. Any products that exceed the age limit at the time of delivery will be required to be pre-approved by the LDB demand planner.

Producers selling into BC must also provide the LDB with an estimated minimum shelf life before being registered for sale. Products with a Best Before Date or Expiry Date printed on the label must be delivered to the LDB with at least six months remaining until the stated Best Before or Expiry Date.

The BC Cannabis Customer Care Centre also recently updated their business operating hours, and are now closed on Saturday.

Medical cannabis registrations continue to decline in Canada

Written by David Brown on May 17, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government.

Participation in Canada’s cannabis for medical purposes access program continues to decline in the wake of legalization, with about 5,000 fewer medical client registrations and 1,200 fewer registrations for personal and designated cultivation.

The newest figures from Health Canada show that the number of medical client registrations fell 2% from 188,301 in September 2023 to 183,909 in December 2023. The number of people who registered with Health Canada for personal or designated cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes decreased by 9% from 14,944 in September 2023 to 13,672 in December 2023.

The majority of the decreases in registrations for personal/designated production were in Ontario (564), BC (145), and Quebec (143).

While declines in those accessing medical cannabis from licensed producers have been ongoing since mid-2019, in 2022, the number of designated and personal production licences issued began declining, as well.

Despite these declines in registrations, the amount of grams per day associated with these designated or personal production licences has continued to be much higher, a trend Health Canada says is “concerning.”

While the average amount of cannabis authorized under the medical cannabis access program has been between 2-2.4 grams a day, the average authorized amount for those growing medical cannabis for personal use was 33 grams a day at the end of 2023.

Health Canada’s concern with these high numbers is the potential for these licences to be used for diversion into the commercial black market rather than for their stated personal medical use. The number of medical professionals authorizing these designated and personal production licences has steadily decreased for several months, from a high of more than 2,000 in 2019 and 2020 to just under 1,000 at the end of 2023.

The number of healthcare practitioners associated with active personal/designated registrations who authorized amounts equal to or above 25 grams per day reached a new low of 222 at the end of 2023, down from a peak of nearly 500 in late 2020.

Health Canada has been sharing data on the number of healthcare practitioners and the daily amounts authorized with these regulatory authorities since 2019 in an effort to address these higher-than-average authorizations.

In 2020, the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons levied a $15,000 disciplinary action against a Saskatchewan doctor found to be profiting from issuing medical cannabis licences in 2018. In 2021, a medical cannabis patient who had been authorized 100 grams a day had a court reject an allowance for the patient to possess up to 1000 grams in public at a time.

There were 4,879 healthcare practitioners associated with medical cannabis registrations made in 2023 with federally licensed sellers. There were also 941 practitioners associated with active personal/designated production registrations. Of these, 222 had authorized amounts equal to or more than 25 grams per day, while 13 had authorized amounts equal to or above 100 grams per day.

The majority (78%) of healthcare practitioners who authorized more than 25 grams of cannabis a day were located in BC and Ontario. All authorizations equal to or above 100 grams per day were in BC and Ontario.

Many national, provincial, and municipal politicians have long called for greater oversight of the designated and personal medical cannabis production regime, citing concerns with odour, light, crime, and more.

Health Canada also allows for the import and export of cannabis for medical purposes under limited circumstances. There were 78,761.49 endorsed kilograms of dried cannabis and 7,078.90 litres of cannabis oil exported from Canada in 2023.

In total, there have been 186,394.55 kilograms of dried cannabis and 40,057.84 litres of cannabis oil exported from Canada for medical purposes since October 2018.

Rules for imports of cannabis into Canada are much more strict and limited to medical and research purposes. In 2023, there were only 0.94 kilograms of cannabis imported into Canada and 14.57 litres of cannabis oil, both for scientific purposes only.

Since October 2018, Canada has brought in just 28.19 kilograms of cannabis from outside the country, and 28.84 litres of cannabis oil, both for scientific purposes only.

Alberta makes changes to retail secure storage, “simulated or actual mixing” of cannabis, and more

Written by David Brown on May 15, 2024. Posted in Alberta, Business, Cannabis News, Retail.

New cannabis stores in Alberta may have a chance to save money on their secure storage rooms after recently announced regulatory changes from the AGLC.

The changes were part of a handful announced by Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis on May 10. Retailers can also now use samples from producers in sensory containers in-store, along with changes to record-keeping for such sensory displays. The AGLC also removed a section of their provincial rules that had previously prohibited the “simulated act of mixing cannabis” in retail stores.

This last piece is a reference to a section from the provincial retail cannabis handbook that had previously prohibited the “simulated or actual mixing, application or consumption of cannabis with other ingredients or substances.”

A request from clarification was made to the AGLC on May 13. No reply was available as of press time.

The section this was removed from concerns what kinds of activities are permitted in cannabis stores. Previously, there were more restrictions on what types of activities can occur within a cannabis store other than the sale of cannabis.

A source close to the issue explained to StratCann that while a store still can not be used for activities not related to cannabis (for example, hosting an art show or a yoga class), events or activities that are directly related to cannabis can now occur within the store. The section that had previously prohibited a cost being charged to the public, directly or indirectly, to attend an activity in a retail cannabis store was also removed as part of this recent set of changes.

Most of the changes are just cleaning up aspects of the retail cannabis handbook but include the announcement that AGLC may now approve alternative construction methods to secure cannabis rooms.

As of January 2024, the AGLC no longer requires retailers to keep their products in locked display cases when the store is closed, however, these new changes can still mean significant savings for any future stores seeking to create a secure storage area.

“We’ve been looking at the cannabis market to determine what’s working, what needs to be improved, and what’s redundant or unnecessary while protecting public health and safety,” said Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction at the time those initial changes came into force on January 31.

Nally has been one of the provincial government’s key voices on regulatory change for the cannabis industry through the Red Tape Reduction Act. Nally and other ministers and Alberta MLAs were also part of a recent provincial cannabis industry lobbying day on May 9 in Edmonton, put together by an Alberta-based consulting firm that works in the cannabis space.

Alberta has led the country on several recent cannabis regulatory changes. In addition, in 2022, the province removed the requirement for window coverings for cannabis retailers and in 2023, Alberta began allowing producers to hand out samples at cannabis events.

The AGLC also announced in late 2023 that the agency had reduced the SKU listing fee for cannabis producers. Previously $1,500, the reduced cost to list a new SKU to sell into the Alberta market is now $250.

Featured image via Spiritleaf

AGLC reverses decision on including CBN, THCV in THC total

September 18, 2023

Alberta announces several changes to retail cannabis regulations through Red Tape Reduction

December 18, 2023

Alberta has issued more than $90,000 in fines for cannabis violations

November 1, 2020

Cannabis stores in Ontario sold nearly $2 billion worth of cannabis in 2023

Written by David Brown on May 14, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario, Retail.

Cannabis stores in Ontario sold nearly $2 billion worth of cannabis in 2023 to more than 10 million people, a 12% increase in sales from the previous year. This was the equivalent of 338 million grams of cannabis, a 23% increase from the prior year.

Ontario added 80 new licensed cannabis stores in this time period. The province authorized 276 new stores, a decrease from 497 added in 2022. Another 142 closed in 2023, up from 114 in 2022.

The new report from the OCS is the first of its kind from the agency since Q4 2022. The agency plans to update and publish its By the Numbers data report twice per year.

“As the largest wholesale distributor of legal cannabis in the world, the OCS is proud to deliver comprehensive data aimed at informing Ontarians and supporting industry partners as we enable Canada’s largest and most vibrant cannabis marketplace,” said David Lobo, President and CEO of OCS.

Total cannabis sales in 2023 through authorized cannabis stores in Ontario were $1,941,213,130. The OCS shipped 94,507,896 units to some 1,700 privately owned stores from its distribution centre in Guelph, a 26% increase from 2022.

The average wholesale price of dried cannabis flower was $4.05 a gram, not including HST. As of December 31, 2023, there were 3,983 total active product SKUs listed by the OCS.

Dried flower and pre-rolls were the bulk of these SKUs (28% and 21%), followed by concentrates (infused pre-rolls, distillate, dabs, hash, etc) at 15%, vapes at 14%, edibles at 10%, extracts (ingestible oils, tablets) at 5%, beverages at 5%, and topicals at 2%.

The wholesale price of all cannabis flower, including pre-rolls, dropped compared to 2022, except for 7 gram SKUs, which increased by just 3%.

About one-fifth (20%) of Ontarians say they consume cannabis on a regular basis, with 27% indicating they consume occasionally. More than half (54%) report purchasing cannabis only from legal sources, while 39% report purchasing from legal and illegal sources. Just 7% say they only buy from illegal sources.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Ontarians say legalizing cannabis has been good for Canada.

There were nine product recalls for cannabis in Ontario in 2023, compared to six in 2022 and 10 in 2021.

OCS published its Social Impact Report

April 26, 2024

OCS: Decline in high-THC flower following launch of testing program

April 10, 2024

Ontario issues $200,000 fine for “data deals” to cannabis retailer

April 8, 2024

Week in Weed – May 11, 2024

Written by Staff on May 11, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International, Producers, Products, Research, Retail.

This week, StratCann covered OCS’ announcement that it will be allowing farmgate stores to sell exclusive products and again asked where all the provincial cannabis tax revenue is going.

We also looked at a new lawsuit against the SQDC and a second round of raids at First Nations-owned cannabis stores in one BC community.

In financial cannabis news, SNDL, Village Farms, and Cronos released their Q1 2024 reports, and we shared our monthly cannabis jobs snapshot.

In other cannabis news…

One of the bigger stories this week was a rise in enforcement actions against cannabis consumers on the road in Saskatchewan.

CBC ran an in-depth piece, noting that the number of Saskatchewan drivers caught behind the wheel with THC in their system was 20 times higher last year than in 2019, according to Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI).

Global News looked into the difficulty in accurately distinguishing between detection of cannabinoids and actual impairment, and the questionable accuracy of equipment like Draeger’s DrugTest 5000.

In related news, a PEI man found by police behind the wheel of a parked running vehicle and listening to the radio while more than four times over the legal cannabis limit has received a jail sentence.

CBC also looked at a recycling program for cannabis packaging in Ontario started by the owner of the cannabis store Green Light District in Windsor. The article also speaks with an employee at another cannabis shop who launched a petition calling on the OCS and AGCO to adopt a sustainable packaging and container return program.

Aurora Cannabis announced its first shipment of three cultivars into New Zealand’s medical cannabis market.

Toronto’s Institute for Work & Health is hosting a webinar on May 14 on cannabis use and perceptions among Canadian workers after legalization, presenting data from 2018 to 2021.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reminded people that they cannot order cannabis products from outside of Canada.

The BC Bud Corporation announced the appointment of Sean Flynn as its new Chief Commercial Officer, effective May 7th, 2024.

Carmel Cannabis received high marks from the Hamilton Spectator following a recent job fair.

Law 360 spoke with Kirk Tousaw and Russell Bennett about Manitoba’s new legislation to allow cannabis growing at home (subscription needed).

International cannabis

In the US, the AP reports that New York’s legal cannabis market has been hampered by inexperienced leaders who treated the state licensing agency like a “mission-driven” startup rather than a government office, according to an internal review released Friday.

New York’s Cannabis Director has been asked to step down as the Governor orders an overhaul of the state’s cannabis program.

A woman who arrived at Dublin airport from Canada with more than 12.5 kilos of cannabis in her suitcase has been jailed for four years. The 26-year-old was homeless in Toronto at the time of the offence in September and agreed to fly to Ireland with the cannabis in exchange for a payment of €3,000 (about $4,400 Canadian), a Dublin court heard.

OCS to allow farmgate stores to sell exclusive products

Written by David Brown on May 9, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Ontario, Producers.

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) has plans to soon allow cannabis farmgate stores to sell cannabis products that are exclusive to their location.

In an announcement posted on Thursday, May 9, the OCS says the rule change will occur in late spring, creating new opportunities for cannabis farmgate locations.

Ontario’s cannabis farmgate program issued its first licenses in April 2021, and since then has issued nine such licences across the province, with five in operation.

These new changes, says the OCS, will add value to its farmgate framework and “will help to create engaging destinations for consumers that elevate legal products above illegal alternatives.”

The OCS also plans to engage cannabis producers and retailers about the opportunities presented by this operating model and assess its impact.

One company that helped consult with the OCS on this new program, Sensi Brands, is excited by the opportunity to expand its unique offerings. Station House Cannabis is the retail location attached to Sensi Brands, a licensed cultivator and processor in St. Thomas, Ontario, who received their farmgate licence from the province in 2021.

Sensi Brands’ Founder & CEO Tony Giorgi says the new change will allow them to test out new cultivars and products through their farmgate store before launching them to a wider market, as well as providing a unique opportunity for their farmgate customers.

“For us, we think it’s a huge win and another key step forward in favour of Ontario producers for those who have the ability to offer farmgate. This is a win for Ontario LPs.

“It’s great to have this process to be able to innovate new products and introduce them into the marketplace very quickly before going through national commercialization.”

Giorgi says Sensi Brands now employs around 120 people, and the farmgate location has helped build their brand within the local community of St. Thomas.

“There’s a lot of value to the farmgate store as we’ve learned after running it now for three years. The ability to continue to educate and work within the community is really important.”

Ontario’s farmgate rules allow licensed cannabis producers to apply to operate an Authorized Retail Store at their production facility. These Farmgate Stores are licensed and regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (“AGCO”) like any other retail cannabis store.

One key difference, however, is that these producers can sell products directly from their farms rather than first sending them through the OCS distribution centre.

There are five cannabis farmgate stores open in Ontario: Thrive Cannabis, Kingston Cannabis, Level Up, Royal Cannabis Supply Company, and Station House Cannabis Co. There are four other locations that have received a Retail Store Authorization (RSA), but have not opened.

British Columbia and New Brunswick have also implemented their own farmgate programs. New Brunswick now has six such stores, while BC has only one currently.

Featured image of Station House Cannabis’ farmgate store in St. Thomas, ON.

Cannabis Jobs Update – May 2024

Written by Staff on May 6, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News.

Want to work in Canada’s cannabis industry? There are always many different positions offered, from entry-level to executive, from Cultivation to Labs, from Budtending to Brand Reps; there’s an array of jobs available at any given time.

Check out our May 2024 cannabis jobs roundup below for a small snapshot of the numerous positions available in Canada’s cannabis industry.

Retail Cannabis

Cannabis retailer Farmer Jane Cannabis Co. is looking for a Marketing Manager for their store in Regina, SK.

Alberta’s Lake City Cannabis is also hiring.

In Ontario, Sativa Bliss Cannabis is hiring Keyholders, an Assistant Manager, and a Store Manager for their new location opening in Mississauga.

Canna Cabana is hiring a Retail Shift Leader in Tisdale, SK, a Retail Shift Leader in Calgary, AB, and a Retail Assistant Store Manager in Morden, MB.

Boss Cannabis in Port Coquitlam, BC, is hiring a Sales Associate.

Public Sector

The Ontario Cannabis Store is hiring a Senior Communications Advisor.

The BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) is hiring an Operations Manager at its Customer Care Centre for its cannabis operations in Burnaby, BC.

La Société québécoise du cannabis est à la recherche d’un Directeur Régional pour la région de Laval, Laurentides et Abitibi.

Cannabis Producers/Brands

Cronos Group is looking for a Production Manager and a Research Assistant at their Collingwood, ON facility.

Cannabis processor Tricanna Industries Inc. is hiring a Sales Associate on Vancouver Island.

Weed Me Inc. is looking for a Territory Manager in Manitoba.

Cannabis producer Motif Labs is hiring a Supply Planner for their facility in Aylmer, ON. Motif is also looking to hire a Distillation Technician at the same location.

Heritage Cannabis is looking to hire a Brand Ambassador in Vancouver, BC.

Auxley is hiring a Creative Lead in Toronto, ON.

Pure Sunfarms is looking for a Technical Development Manager in Delta, BC.

A hiring agency is recruiting for a member of the Production Team for a medical cannabis provider in Moncton, NB.

SNLD Inc is looking for a Production Labourer for its operation in Kelowna, BC.

And last but not least, Canopy Growth is hiring a Senior Regulatory Affair Officer in Ontario.

Week in Weed – May 4, 2024

Written by Staff on May 4, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, International.

May the Fourth Week in Weed Be With You.

This week at StratCann, we looked at the most recent quarterly sales report from the BC LDB for the first three months of 2024 and shared a guest post looking at how the recent news about what changes to US cannabis laws can mean for Canada.

We also looked at some of the clones and seeds available across Canada for home growers gearing up for the 2024 season, and an announcement from Apollo Green, who is making Humboldt Seed Company cultivars available to the international market.

In Manitoba, two businesses were caught off guard by the province’s recent “pause” on “controlled access” retail cannabis licences.

In financial news, we looked at Cannara and Decibel’s most recent quarterly reports.

A court in BC rejected an appeal from a retail cannabis applicant who was denied by the community of Salt Spring Island.

And lastly, we shared our profile of BC’s Trichome Consulting Services.

In other cannabis news…

A graduate thesis paper from a student at the University of Saskatchewan compares edible cannabis regulations in the US and Canada through a lens of public health and safety.

New research from the University of Toronto says Cannabis users might not be as lazy and unmotivated as popular stereotypes suggest. Who’d a thunk!

Canopy Growth Corporation is expected to receive approximately US $50 million in gross proceeds and exchange approximately C$27.5 million of existing debt maturing in September 2025 for a new senior unsecured convertible debenture as part of an exchange and subscription agreement with a single institutional investor.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. announced, along with MedReleaf Australia, the introduction of a new range of dried cannabis flower products for doctors to prescribe to patients in Australia.

Simply Solventless Concentrates Ltd. released its 2023 annual results, with net revenue of $6,191,646 and net and comprehensive income of $1,040,316. The company sells under Simply Solvents, Frootyhooty, Astro Lab, and Lamplighter. The company says it has now eliminated all long-term debt.

Organigram’s CEO Greg Engel wants the National Cannabis Working Group to push Ottawa to safeguard Canada’s cannabis industry.

Tilray announced the release of a range of new cannabis beverages in Canada.

SNDL Inc., through its joint venture with SunStream Bancorp Inc., intends to proceed with the acquisition of equity positions in US cannabis assets.

The owner of an Indigenous cannabis shop called 8th Fire Co. in Georgina, Ontario will “vigorously defend” his case during an upcoming court session on May 8 in Newmarket. He is seeking to have his charges withdrawn and the cannabis and cash seized by police in a raid returned, as well as affirm what he says is his right as an Indigenous person to sell cannabis off-reserve without a provincial licence.

International Cannabis

The biggest news this week, though, was probably the confirmation that the US DEA will in fact be moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III. The proposal must first be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, then undergo a public comment period and review from an administrative judge, which might take a while.

The announcement caused pot stocks, including Canadian ones, to “jump”, as well as a big spike in headlines overplaying said “spike.”

Manitoba businesses caught off guard by province’s recent “pause” on “controlled access” retail cannabis licences

Written by David Brown on May 3, 2024. Posted in Business, Cannabis News, Government, Manitoba, Producers, Retail.

Two Manitoba businesses say they were caught off guard by a recent change to the province’s cannabis store licensing program, impacting their business plans.

In April, the Manitoba government said it was placing a temporary freeze on any new “controlled access” retail cannabis licences for at least six months while the new provincial government looked into the issue more. These licences for retail cannabis stores allow for cannabis to be sold in convenience stores and gas stations that carry other non-cannabis products.

The province currently lists 205 cannabis stores licensed. Eleven of these stores are “controlled access” stores.

Edwardo Famakin, a spokesperson for Manitoba cannabis producer, WOWKPOW, says he and his partners were “blindsided” by the announcement as they were in the final stages of receiving approval for an agreement with Manitoba retail/gas station Domo to supply the chain with their locally-produced cannabis products.

Famakin tells StratCann that WOWKPOW and Domo had been in talks with the provincial government about their plans to supply five gas stations in the Winnipeg area with cannabis products, and had expected some of the first licences to be issued in May of this year.

Instead, he said he learned of the news that the province was pausing the program in media reports, rather than from the government—something that has left him and his colleagues confused.

He says WOWKPOW signed an agreement in June 2023 with Domo to supply several of their locations with cannabis, an ongoing discussion he says Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MBLL) and the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA) were aware of.

“We all had a big meeting about how we were going to do this,” explains a frustrated Famakin. “Then over the next 11 months we all worked together to get everything ready. So seeing this in the news instead of them informing us, it was gut wrenching. It threw us off.”

Now, he says the company is already having to lay off employees they had hired in expectation of this new agreement.

“The directive I’ve provided to MBLL, through the board chair, is to put a pause on licences for controlled access in urban areas and cities. We do have concerns about the availability of cannabis for young people and we want to make sure that we’re making socially responsible choices. Widespread availability of cannabis outside of an age restricted area is a concern, and we want to make sure we’re balancing availability and social responsibility.”
Glen Simard, the Minister responsible for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation (MBLL)

In a prepared statement sent to StratCann, Douglas and Kate Everett, the chairman and president of Domo Corporation Ltd., said the company was disappointed to hear of the pause on the issuing of licences for Controlled Access Cannabis Stores, a change they blame on lobbying from Manitoba’s Retail Cannabis Council, an organization representing some cannabis stores in the province.

“After a year-long extremely detailed application process, Domo was in the final stages of obtaining Controlled Access Retailer Licences for our five stores when [the] Government derailed the process. We feel it is particularly unfortunate that the Manitoba Government is favouring large out of province chain retailers instead of local Manitoba-based cultivators, distributors, and retailers.”

Some cannabis retailers in the province have in the past expressed concern about such licences. Melanie Bekevich, owner of Mistik Cannabis in Winnipeg and a member of the Retail Cannabis Council of Manitoba (RCCMB), told StratCann earlier this year that the organization had met with the Manitoba government to express their concerns with how these licences are being issued.

“In their review process they should have consulted their regulatory bodies to see the impact of their decisions for stakeholders who had been working with them the entire time. For existing applications already in the system, to just end it without any type of communication or forewarning, is striking.
Edwardo Famakin, WOWKPOW Cannabis

“The RCCMB is pleased that the Minister has been responsive to the industry’s calls for a review on the controlled access licence category,” said Bekevich. “This category was intended to provide access to legal cannabis for rural and remote communities, but we’re seeing most of these licences in Winnipeg and Brandon. A review of the category could ensure controlled access licensing is being used in the spirit of its original intent. The Minister will need to find a balance between limiting exposure of minors to cannabis sales and access for rural remote communities.”

Steven Stairs, the chairperson of the Cannabis Business Association of Manitoba, questions the pause, arguing that Manitoba needs moore access to legal cannabis, not less.

“Why put a moratorium on the Controlled Access licenses? If anything, we need more of these in urban areas to combat the black market. Recent police reports have shown that the black market cannabis industry is selling cannabis through small corner stores and bodegas. Pausing the ability for these types of stores to become legal licensed stores only enables the black market to continue selling out of these locations across the city without obstruction.”

Famakin, at WOWKPOW, says one of his frustrations is that the new provincial government, which replaced the previous government in an election in 2023, had not contacted stakeholders like WOWKPOW or Domo to let them know about the changes in advance.

“In their review process they should have consulted their regulatory bodies to see the impact of their decisions for stakeholders who had been working with them the entire time. For existing applications already in the system, to just end it without any type of communication or forewarning, is striking. I don’t think there’s just cause for the pause. Manitoba producers need more places to sell Manitoba products.”

Glen Simard, Manitoba Minister of Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism, as well as the Minister responsible for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation (MBLL), told StratCann the “pause” on such licences was in urban areas and was based on concerns with young people being able to potentially access cannabis in less-than-secure retail settings.

“We know that when legalization took place, that this was a new and emerging market. As with liquor and lotteries, our focus is on ensuring social responsibility,” Simard tells StratCann. “We want to make sure that people are accessing cannabis in a safe and reliable manner. What we see now is that consumers don’t struggle to access cannabis. With over 200 stores in Manitoba, people in urban areas have access to cannabis.

“The directive I’ve provided to MBLL, through the board chair, is to put a pause on licences for controlled access in urban areas and cities. We do have concerns about the availability of cannabis for young people and we want to make sure that we’re making socially responsible choices. Widespread availability of cannabis outside of an age restricted area is a concern, and we want to make sure we’re balancing availability and social responsibility.”

“I’ll be frank,” he added, “we’re not hearing an overwhelming desire from Manitobans to see cannabis available in convenience stores. That’s why we’re taking the time to do a review and get this right. People would expect this on the liquor side, where we’ve always considered market viability when looking at liquor retail licences.”

Simard also says the new provincial government has no plans of changing Manitoba’s private retail cannabis model into a publicly-owned retail model, despite some claims from the opposition.

“One important side note: We’re not looking to bring cannabis sales under public ownership and are committed to working with our existing retail partners to ensure a continued focus on social responsibility.”

Featured image via Google Maps

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