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Law Canada MJ News

Ontario will scrap lottery system, move to expand retail cannabis market in 2020

The provincial government says that it is scrapping the lottery system for cannabis shop permits and will begin issuing dozens of new retail permits in the spring as part of efforts to open up the weed market.

In its recent fiscal update, the province said that it would move to do away with the lottery system, which has faced criticism.
On Thursday, the province unveiled a timeline for issuing new retail cannabis permits, saying that applications for prospective owners will open on Jan. 6, with the first new licenses to be distributed in April.

Speaking with CP24 Thursday evening, Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey said the government wanted to go to an open market model from the start, but needed time to manage the changes and ensure adequate supply.

“We wanted to go at a pace so that we could actually make sure the supply was there and that was part of the constraint,” Downey said. “And now that the federal supply has been solved, we are now in a position to go much wider and faster.”

Beginning in April next year, the province will issue approximately 20 new pot store authorizations.

Prospective owners will still be subjected to criminal record checks and an approval process.

“We have to do this in a responsible way to make sure that we have top quality operators in the best spots," Downey said.

The province said it will eliminate the temporary cap on the number of private stores and cancel the pre-qualification requirements for prospective retailers.

Previously, applicants will have to show evidence that if they are selected, they have already secured retail space that could be used as a store and that they have enough capital to open it by providing a bank letter confirming access to $250,000 cash and another confirming the ability to get a $50,000 standby letter of credit.

Under the new guidelines, legal cannabis producers will also be allowed to enter the retail market by opening shops on their premises. Also, retailers will be able to sell cannabis-related items such as magazines and cookbooks.

Starting September next year, retail operators can own a maximum of 30 cannabis stores. It will increase to 75 in September 2021.
 
This should go under the category of Atrocious Cannabis News.....

"are Smart Serve trained and, as such, are prohibited from selling alcohol to intoxicated individuals or those showing signs of intoxication. We trust our colleagues to exercise discretion in the interest of public safety.”

Well, their "discretion" sure looks a lot like self-righteous judgement and reflections of the clerk's prejudices. What was the sign that she was impaired....the smell? sigh

CAN MJ users....I would avoid Loblaw if I were you and could do so.

Canada: Medical marijuana user refused alcohol sale at Loblaw after cashier smells Cannabis

A medical marijuana user was turned away from an Ottawa Loblaw store, after a cashier refused to sell her beer, because the cashier said the customer smelled like cannabis.

Christie Southward uses marijuana for back pain and anxiety, but she had not been using when she went shopping at the McArthur Avenue Loblaw this week.
“At first I thought he was joking and he was very serious”, Southward told CTV Ottawa.



“I was getting my groceries, and when it came to my alcohol, the cashier stopped and said he will not sell it to me because I smelled like pot”, she said.
Southward says she had not used marijuana that day, and believes the cashier smelled it on her jacket.

“I was hurt, I was embarrassed. I shouldn’t have to talk with strangers about my medication. I was so angry I felt like crying”, she said.
Southward asked to speak with a supervisor and a manager who refused to override the cashier’s judgement.
In a statement, Loblaw defended the cashier’s decision.

“Colleagues who handle and sell alcohol in our stores are Smart Serve trained and, as such, are prohibited from selling alcohol to intoxicated individuals or those showing signs of intoxication. We trust our colleagues to exercise discretion in the interest of public safety.”

Southward understands Smart Serve training and supports it, but insists she was not impaired.

“I had to explain to a manager that I am a chronic pain patient, I have a license to smoke. I’m sure if it happened to me it’s going to happen to other people”, said Southward.
 
Medical Marijuana Firms Discussed Using Banned Pesticides

Two years before Canada’s medical-marijuana sector became embroiled in a tainted cannabis scare, the trade organization representing the majority of commercial growers explored using banned pesticides on their products, according to newly obtained documents.

Meeting minutes and confidential e-mails sent in 2015 to more than a dozen companies on the subject, show that some industry members supported using prohibited chemicals such as myclobutanil – a pesticide that produces hydrogen cyanide when combusted and can lead to serious health problems.

Though the application for approval was never carried out, myclobutanil is now at the centre of a controversy over patient safety in the sector after two companies – Mettrum Ltd. and OrganiGram Inc. – were found selling products contaminated with the banned substance.

The discovery has led to the largest recalls the young industry has seen, resulting in the destruction of more than $1-million of tainted product and it has spawned two proposed class action lawsuits on behalf of patients who unknowingly ingested the chemical.

It has also raised questions about Health Canada’s oversight of the new industry.

The industry was created three years ago by the federal government to provide safe, pharmaceutical-quality products that could be trusted by doctors and patients, including those with compromised immune systems.

While myclobutanil is known as a prohibited, potentially dangerous chemical when inhaled, the documents from 2015 show the industry contemplated using it nonetheless.

According to minutes from a Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association (CMCIA) conference call held in February that year, two federally licensed medical marijuana growers, Tilray and MedReleaf, were in favour of seeking federal approval for the right to use myclobutanil and were seeking broader industry support for the idea.

A third company, Thunderbird Medical, wanted permission to use the chemicals AzaMax and Spinosad, which were prohibited under federal rules.

It is not known from the meeting minutes which licensed producers, or LPs, supported the proposal and which opposed the idea. However, a Jan. 28 e-mail obtained by The Globe and Mail shows that one member of the industry group, a company called MedCannAccess, which is now owned by Canopy Growth Corp., wanted to “get input from all LPs” before proceeding.

The documents suggest the desire to use such chemicals in Canada’s medical marijuana sector was greater than originally believed. In 2015, the CMCIA represented the majority of the roughly two dozen medical marijuana companies licensed at the time. The group, which has since changed its name to Cannabis Canada Association, hired Ottawa lobbying firm Capital Hill Group to explore the pesticide approvals with the federal government.

Asked about those efforts this week, Tilray executive Philippe Lucas, who sat on the committee that organized the conference call, said he could not remember spearheading the idea. In the minutes from that meeting, Mr. Lucas is listed as the person who would “draft the letter” asking to use myclobutanil.

Reached by phone, Mr. Lucas requested The Globe send its questions via e-mail. A Tilray spokesman then followed up, saying that many licensed producers in 2015 were interested in seeking regulatory approval for using myclobutanil, which is typically used to fight costly outbreaks of powdery mildew that can devastate cannabis crops.

To gain approval, the companies needed assistance from the manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences, which needed to supply Health Canada with safety data for the product. The federal government would have to evaluate “the safety and efficacy of this product for use on cannabis,” Tilray spokesman Zack Hutson said.

The Globe reported in September that Tilray sought to lobby the B.C. government in March, 2015, for help in getting the pesticide approved federally, according to the province’s lobbyist registry. However, it was not known that the industry conducted broader discussions and that more than one company supported the use of myclobutanil and other banned products.

Tilray abandoned the lobbying effort in B.C. after Health Canada issued a list of 13 approved pesticides that could be used instead. Mr. Hutson said Tilray has not used myclobutanil. The company has since left the trade group.

A spokesman for MedReleaf, the other company listed in the meeting minutes as supporting the idea, said its CEO Neil Closner does not remember specifics of the trade association’s conversations. The spokesman said myclobutanil has never entered the company’s facility in Markham, Ont., and that it tests for the compound regularly.

Sandy Pratt, CFO of Thunderbird Medical, now known as Emerald Health Botanicals, said her company was once briefly interested in using AzaMax and Spinosad, but dropped the idea in favour of more natural – and approved – pest-control methods. Her company has never used any prohibited chemicals on its crops and tests regularly for myclobutanil, she added.

The fungicidal pesticide myclobutanil is approved for foods such as grapes, because it can be safely metabolized by the digestive system. However, when used on plants that are smoked, the chemical enters the bloodstream directly through the lungs. When the banned pesticide problem emerged in Canada’s medical marijuana sector a few months ago, Dow AgroSciences said it would not support the use of myclobutanil on cannabis.

Not all companies in the trade group supported the idea though. Eric Nash, whose company Island Harvest is seeking to be licensed by Health Canada, was part of the discussions. When ed by The Globe this week, Mr. Nash said he was shocked by the February, 2015, internal group e-mail asking whether he wanted to be part of a wider push for more chemicals.

“It gave me an uneasy feeling about the pesticide issue,” he said, particularly since he was an organic grower. “[It] certainly made me question: ‘Do I really want to be involved in the association if it’s going to be condoning the widespread use of pesticides in the industry?’”

Mr. Nash said he had no inclination to get to the bottom of the pesticide issue at the time because the trade group had just notified companies who were not yet licensed, like his, that they would soon be voted out as members.

In September, before the pesticide was discovered at the two companies, Health Canada said it would take a zero-tolerance approach to the use of myclobutanil and other banned products.

However, the regulator told The Globe in January that the government had, in fact, not been testing for banned pesticides, because the industry knew it should not be using those chemicals – which essentially left the companies to police themselves.

Health Canada has since attached conditions to the licences of Mettrum and OrganiGram, requiring them to test products regularly to show they are clean. The regulator also announced the rest of the industry, comprised of 38 companies, would undergo random spot checks. But patients tell The Globe they are wary of trusting the industry, if producers aren’t subject to regular testing.

Mr. Nash, an expert witness in the Federal Court case that overhauled the medical-marijuana laws last year, said he has been telling Health Canada for years that it should require third-party testing of all medical marijuana.

“This plant does not require the use of any pesticide, herbicide, fungicide or insecticide,” he said. “My philosophy is that cannabis should be produced as if you were growing it for consumption by a family member, partner or friend that you love. … This should be a guiding principle for the Canadian government, as regulator, and for each producer and supplier as distributors to consumers.”
 
To put this in perspective, that comes to $24/per annum of purchases for each and every Canadian of which there are about 35M. Yes, that counts children, geriatrics, etc. But I think it does add a bit of perspective to this touted figure.

Canada sold $908 million of legal cannabis in one year


Statistics Canada is reporting nearly $1 billion in non-medical cannabis sales across the country in the first year of legalization in its latest report.

The report, called The Retail Cannabis Market in Canada: A Portrait of the First Year, summarized sales over Canada’s first year of cannabis legalization.

It shows the industry made $908 million total in online and retail sales in the first year, or $24 per capita.

Ontario led all provinces in sales with $217 million between Oct. 2018 and Sept. 2019, followed by Alberta with $196 million and Quebec with $195 million. No other province reached above $100 million in sales.

British Columbia, one of the four most populous provinces, reported relatively low sales given its number of cannabis stores at $50 million. The province also had the lowest sales per capita in the country at $10.

StatsCan says sales differences can be explained due to how each provincial government rolled out the stores over the year, as well as other factors, such as competition from the illicit market.

Ontario has had a slow rollout of stores, ranking 5th in the country with 24 stores in July 2019, but its retail sales have beat Alberta, the country’s leader in cannabis stores at 176.

The total number of stores in Canada rose from 217 in March 2019 to 407 in July 2019 — an increase of 88%, the agency says.

B.C. had the second-highest number of stores at 57 in July, while Nunavut has the least with no stores, followed by Prince Edward Island and Yukon with four.

The report states that 19% of Canadians live at least three kilometres from a cannabis store as of July 2019, while 30% live 30 km and 45% live 10 km away.

Albertans live the closest to a store, with half the population living within three kilometres, 63% within five kilometres and 70% within 10 km.

Ontarians on average live the furthest from physical stores, with nine per cent of the population living within three kilometres, 18% within five kilometres and 33% within 10 km.

As more retail stores have opened, online sales have fallen. They’ve gone down from 43.4% of all sales in October 2018 to 5.9% in September 2019. Online sales have made up 13.3% of total sales since legalization.
 
Bcbud said:
federal legalization has some positive bits.
Click to expand...
Oh, no doubt about it.

I'm seeing it all over here in the US. State governments and bureaucracies are generally doing a great imitation of fucking things up entirely, but that still way better than it being a felony, right?
 
'There's just no money coming in': Cannabis sector bracing for wave of insolvencies in 2020
Oversupply, declining prices, and a slow rollout of stores in Ontario has led to consecutive quarters of weak revenue for many licensed producers




Cannabis industry insiders are bracing for a slew of bankruptcies in the coming year as small and medium-sized companies low on cash struggle to raise funds in the downtrodden sector.

“We have had a busy few years, but next year we’re going to be busy for a different reason — we expect a few million dollars in legal fees from insolvencies and consolidation,” said Ranjeev Dhillon, a partner at McCarthy Tetrault LLP and the firm’s cannabis group lead.

Dhillon says that his team is already seeing companies that are heading down that path.

“Companies that cannot distinguish their brands and don’t have the money to keep up operations on existing facilities will not be able to carry forward,” he told the Financial Post in an interview. “The only kind of money you can raise right now, if at all, is debt.”

There are currently more than 200 cannabis companies either in the cultivation, processing or extraction businesses, primarily supplying a domestic market that has yet to cross the $1 billion mark in annual sales.

Although cannabis sales have been increasing on a monthly basis since legalization in October 2018, inventory has been growing much more quickly, resulting in oversupply and declining prices.

That dynamic, coupled with a slow rollout in the number of cannabis stores in Ontario — which, to a large extent, choked the supply chain — has led to consecutive quarters of weak revenue for many licensed producers.

“We are definitely going to see some companies struggle. We’ve already seen two companies file for bankruptcy protection, and they certainly won’t be the last,” said Greg Engel, CEO of Organigram Holdings Inc., which has also been hit by slumping sales.

In December, Wayland Group Corp., one of the first pot companies to obtain a cultivation licence, filed for creditor protection. Two months earlier, DionyMed Brands Inc. had entered into receivership after failing to repay debt.

“Companies that don’t have a good cost structure will be in a really difficult position. It’s not about growing cannabis anymore, it’s about how efficient you are as a consumer packaged goods producer,” Engel added.

It’s not about growing cannabis anymore, it’s about how efficient you are as a consumer packaged goods producer
Greg Engel, CEO of Organigram Holdings
Click to expand...
For Narbe Alexandrian, CEO of Canopy Rivers Inc., the venture capital arm of Canopy Growth Corp., the ongoing lack of institutional investor interest is the sector’s biggest red flag going into 2020.

“There’s just no money coming in, so if you have a low cash balance, you might be in trouble,” Alexandrian said. “We haven’t seen the blood on the streets yet.”

Quebec licensed producer Hexo Corp. saw its stock price plunge 20 per cent over the holiday period after it announced a discounted equity raise of US$25 million on Dec. 26. The company issued 15 million new shares at a price that was approximately 14 per cent below its closing price before markets closed on Christmas Eve.

The company had previously raised $70 million through a convertible debt deal, and introduced a new discounted dried flower product called Original Stash (priced roughly 50 per cent below market value), in an effort to boost its cash position.

A Hexo Corp. greenhouse in Gatineau, Quebec.

A Hexo Corp. greenhouse in Gatineau, Quebec. Chris Roussakis/Bloomberg files

Pablo Zuanic, an analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald called the deal “surprising.”

“Given the company had raised $70 million in convertible debentures after the October quarter, and had entered into an after-market facility to raise equity, we wonder about the need for these extra $32 million proceeds,” he wrote in a note to clients.

CIBC pot analyst John Zamparo had earlier forecast that Hexo’s “burn rate” of approximately $45 million per quarter suggested that the company would need additional funds by June 2020, or risk operating with just $5 million in cash.

Though he declined to name specific companies that could possibly face bankruptcy in 2020, McCarthy’s Dhillon said that he “wouldn’t be surprised if some of the more well-known licensed producers run into major cash issues.”

“You might be able to borrow money, but it will be very restricted, onerous terms. I think that’s when you’ll start seeing the private equity players and hedge funds get more involved because they’ll be able to strip these companies of assets that don’t make sense and restructure,” Dhillon added.

The rollout of major new product lines as part of the legalization of edibles presents a significant risk to producers.

Most of the major licensed producers — Canopy Growth Corp., Hexo and Tilray — have invested heavily in cannabis-infused drinks that will hit the market in the first quarter of 2020, but some industry observers are predicting that beverages might be a failed venture altogether.

drinks.jpg

Cannabis-infused drinks production at Canopy Growth’s Smith Falls, Ont., facility. Julie Oliver/Postmedia files

“When you look at the established markets in the U.S. — California, Oregon and Colorado — beverages are just two per cent of those markets. They never really took off,” said Jerome Hass of Lightwater Partners Ltd.

Hass believes that certain licensed producers are vastly overstating the impact beverages will have on overall sales. He says his company invested in a small brewery in Waterloo, Ont., that he once thought would be a “perfect play” for cannabis-infused drinks.

“They had a canning facility, and excess capacity so we thought these guys would be a prime beneficiary of cannabis 2.0. But management recently told us they spoke to a number of major LPs about the process of making cannabis drinks and decided the opportunity wasn’t worth their time,” Hass said.

A key aspect to the success of cannabis-infused drinks and edibles are the onset and offset times — how long it will take for the consumer to feel the “high” from the product, and subsequently, to sober up.

“Most companies are making gummies, chocolates, candies, drinks. So where the true innovation comes in will be who masters the onset and offset,” said Alexandrian, though he admits that many companies have been spreading themselves too thin in the race to offer up a variety of cannabis 2.0 products.

“I’m not sure yet what products will do well. It’s too early to tell. But the test for the industry going forward, next year and beyond, will be which companies can survive as consumer packaged goods companies. They need to be dead-set focused on how to deliver the best experience for the consumer. Those are the companies to invest in,” he said.
 
momofthegoons said:
'There's just no money coming in': Cannabis sector bracing for wave of insolvencies in 2020
Oversupply, declining prices, and a slow rollout of stores in Ontario has led to consecutive quarters of weak revenue for many licensed producers




Cannabis industry insiders are bracing for a slew of bankruptcies in the coming year as small and medium-sized companies low on cash struggle to raise funds in the downtrodden sector.

“We have had a busy few years, but next year we’re going to be busy for a different reason — we expect a few million dollars in legal fees from insolvencies and consolidation,” said Ranjeev Dhillon, a partner at McCarthy Tetrault LLP and the firm’s cannabis group lead.

Dhillon says that his team is already seeing companies that are heading down that path.

“Companies that cannot distinguish their brands and don’t have the money to keep up operations on existing facilities will not be able to carry forward,” he told the Financial Post in an interview. “The only kind of money you can raise right now, if at all, is debt.”

There are currently more than 200 cannabis companies either in the cultivation, processing or extraction businesses, primarily supplying a domestic market that has yet to cross the $1 billion mark in annual sales.

Although cannabis sales have been increasing on a monthly basis since legalization in October 2018, inventory has been growing much more quickly, resulting in oversupply and declining prices.

That dynamic, coupled with a slow rollout in the number of cannabis stores in Ontario — which, to a large extent, choked the supply chain — has led to consecutive quarters of weak revenue for many licensed producers.

“We are definitely going to see some companies struggle. We’ve already seen two companies file for bankruptcy protection, and they certainly won’t be the last,” said Greg Engel, CEO of Organigram Holdings Inc., which has also been hit by slumping sales.

In December, Wayland Group Corp., one of the first pot companies to obtain a cultivation licence, filed for creditor protection. Two months earlier, DionyMed Brands Inc. had entered into receivership after failing to repay debt.

“Companies that don’t have a good cost structure will be in a really difficult position. It’s not about growing cannabis anymore, it’s about how efficient you are as a consumer packaged goods producer,” Engel added.


For Narbe Alexandrian, CEO of Canopy Rivers Inc., the venture capital arm of Canopy Growth Corp., the ongoing lack of institutional investor interest is the sector’s biggest red flag going into 2020.

“There’s just no money coming in, so if you have a low cash balance, you might be in trouble,” Alexandrian said. “We haven’t seen the blood on the streets yet.”

Quebec licensed producer Hexo Corp. saw its stock price plunge 20 per cent over the holiday period after it announced a discounted equity raise of US$25 million on Dec. 26. The company issued 15 million new shares at a price that was approximately 14 per cent below its closing price before markets closed on Christmas Eve.

The company had previously raised $70 million through a convertible debt deal, and introduced a new discounted dried flower product called Original Stash (priced roughly 50 per cent below market value), in an effort to boost its cash position.

A Hexo Corp. greenhouse in Gatineau, Quebec.

A Hexo Corp. greenhouse in Gatineau, Quebec. Chris Roussakis/Bloomberg files

Pablo Zuanic, an analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald called the deal “surprising.”

“Given the company had raised $70 million in convertible debentures after the October quarter, and had entered into an after-market facility to raise equity, we wonder about the need for these extra $32 million proceeds,” he wrote in a note to clients.

CIBC pot analyst John Zamparo had earlier forecast that Hexo’s “burn rate” of approximately $45 million per quarter suggested that the company would need additional funds by June 2020, or risk operating with just $5 million in cash.

Though he declined to name specific companies that could possibly face bankruptcy in 2020, McCarthy’s Dhillon said that he “wouldn’t be surprised if some of the more well-known licensed producers run into major cash issues.”

“You might be able to borrow money, but it will be very restricted, onerous terms. I think that’s when you’ll start seeing the private equity players and hedge funds get more involved because they’ll be able to strip these companies of assets that don’t make sense and restructure,” Dhillon added.

The rollout of major new product lines as part of the legalization of edibles presents a significant risk to producers.

Most of the major licensed producers — Canopy Growth Corp., Hexo and Tilray — have invested heavily in cannabis-infused drinks that will hit the market in the first quarter of 2020, but some industry observers are predicting that beverages might be a failed venture altogether.

drinks.jpg

Cannabis-infused drinks production at Canopy Growth’s Smith Falls, Ont., facility. Julie Oliver/Postmedia files

“When you look at the established markets in the U.S. — California, Oregon and Colorado — beverages are just two per cent of those markets. They never really took off,” said Jerome Hass of Lightwater Partners Ltd.

Hass believes that certain licensed producers are vastly overstating the impact beverages will have on overall sales. He says his company invested in a small brewery in Waterloo, Ont., that he once thought would be a “perfect play” for cannabis-infused drinks.

“They had a canning facility, and excess capacity so we thought these guys would be a prime beneficiary of cannabis 2.0. But management recently told us they spoke to a number of major LPs about the process of making cannabis drinks and decided the opportunity wasn’t worth their time,” Hass said.

A key aspect to the success of cannabis-infused drinks and edibles are the onset and offset times — how long it will take for the consumer to feel the “high” from the product, and subsequently, to sober up.

“Most companies are making gummies, chocolates, candies, drinks. So where the true innovation comes in will be who masters the onset and offset,” said Alexandrian, though he admits that many companies have been spreading themselves too thin in the race to offer up a variety of cannabis 2.0 products.

“I’m not sure yet what products will do well. It’s too early to tell. But the test for the industry going forward, next year and beyond, will be which companies can survive as consumer packaged goods companies. They need to be dead-set focused on how to deliver the best experience for the consumer. Those are the companies to invest in,” he said.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it ain't just CAN. Governments all around the USA have been busying pretending that they know how to stand up a regulated industry...and fucking it up royally.

Might want to keep that in mind during this election cycle as various empty suits stand up on a stage and tell you how they are going to regulate industry and run the economy. Yeah, right...haha
 
Properly Cured Cannabis is not Available from Licensed Producers

Smoking weed from Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) (FRA:11L1) or Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB) (NYSE:ACB) (FRA:21P) or Aphria Inc (TSX:APHA) (NYSE:APHA) (FRA:10E) is not a pleasant experience for the throat. Invariably, most of the product available from any licensed cannabis producer has harsh effects on the throat resulting in coughing and agitation to the airways. This is because the cannabis on the shelf of your local dispensary has not been properly “cured” prior to shipment.

What is cannabis “curing”?
Curing of cannabis is the process of sealing and airing cannabis once it has been dried to cause the caustic elements within the buds to become less agitating to throat and lung tissue when combusted. Residual nutrients, chlorophyl, starches and sugars are all present in the drying buds, and remain so after moisture content has been reduced to the ~60% point where it is dry enough to smoke.

This is accomplished by sealing the buds in air-tight jars or stainless steel cannisters, storing them in a dark, cool (14 – 18°C) area, and opening the lids and allowing the air to be exchanged inside the jars for one hour or so each day. During this process, the metabolic processing of the residual volatiles is carried out by anaerobic and aerobic bacteria in turn.

In the commercial cannabis world, this is where the bud gets packaged and sealed and in many cases irradiated prior to shipping off to dispensaries where they remain sealed until the consumer buys it and smokes it.

The result is a harsh smoke that has not been allowed to cure for the additional 60 days necessary to allow the gradual off-gassing of these residual compounds at a slow and gradual rate. When cannabis is properly dried and cured, it has a rich mellow throat-feel that does not cause any agitation or coughing, and generally provides a much more satisfying flavour and effect as well.

A huge portion of the cannabis consuming public is unaware of, unconvinced of, or indifferent to this important distinction between cannabis that has been merely dried, or even worse – speed dried using accelerated airflow and temperatures and (worst of all) microwave processes to reduce drying time.

Commercial cannabis growers lack both the knowledge (in my experience) and the time and space to properly cure cannabis after drying.

Who wins in the non-cured cannabis world?
Because large commercial growers fail to undertake the process of curing in their product preparation processes, unlicensed growers are the beneficiaries of that segment of the cannabis consumer market who prizes properly-cured cannabis. And because as consumers mature and develop the palette and experience of coughing from harsh non-cured weed they will ultimately begin to seek out the superior product inherent in properly cured buds, the impetus toward the preservation of a robust and profitable black market will continue.

The first licensed cannabis producer to clue in and mandate a proper curing process prior to shipping and packaging their cannabis will likely be the beneficiary of increased sales over time. I’m still waiting to hear any of the LP’s cotton on to that simple fact, and think about this all-important step as a competitive differentiator that equates to a serious edge over the competition.
 
Pest problems grow with Canadian cannabis industry

Scientists are in a battle to learn what kinds of pests and diseases pose a risk to cannabis and how to beat them.

Amanda Brown’s job requires a knowledge of both biology and battle strategy.

As a biological crop protection specialist, she sends “armies” of beneficial insects in search of the pests that devour B.C. crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers — and now, cannabis.

“It’s a beautiful system,” she said. “It’s a very holistic approach.”

With legal cannabis cultivation still in its early days, scientists are in a fight to learn what kinds of pests and diseases pose a risk to the plants and how to beat them.
“Pests and diseases are on the increase,” said Zamir Punja, a professor in plant biotechnology at Simon Fraser University. “It definitely represents a challenge to the industry.”

As the overall area of cannabis production increases, so do the problems and their chances of spreading. Growers across North America are currently facing a root aphid outbreak that appears to have started in Colorado.

Punja said the appearance of pests in the regulated industry was predictable. Spider mites, for example, are an issue for growers of almost every crop in B.C.
“It’s certainly not unexpected to see them,” agreed Brown, who works for Biobest Canada.

But other pests are less common.

“Pests that only target cannabis are more difficult to treat. We’ve had less time to study what works,” she said.

Bugs like cannabis aphids aren’t new, but in the previously illegal industry, growers weren’t limited by regulations.

“If they came upon these tricky pests, they could spray something and nobody would know,” she said.
Health Canada regulations forbid the use of chemical pesticides, including some that have been deemed safe for use in food production, meaning growers must depend on an arsenal of organic and biological products, including beneficial insects.

“It’s not as simple as replacing Chemical X with Bug Y,” said Brown.

The specialist helps growers develop pest-control programs that are tailored to their crops, growing style and pest problems. She believes that in time cannabis production and pest-management strategies will become more standardized across Canada.

Punja, too, is at the forefront of disease-management practices. His focus is on identifying the problem and how it arrived at a specific facility, whether it was through movement of plant material or on a worker’s clothing.

Prevention and management often involve cleanliness, as well as the quarantine of infected plants.

The scientist believes Health Canada may eventually approve more products for pest management, but research is needed to make the case to the federal Health Ministry. The companies that produce chemical pesticides may be reluctant to undertake the research or make the application since many of them are based in the U.S. where cannabis is still illegal under federal law.

A limited number of products approved for cannabis — about 21 non-chemical approaches, compared with almost 100 chemical and non-chemical approaches for tomatoes — means Canadian cannabis growers must be innovative to deal with pests.

“In talking to producers, they seem very keen to try new things,” said Punja. “I don’t see this hindering them.”
 
Quality control at scale still a challenge for Canadian cannabis industry, says prof


'I think a lot of growers need to get back to basic agronomy,' says Bill MacDonald

wdr-bill-macdonald.JPG

Bill MacDonald is the coordinator of the commercial cannabis production program and a professor at Niagara College. (Submitted by Bill MacDonald)

Scaling up high quality pot production is still challenging for the Canadian industry, accoding to a Niagara College cannabis professor.

Bill MacDonald, coordinator of the commercial cannabis production program, said producers are also having difficulties with pest control and crop management.

"[Cannabis is] a very unique plant, but I think a lot of growers need to get back to basic agronomy and take in the knowledge like we're producing at Niagara College, and just say 'OK, we're going to go in, we're going to actually look at what controls powdery mildew, what controls the cannabis aphid?'" said MacDonald.

Part of the problem, according to MacDonald, is that inexperienced growers — or those who previously only had experience with black market cannabis growing operations — aren't accustomed to producing large quantities of cannabis in line with Health Canada regulations.

"It's a completely new ballgame when you're growing with Health Canada," he said.

wdr-niagara-college-cannabunker.JPG

Students with Niagara College's Commercial Cannabis Production program in the school's 'CannaBunker.'(Submitted by Bill MacDonald)

MacDonald said any producers looking for cannabis production advice should look to the tomato and vegetable industry, especially in southwestern Ontario.

"There's so much expertise down here in the greenhouse vegetable industry and I'd say it gives people like that an advantage, because they know the logistics, they know labour management … they know environmental controls," he said. "I would give a lot of advantage to a lot of high-tech greenhouses down here, especially in the Leamington area."

MacDonald is set to deliver a talk titled 'What's That Smell?' at the Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, Ont. Tuesday.

His talk will touch on the opportunities and challenges facing the cannabis industry.
 
Health Canada Issues Recall for Cannabis Oil Capsules

The federal health agency of Canada, Health Canada, released approximately 770 mislabelled bottles of cannabis oil capsules in New Brunswick. Following this, the agency has issued a recall of these capsules.

The capsules, labeled as Namaste CBD Light gelcaps, were THC gelcaps. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the psychoactive compound in marijuana. When used or taken, this can make the user undergo a state of intoxication and may alter their current state of mind.

Zenabis Ltd. is the main producer of the said products. The retailer for the said products is Cannabis NB.

The gelcaps were reportedly labeled as 6.13 milligrams of cannabidiol, alongside 0.19 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol. The products were recalled upon discovering that the capsules released to the public did not have CBD. Instead, it contained 2.247 milligrams of THC.

In a notice released by Health Canada, the agency revealed that 786 CBD products were sold last October 7, 2019. Each bottle contained 15 capsules.

Zenabis spokesperson Jordan Owens revealed in a statement that “Cannabis NB has confirmed to us that 603 units are still in stock (i.e. unsold) to be returned to Zenabis.”

Despite not receiving any complaints, the department decided to issue a recall on the products on just this Tuesday, December 17, 2019. Meanwhile, Zenabis Ltd. only received one complaint pertaining to the recalled batch.

In a statement, Health Canada said, “These units contain the incorrect cannabis product. The label indicates that the product is ‘CBD Light gelcaps. However, the units contain THC gelcaps.”

This event is the second unfortunate incident to hit Zenabis Ltd.in a short period. This 2019, a prior mishap also occurred due to mislabelling their products.

Per TheGrowthOp, Zenabis Ltd. sold a batch of Wappa dried flowers and labelled the product with 6.57 percent THC and 12.1 percent CBD. However, TheGrowthOp says that the actual content comes up to a whopping 17.3 percent THC and 0.07 CBD.

Voluntary Recall on Cannabis Oil Capsules
Following this incident, Zenabis Ltd. reportedly issued a voluntary product recall after it sold the said batch via the Société québecoise du cannabis platform.

In the event consumers have purchased goods that are part of the recall list, the Canadian agency urges customers to return it immediately. Moreover, concerned individuals may also reach out to Cannabis NB at 1-833-821-2195.

Though Cannabis NB said it had already “posted notices for customers to make them aware of the recall,” CBC reports that the business has yet to post the incident or the recall on their page or in their respective social media platforms.
 
SOLVENTS IN CANADA’S LEGAL CANNABIS EXTRACTS

Ever since the legalization of cannabis in Canada, a list of permitted solvents has been provided to producers. The maximum residual limits for 36 solvents allowed in extracts have not changed, unlike the 96 pesticides restricted for cannabis cultivation, which has seen a recent shift. Each solvent has an allowance of 5000 ppm in cannabis extracts in Canada.

At a glance, the permitted solvents might seem confusing even to those that are knowledgable in regular extract production. Solvents like ethanol, CO2, and butane do not raise concerns for caution. A search deep into the web will even lead people to learn about Methyethyl Ketone (MEK) hash. Substances like Triethyl Amine and Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) might appear more alien, though. Solvents used in Canada’s legal cannabis extracts do not just extract, they also synthesize and isomerize. These will be explained later throughout this new series on solvents, but perhaps, for now, we should just stick with the basics.

Elements
Water
Solvents in Canada's Legal Cannabis Extracts

Whistler Technologies
An age-old extraction technique that exploits the plant’s polarity is the art of water hash. This uses water and agitation to pull the trichomes that encase oil solulable THC away from the more water solulable plant material. Unwanted material will either completely dissolve into the water or remain in large pieces. The water will, however, still carry the oils with it. After agitation, the solution is passed through screens to separate the THC and terpenesfrom the water and any large chunks of plant matter. Oil is essentially sifted out of the water. Ice is used to cool the extraction process, so the frozen trichomes break off the brittle plant material with greater ease and to ensure the valuable oils do not dissolve into the water.

Bubble or ice hashes are produced this way, which can be further pressed into rosins. Distillates can also be started from a water based extract. Otherwise, water can be employed in steam distillation to remove terpenes.

  • Impurities
How do you feel about fluoride and chlorine? Municipal water systems will feed many industrial ice-hash machines. Fortunately, a built-in inline Reverse Osmosis water filter will remove most of the minerals and other impurities found in the local water supply.

CO2 and Nitrogen as Solvents
Solvents in Canada's Legal Cannabis Extracts. CO2 and Nitrogen

Common gases in the environment can be mechanically manipulated to dissolve essential oils and terpenoids from a plant, even cannabinoids. Unlike water, gasses can travel through the plant, but under the pressure and temperature of an extraction vessel CO2 gas instead acts as a sub or supercritical fluid. This fluid possesses the properties of a liquid while still retaining the characteristics of a gas, grabbing and holding onto other substances as if it were a liquid, while still passing through the plant. Unlike water, supercritical CO2 will grab precious oils but will leave most of the plant matter behind, behaving as a non-polar solvent.

Nitrogen can also be used as a solvent in its supercritical state as well, yet to achieve that state requires far greater pressure than what is practical, compared to CO2. Nitrogen is instead added to CO2 systems to increase their efficiency.

CO2 extraction can be cumbersome due to the required equipment. Large scale CO2 extraction systems are big investments and need a lot of space. They can produce higher quality extracts from good starting material. Often times though, CO2 extracts are rather like a pure cherry oil.

Alcohols
Ethanol
Ethanol alcohol can produce extract with an on-par quality in industrial quantities. Alcohols, like ethanol function best as a cannabis solvent at nearly cryogenic temperatures, approximately -50 to -80 degrees Celsius. This is caused by ethanol’s more polar nature at room temperature, meaning it prefers dissolving organic leafy material over terpacious oils. Industrial extraction operations that utilize ethanol are less cumbersome than CO2 extractors and are also cheaper. Unfortunately, to gain this increase in efficiency requires someone to sacrifice quality for quantity.

  • Impurities
Ethanol is readily sold for consumption across the globe. The question that arises is the grade and source of alcohol that producers use since cannabis is not officially a food. Commercial grade ethanol can be denatured with or simply contain methanol and other impurities.

1 and 2-proponal (Isopropyl Alcohol)
alcohol

Isopropyl alcohol (2-propanol) has been used to extract cannabis in mass, but the trend is starting to lose popularity. Edible oils, such as tinctures and Pheonix Tears are still sometimes made with iso. Many patients will still make oil with this alcohol as a cheaper solution to ethanol, or in places that have restricted 95% ABV Everclear, such as British Columbia.

1-propanol is an isomer of isopropyl alcohol. This solvent is less toxic than the more common 2-propanol. It is a laboratory alcohol that you can hypothetically drink, although it is still toxic and probably contaminated with lead which can be lethally poisonous.

Beyond extraction, alcohol can be used as a disinfectant and cleaner for various extraction vessels. Isopropyl is employed in breweries to flush out lines between different brews and in other industries for similar purposes.

  • Impurities
Isopropyl alcohol can contain several impurities such as other alcohols, some of which are approved solvents, 2-butanol for example. Impurities found in commercial-grade isopropyl alcohol include methanol or cyclohexane, which are currently restricted for use on cannabis.

  • Limits and side effects
Headache, dizziness, respiratory depression, shock, and coma are all signs of poisoning from iso. 100-200 ml oral doses of isopropyl alcohol are lethal. As for inhalation, the residual PPM in an extract will not reflect the overall PPM you will be inhaling when vaporizing that extract. The figures provided represent safety limits for overall inhalation. Short Term Exposure Limit (STEL) represents a maximum recommended exposure over a fifteen minute span of time.

STEL: 500 ppm.

Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH): 12,000 ppm.

Hydrocarbons
Butane
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Propanol extraction has largely been phased out ever since a concentrate craze for Butane Hash Oil (BHO) started booming. As trends go, BHO itself is now being phased out by solventless or water-based extracts. Butane is a light, volatile non-polar solvent, so it grabs cannabinoids and terpenes quite efficiently. It boils at zero degrees Celsius so it is easy to remove without damaging other terpenes in cannabis.

  • Impurities
Butane typically comes in three grades, a 99.0% commercial grade, 99.5% instrument grade, and 99.9% pure research-grade n-butane. Like all solvents, material from whatever storage tank the butane comes in can break down into the liquified gas and end up in the final product. Many producers know to distill their own butane before using it as a cannabis solvent.

Butane can contain anonymous silicone oils, odorants, and even other carcinogenic hydrocarbons not tested for by Health Canada, like benzene for example.

  • Limits and side effects
STEL: 600-800 ppm.

IDLH: approximately 8000 ppm, when not accounting for explosive risk.

Butane is a CNS depressant, irritant, and sedative. Exposure to 10,000 ppm of butane for ten minutes can cause drowsiness.

Propane
Often times, butane is a mixture of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG.) Some extract artists blend propane and butane together in various ratios. Propane Hash Oil (PHO) is oftentimes lighter in color than BHO, arguably more rich in terpenes. It is also has a more stable shelf-life. Propane operates at a higher pressure and boils at much lower temperatures than butane, boiling around -40 degrees Celsius. A property that potentially enables high-quality extract and cleaner purges, however, propane also has a much high vapor pressure rate. Ultimately, pure propane systems require much more intensive extraction vessels that lose viability in the face of butane/propane mixes.

Light volatile hydrocarbon solvents can produce a wide range of extracts; waxes, live resins, shatters, sauces, and diamonds for example. Despite their low boiling points, the gases can become trapped inside air pockets within cannabis extracts.

Most people might think of the stench of propane from barbeques and fuel stations. The gas itself is odorless and can be far purer. The bad smell comes from an odorant, typically ethyl mercaptan that is added to commercial-grade fuels for safety reasons. In the regular food industry, propane and butane are used as propellants in cooking oils.

  • Limits and side effects
STEL: 1000 ppm.

IDLH: 20,000 ppm.

Propane is an irritant that causes cough, an asphyxiant, and a CNS depressant.

Mystery solvents
Other hydrocarbon solvents with much higher boiling points can also be found in commercial-grade butane and propane, such as pentane for example. We will explore problems and benefits with a few more unusual solvents in the next installment.

Photo courtesy of Digipath Labs

Sources

NIOSH [2016]. Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) value profile: butane. By
Dotson GS, Maier A, Parker A, Haber L. Cincinnati, OH: US Department of Health and
Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupa-
tional Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication 2016-174.
 
Human rights board orders insurer to pay medical marijuana costs in precedent-setting case
The Canadian National Medical Marijuana Association said it believes the ruling is the first of its kind that could open the door to wider coverage for cannabis patients

A Nova Scotia human rights board has ruled that a patient’s medical marijuana should be covered by his employee insurance plan in a potentially precedent-setting case.

The decision, issued Jan. 30, ruled in favour of Gordon Skinner’s claim that he faced discrimination when trying to access insurance coverage for his disability.

Skinner, who suffers chronic pain following a car accident when he was an elevator mechanic with ThyssenKrupp Elevator Canada, told the board he has been unable to work since. He said marijuana has helped his condition better than conventional pain killers.

He was denied coverage for cannabis in May 2014 by his insurance provider, the Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Fund.

Independent human rights board of inquiry chair Benjamin Perryman said that medical marijuana should be an eligible expense since it requires a doctor’s authorization and thus didn’t fall within the plan’s exclusions.

“Since medical marijuana was prescribed for pain management, it was accepted that it is a medical necessity and should be covered,” the board said in in a statement.

“This is the first case of its kind in Canada on medical marijuana as it relates to disability,” said Christine Hanson, director and CEO of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

“The decision was based on the case’s unique circumstances, and we expect that it will examined in future case law.”

The Canadian National Medical Marijuana Association said it believes the ruling is the first of its kind, a potentially precedent-setting case that could open the door to wider coverage for cannabis patients.

“A human rights board has never taken this issue on in the past, at least not in Canada, so that’s huge,” said Deepak Anand, executive director of the CNMMA.

In 2015, student Jonathan Zaid convinced his university’s insurance provider to cover his medical marijuana expenses, but this is the first time a government board has supported coverage, he said.

With this ruling, other patients now have a precedent to take to their insurance providers, said Zaid, who runs the Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana.

“It’s definitely a good sign and it speaks to the discrimination patients face when being denied coverage for medical cannabis compared to other medications that are covered under the plan.”

Insurers have been hesitant because marijuana doesn’t have a Drug Identification Number (DIN), which is the industry standard usually required before a pharmaceutical is authorized for sale and reimbursement.

The issue of whether an employer health plan should cover medical marijuana was first addressed by an arbitrator last April, when a Hamilton firefighter claimed coverage for the drug for his spouse, who had medical authorization for its use.

The arbitrator ultimately dismissed the claim agains the City of Hamilton because the document is not technically a prescription and marijuana does not have a DIN number.

However, board chair Perryman noted that the wording of Skinner’s plan did not specify that the drug had to have a DIN number.

Aside from veterans, patients who use legal medical marijuana must pay for their own drugs. Many patients believe cannabis is a healthier and less addictive alternative to prescription drugs such as opioids, which are covered by conventional insurance plans.

Patient groups and licensed medical marijuana producers alike have been lobbying the federal government and insurance companies to have their preferred drugs covered, which can cost patients hundreds of dollars a week.

Skinner’s medical marijuana expenses will be covered “up to and including the full amount of his most recent prescription.”

In order to be covered, the drug must be purchased from one of the Health Canada licensed medical marijuana producers or a person authorized for Skinner under the law. It must also be supported by an official receipt.
 
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