Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
The gold rush excitement created by Health Canada licensing medical marijuana businesses appears to be cooling, in part because of B.C.'s illegal dispensaries and pot users who are challenging federal government rules in court.
As of March, 25 commercial operators in Canada – six in B.C. – have been authorized by Health Canada to produce or sell marijuana grown under strict conditions and mailed to clients with doctor's prescriptions.
Ottawa, which drastically changed the rules for getting medical pot when it banned patients in 2014 from growing their own bud, has rejected 901 business applications. Another 324 are being reviewed for things like security clearance and pre-licensing inspections. More than one-third of those under-review applications, or 116 of them, are from B.C.-based companies. Health Canada says it will not update the number of licences issued until September at the earliest.
(Ottawa will not identify the name or location of the 116 applicants hoping to start new medicinal pot operations in B.C. A Sun investigation, with the help of marijuana-industry marketing company MMJ Hype, confirmed 22 of the applicants and posted them on an interactive map at vancouversun.com.)
In the meantime, one of B.C.'s licensed companies, Tilray in Nanaimo, over-projected demand, and recently laid off a third of its workers. Other companies who believed they were close to getting licences have sunk millions of dollars into buildings and staff, only to be stuck in a holding pattern.
Many of these companies have recruited former politicians and high-ranking police officers to bolster their business acumen and security cachet.
There is demand for medicinal marijuana, as more doctors and elected officials – such as Liberal leader Justin Trudeau – acknowledge it can ease suffering for some patients.
But in Vancouver, many of those patients – along with many more recreational users – are simply visiting the 100 or so illegal dispensaries, recently regulated by city hall.
In addition, B.C. residents who used to be federally authorized to grow their own weed sued Ottawa, arguing the new rules were overly restrictive. Until the Federal Court judge rules on the case, those who were allowed to possess and grow marijuana under the old system continue to do so under a temporary injunction.
So, although there is demand, the supply picture is a complicated mess.
"On the surface it looks pretty straight forward, but below the surface you have all this craziness happening," said former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt.
Harcourt is chairman of True Leaf Medicine Inc., which he hopes is close to gaining final approval after providing 1,500 pages of information requested by Health Canada. While waiting for the licence, True Leaf is using its Lumby location and staff to produce pet food containing hemp (but none of the THC that provides the high in marijuana).
Initially frustrated by the slow pace of the licence approvals, Harcourt said it is now perhaps a blessing that True Leaf hasn't sunk millions into the medicinal marijuana operation.
"The whole thing has been pretty nutso for the last six months or a year with the dispensaries, and it may have been not a bad idea to not get a licence to build and spend a whole bunch of dough ... to then get clobbered by the dispensaries," he said.
Harcourt, who said his company's philosophy is not about the "get high" side of marijuana but the "get well" aspect, is confident the future will get rosier for companies like his and Tilray. One reason is that the new Vancouver regulations could force as many as two-thirds of the city dispensaries to close.
The long-term solution to this marijuana debate, he argues, is to follow the example of Colorado and Washington state.
"The answer is legalization. But that won't happen until we see what happens Oct. 19," Harcourt said, referring to the federal election. "It is a very rapidly changing game right now."
Kash Heed, former B.C. solicitor general and former West Vancouver police chief, is a strategic consultant with National Green BioMed, which has applied to grow medicinal marijuana near Mission. The company, which recently gave $1 million to the University of B.C. to to study the therapeutic effects of cannabis, is chaired by Herb Dhaliwal, a former Vancouver MP and federal cabinet minister.
Heed, who once ran the Vancouver police drug squad, has been asked for help from several frustrated licence applicants, and gives them all the same advice: "The board of directors and people in key positions need to be squeaky clean" to pass Health Canada's reviews.
He believes in the licensed producer model, arguing it provides pesticide-free pot, encourages clinical trials to determine which strains produce the best results for patients, and mails the weed directly to patients with doctor's prescriptions. The knock against the dispensaries is that patients don't know who supplies the marijuana, and whether it contains impurities or comes from organized crime.
Heed, who is also involved with a second medicinal marijuana applicant in Ontario with prime minister John Turner, thinks the future is bright for applicants with good people and good business plans.
In a brief email to The Sun, Ottawa denied the popular dispensaries will slow down licence approvals.
"Dispensaries are illegal and do not affect Health Canada's ... program that has strict requirements to become a licensed producer," spokesman Andre Gagnon said.
There are an estimated 100 dispensaries in Vancouver. Other communities, such as Victoria and the City of North Vancouver, are considering how to best handle these shops. North Vancouver District and Surrey prohibit dispensaries, but say those bylaws could be rescinded if the federal government regulated the businesses.
Some municipalities, such as Delta, Abbotsford and Chilliwack, have even passed restrictions on licensed marijuana growers. Other city halls, such as Nanaimo, have embraced them as good employers.
Neil Boyd, head of Simon Fraser University's criminology department, said there are three markets in B.C. for pot – the black market on the street, the illegal dispensaries, and the licensed producers – who are all in competition.
Prices on the street are dropping, mainly due to the industry's lower risk as a result of reluctance by police to lay charges for personal possession. Boyd is skeptical of the claims that marijuana production could be a multi-million industry for Canada, noting studies show only about 10 per cent of the population uses weed.
Like Heed, Boyd believes marijuana should be legalized.
Unlike Heed, Boyd is not a fan of the way Health Canada has structured this program.
"I would be wary of an investment in the commercial industry right now," he said.
For example, he doesn't think it makes sense for patients to receive their medicinal pot in the mail rather than from a doctor or pharmacist, and said the requirement to use weed for medical, not recreational, reasons is difficult to define.
"There's just so much uncertainty in the market place. The label we apply to medical versus recreational – that's a pretty fuzzy line at times," Boyd said. "Once you get into anxiety and stress release, how is (using pot for those) different from someone who comes home at the end of the day and has a glass of wine?"
Maxwell Duchaine, of the Vancouver marijuana-industry marketing agency MMJ Hype, said at the moment the supply of medicinal pot is simply outstripping demand. "I think Health Canada is being very cautious in their approval process," he said.
But he does believe in the long-run – as the stigma against pot slowly goes up in smoke and as using it becomes more acceptable – that more applicants will get licensed by Health Canada.
"Off the books, (marijuana) is the biggest industry in BC. We are doing our best to get as much of this on the books as possible. So we can get some of that tax revenue, so we can start benefiting society rather than the black markets," Duchaine said.
"Things are changing and changing for the better. People are getting access now to medical marijuana."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical marijuana business no gold rush
Author: Lori Culbert
Contact: lculbert@vancouversun.com
Photo Credit: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi
Website: Vancouver News - Breaking News Headlines | Vancouver Sun
As of March, 25 commercial operators in Canada – six in B.C. – have been authorized by Health Canada to produce or sell marijuana grown under strict conditions and mailed to clients with doctor's prescriptions.
Ottawa, which drastically changed the rules for getting medical pot when it banned patients in 2014 from growing their own bud, has rejected 901 business applications. Another 324 are being reviewed for things like security clearance and pre-licensing inspections. More than one-third of those under-review applications, or 116 of them, are from B.C.-based companies. Health Canada says it will not update the number of licences issued until September at the earliest.
(Ottawa will not identify the name or location of the 116 applicants hoping to start new medicinal pot operations in B.C. A Sun investigation, with the help of marijuana-industry marketing company MMJ Hype, confirmed 22 of the applicants and posted them on an interactive map at vancouversun.com.)
In the meantime, one of B.C.'s licensed companies, Tilray in Nanaimo, over-projected demand, and recently laid off a third of its workers. Other companies who believed they were close to getting licences have sunk millions of dollars into buildings and staff, only to be stuck in a holding pattern.
Many of these companies have recruited former politicians and high-ranking police officers to bolster their business acumen and security cachet.
There is demand for medicinal marijuana, as more doctors and elected officials – such as Liberal leader Justin Trudeau – acknowledge it can ease suffering for some patients.
But in Vancouver, many of those patients – along with many more recreational users – are simply visiting the 100 or so illegal dispensaries, recently regulated by city hall.
In addition, B.C. residents who used to be federally authorized to grow their own weed sued Ottawa, arguing the new rules were overly restrictive. Until the Federal Court judge rules on the case, those who were allowed to possess and grow marijuana under the old system continue to do so under a temporary injunction.
So, although there is demand, the supply picture is a complicated mess.
"On the surface it looks pretty straight forward, but below the surface you have all this craziness happening," said former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt.
Harcourt is chairman of True Leaf Medicine Inc., which he hopes is close to gaining final approval after providing 1,500 pages of information requested by Health Canada. While waiting for the licence, True Leaf is using its Lumby location and staff to produce pet food containing hemp (but none of the THC that provides the high in marijuana).
Initially frustrated by the slow pace of the licence approvals, Harcourt said it is now perhaps a blessing that True Leaf hasn't sunk millions into the medicinal marijuana operation.
"The whole thing has been pretty nutso for the last six months or a year with the dispensaries, and it may have been not a bad idea to not get a licence to build and spend a whole bunch of dough ... to then get clobbered by the dispensaries," he said.
Harcourt, who said his company's philosophy is not about the "get high" side of marijuana but the "get well" aspect, is confident the future will get rosier for companies like his and Tilray. One reason is that the new Vancouver regulations could force as many as two-thirds of the city dispensaries to close.
The long-term solution to this marijuana debate, he argues, is to follow the example of Colorado and Washington state.
"The answer is legalization. But that won't happen until we see what happens Oct. 19," Harcourt said, referring to the federal election. "It is a very rapidly changing game right now."
Kash Heed, former B.C. solicitor general and former West Vancouver police chief, is a strategic consultant with National Green BioMed, which has applied to grow medicinal marijuana near Mission. The company, which recently gave $1 million to the University of B.C. to to study the therapeutic effects of cannabis, is chaired by Herb Dhaliwal, a former Vancouver MP and federal cabinet minister.
Heed, who once ran the Vancouver police drug squad, has been asked for help from several frustrated licence applicants, and gives them all the same advice: "The board of directors and people in key positions need to be squeaky clean" to pass Health Canada's reviews.
He believes in the licensed producer model, arguing it provides pesticide-free pot, encourages clinical trials to determine which strains produce the best results for patients, and mails the weed directly to patients with doctor's prescriptions. The knock against the dispensaries is that patients don't know who supplies the marijuana, and whether it contains impurities or comes from organized crime.
Heed, who is also involved with a second medicinal marijuana applicant in Ontario with prime minister John Turner, thinks the future is bright for applicants with good people and good business plans.
In a brief email to The Sun, Ottawa denied the popular dispensaries will slow down licence approvals.
"Dispensaries are illegal and do not affect Health Canada's ... program that has strict requirements to become a licensed producer," spokesman Andre Gagnon said.
There are an estimated 100 dispensaries in Vancouver. Other communities, such as Victoria and the City of North Vancouver, are considering how to best handle these shops. North Vancouver District and Surrey prohibit dispensaries, but say those bylaws could be rescinded if the federal government regulated the businesses.
Some municipalities, such as Delta, Abbotsford and Chilliwack, have even passed restrictions on licensed marijuana growers. Other city halls, such as Nanaimo, have embraced them as good employers.
Neil Boyd, head of Simon Fraser University's criminology department, said there are three markets in B.C. for pot – the black market on the street, the illegal dispensaries, and the licensed producers – who are all in competition.
Prices on the street are dropping, mainly due to the industry's lower risk as a result of reluctance by police to lay charges for personal possession. Boyd is skeptical of the claims that marijuana production could be a multi-million industry for Canada, noting studies show only about 10 per cent of the population uses weed.
Like Heed, Boyd believes marijuana should be legalized.
Unlike Heed, Boyd is not a fan of the way Health Canada has structured this program.
"I would be wary of an investment in the commercial industry right now," he said.
For example, he doesn't think it makes sense for patients to receive their medicinal pot in the mail rather than from a doctor or pharmacist, and said the requirement to use weed for medical, not recreational, reasons is difficult to define.
"There's just so much uncertainty in the market place. The label we apply to medical versus recreational – that's a pretty fuzzy line at times," Boyd said. "Once you get into anxiety and stress release, how is (using pot for those) different from someone who comes home at the end of the day and has a glass of wine?"
Maxwell Duchaine, of the Vancouver marijuana-industry marketing agency MMJ Hype, said at the moment the supply of medicinal pot is simply outstripping demand. "I think Health Canada is being very cautious in their approval process," he said.
But he does believe in the long-run – as the stigma against pot slowly goes up in smoke and as using it becomes more acceptable – that more applicants will get licensed by Health Canada.
"Off the books, (marijuana) is the biggest industry in BC. We are doing our best to get as much of this on the books as possible. So we can get some of that tax revenue, so we can start benefiting society rather than the black markets," Duchaine said.
"Things are changing and changing for the better. People are getting access now to medical marijuana."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical marijuana business no gold rush
Author: Lori Culbert
Contact: lculbert@vancouversun.com
Photo Credit: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi
Website: Vancouver News - Breaking News Headlines | Vancouver Sun
