This past week, we covered BC allowing cannabis retailers to receive cannabis samples from producers, a new paper looking at cannabis use among young Canadians before and after legalization, and the story of a Quebec police officer under investigation following alleged perjury in a medical cannabis case.
We also shared Labstat’s four ways to solve the potency inflation problem and published a profile on seed-to-sale solution provider CertiCraft.
In other news this past week:
Cannabis Now shared highlights from the recent Haul, err, Hall of Flowers in Ontario.
Pubcos:
Heritage Cannabis shared its Q3 2023 report with net revenue of just $8.1 million and a comprehensive loss of just over $1 million.
Auxly Cannabis Group announced that it received an interim extension of the maturity date of the amended and restated credit facility between its wholly-owned subsidiary Auxly Leamington Inc. and a syndicate of lenders, led by the Bank of Montreal as administrative agent, until November 30, 2023.
Greenway Cannabis announced two new SKUs accepted by the OCS through the Winter 2023-2024 product call: a 7g package of Berry Sunset and their MillRite branded 2×0.5g pre-rolls of Lavender Haze.
Tilray announced its new ‘Let ‘Er Rip’ campaign, with four new dried flower SKUs and two Crumble Cones pre-rolls.
SNDL and Nova Cannabis are still waiting on one provincial regulator to finish reviewing their plan for a strategic partnership. SNDL and Nova anticipate that the transaction will close on or before October 30, 2023, subject to receipt of regulatory approval. But the closing date has been delayed several times for the same reason.
Aurora Cannabis says it will raise $33.8 million in share offering to Canaccord Genuity for 46,250,000 company shares at a price of 73 cents per share.
Research
A study from the University of Calgary found that people with a cannabis use disorder (CUD) are at greater risk of experiencing a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event than those without the condition.
The overall prevalence of documented CUD was 0.8% and is defined as a problematic pattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, including an unsuccessful desire to quit, often consuming more cannabis than intended, and spending a great deal of time seeking, using, and recovering from cannabis.
Approximately 2.4 percent and 1.5 percent of participants in the CUD and unexposed groups experienced an adverse cardiovascular disease event. The study says it cannot causally attribute the elevated risk to CUD.
Also, the Globe and Mail covered the groundbreaking news that cannabis labels inflate THC potency contained in products, with comments from Borna Zlamalik from OrganiGram, Rob O’Brien from Supra Research, John Slaughter from High North, Gord Nichol from North 40, and Miguel Martin from Aurora Cannabis.
Law Enforcement
A Manitoba woman who was arrested last November for allegedly handing out THC-infused candies on Halloween has now pleaded guilty to one charge of supplying cannabis to a young person and one charge of possessing cannabis that is not packed, labelled, and stamped, both being offences under the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act.
Following an investigation that lasted more than two and a half years, the Sûreté du Québec seized more than 56,000 cannabis plants for which the alleged illegal producers had 88 registration certificates for personal production for medical purposes issued by Health Canada.
Reports LaPress: “In summary, this investigation demonstrates that a group of individuals are at the head of a criminal cell that fraudulently uses certificates to produce illicit cannabis on a large scale. Several people are used as nominees to obtain registration certificates from Health Canada.
Le Canada Francais shared additional info on these raids.
Police in Quebec also announced the seizure of tens of thousands of plants and 2.5 tons of dried cannabis in a series of raids, while police in New Brunswick raided a store seizing cannabis products.
Nova Scotia RCMP and US Homeland Security Investigations announced the disruption of an international drug ring that included a large quantity of cocaine and cannabis. The network, considered one of the more sophisticated drug trafficking networks within Atlantic Canada, was facilitating the movement of imported cocaine throughout Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.
International Cannabis
The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a “markup” on the SAFER Banking Act. The bill passed, and it now goes to the Senate and the House for more debate, amendment, and votes before hopefully proceeding to President Biden’s desk. SAFER is the new version of SAFE, seeking to address banking limitations for cannabis businesses in the US.
