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.
