This week at StratCann, four cannabis companies were included among the top growing companies in Canada, Simply Solventless announced its plan to acquire ANC for $10 million in cash and stock, and Manitobans may finally be able to grow cannabis at home in 2025 legally.
Looking at the most recent figures from Statistics Canada, cannabis sales continue to show signs of levelling off, and David Brown commented on three upcoming provincial elections and how cannabis isn’t really a factor in any of them.
Koppert provided their insight on how to identify and naturally eliminate cannabis pests, while Four20 Premium Markets’s NOI proceedings were continued.
In law enforcement news, Calgary Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man behind several recent cannabis store robberies, four Canadians were caught trying to smuggle cannabis into the UK, and police in Ontario shut down two unlicensed cannabis shops in Niagara Falls.
In other cannabis news…
New Brunswick is seeking applications for a new private cannabis store in Dalhousie. CannabisNB also announced a new cannabis farmgate location in Drummond.
Grow Up founder Randy Rowe spoke with local media about the upcoming Grow Up Conference and Expo in Edmonton from September 29-October 1. (StratCann will be there!)
C3 President Paul McCarthy wrote about the challenges the industry faces with high excise rates in a guest piece in the Hill Times (paywall). And, C3 is hosting a half-day conference in Ottawa on October 1 to discuss these issues.
The European Union Drugs Agency finished a four-day visit to Canada, hosted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, discussing topics that included cannabis initiatives as well as a visit to the SQDC.
Village Farms International Inc., the parent company of Pure Sunfarms, announced that it acquired the remaining equity ownership interest in Leli Holland, B.V. The company also announced that it has completed construction of the Leli Holland cultivation facility in the town of Drachten.
Avant Brands announced that it has entered into an exclusive trademark licensing agreement with Nectar Portfolio Pty Ltd., an Australian medicinal cannabis importer and distributor, marking Avant’s entry into the Australian medical cannabis market with its BLK MKT brand.
Avicanna Inc. announced a medical cannabis study through the MyMedi.ca medical cannabis care platform. The company seeks around 1,000 volunteers for its prospective non-interventional observational study.
Owen Sound, Ontario, hopes to improve safety by installing surveillance cameras paid for with the city’s Community Policing Reserve and Cannabis Reserve Funds.
Local media spoke with residents in Oro-Medonte Ontario about their thoughts on the Medical Saints cannabis operation on the outskirts of Shanty Bay. “Nobody got exactly what they wanted, but we came to an amicable solution,” said the mayor in another article.
La Sûreté du Québec says it has seized thousands of illegally-grown outdoor cannabis plants so far this year.
Quebec is going to court to fight the dumping of contaminated soil along the shores of a lake in the Mohawk community of Kanesatake. Media report that an affidavit from a government investigator names two cannabis dispensaries that have been built along the filled-in shoreline.
Investigators from the ACCES Cannabis Unit of the Quebec City Police Department (SPVQ) arrested a 47-year-old man during a search of a business on rue Saint-Joseph for the illegal sale of cannabis and its derivatives.
Five people now face charges following a series of police raids on two unlicensed Spirit River Cannabis stores in London, Ontario and the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in August.
A Canadian woman caught attempting to bring nearly 18 kg of cannabis into Bermuda, hidden in her suitcase, was jailed for two years.
In international cannabis news…
A new ordinance in Colorado Springs, Colorado, requires that recreational cannabis shops not to be allowed within a one-mile buffer zone from schools, childcare facilities, and alcohol and drug treatment facilities, effectively banning them from most of the city. The city has no such rule for businesses that sell alcohol across the city.
A new report out of the US from a federal advisory panel says US health authorities need to play a more significant role in the nation’s cannabis policy. The report also includes a large section on Canada’s public-health-focused approach to cannabis legalization.
California has banned hemp products that contain any amount of THC in response to concerns with intoxicating substances like delta-8 THC.
Lobbying groups opposing and supporting a congressional effort to reign in the free-for-all around “intoxicating” hemp-derived cannabinoids in the US under the Farm Bill have ramped up their efforts in 2024 (paywall).
Kentucky awarded the first business license for its startup medical cannabis program, selecting a laboratory that will be assigned to test products before they are offered to patients. A lottery to award licenses to cultivators and processors will be held on October 28. The lottery for retail licenses will be announced later but will likely be in November.
And lastly, The US Security Exchange Commission issued fines of $175k each to two former Weedmaps executives for “negligent misrepresentations” of the company’s user numbers.
