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.”
