Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Kitchener – The first licensed grow facility for medical marijuana in Waterloo Region is now operating in an industrial building, but the owners want to keep the location secret from would-be bud bandits.
"We are a high security facility, but we attempt to maintain a low profile," Nathan Woodworth, president and chief executive officer of James E. Wagner Cultivation, said.
JWC, as the company is known, is the 38th in Canada to secure federal approval to grow medicinal grade marijuana. Woodworth's team has spent three years getting all the approvals.
After spending about $250,000 on the security system for the 14,500-square-foot building, and another $250,000 on grow rooms, among a long list of other expenses, JWC started growing its first crop earlier this week.
"I can tell you it is an expensive endeavour," Woodworth said.
Woodworth's brother Adam, sister Laura Foster and cousin Dan Bexon also work for JWC. Nathan, Adam and Laura are the children of former Kitchener Centre MP Stephen Woodworth.
"Right now, it is entirely a family effort," Woodworth said. "My family and I are passionate about growing marijuana."
The company is named after Woodworth's grandfather, who was once a tobacco farmer in Tillsonburg. Woodworth remembers his childhood visits to the farm, and learning how plants grow. His grandfather had lots of good advice when Woodworth first started growing marijuana.
"He was the one who was supportive when we got our start," Woodworth said. "It felt like a fitting homage to name our company after him."
Earlier this week, JWC moved 200 clones into the vegetative room at its facility. Clones are the cuttings taken off a robust "mother" plant. While the company is just starting to grow its first commercial crop, Woodworth has been doing this for years.
After obtaining a licence under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations in 2007, Woodworth could grow for his own use, and provide marijuana to fill prescriptions for three other people. He uses marijuana to control the pain from migraines.
The regulations changed and he could sell only to one person who had a prescription. So Woodworth organized a group of growers and patients. They helped each other with growing techniques, and helped connect people with prescriptions to growers with bud for sale.
During that time Woodworth and his brother, who has a bachelor's degree in plant biology, experimented with growing techniques. They iterated on the water-based method known as hydroponics, and developed a new one they call aeroponics.
"Everyone found our product to be extremely high quality, flavourful and as a result we began to attract more patients," Woodworth said.
The plants grow in water, and aeroponics gives the grower complete control on delivering nutrients directly to the root system, he said.
"We are able to track the micrograms of nutrient uptake," Woodworth said. "We grow a cannabis product that is cleaner, higher quality and more consistent than our competitors."
In 2013, after Health Canada unveiled regulations governing medical marijuana producers, Woodworth's pot-growing collective disbanded, and he founded JWC.
When the Liberals won the federal election in 2015, they made more changes and released the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Woodworth had to change his applications, and hired a consultant to help with securing a producer's licence.
Right now, JWC has a licence to grow medical marijuana. A licence to sell the marijuana will only be issued after Health Canada tests the first two crops produced by the company.
Meanwhile, Woodworth is trying to contact former customers from his co-op days. Once JWC has a licence to sell, customers can submit orders on the company's website, pay online and receive the pot in the mail. They must have a prescription.
The bud is expected to retail for $6 to $9 a gram. The facility is expected to produce 25 kilograms of bud per week when it is running at capacity.
Woodworth said the company already is planning a second facility in Kitchener-Waterloo – it hopes to build the plant in the fall – that will have 10 to 20 times the production of the existing facility.
The interior of the JWC building looks like a lab. All of the surfaces are covered laboratory-grade epoxies and paint. Every surface is sterilized. Everyone wears white coats and special shoes. Visitors must pull covers over their street shoes.
The small clones are under lights in the vegetative room for about five weeks When ready, the plants will be moved into the flowering room for another nine weeks.
The air coming into the grow rooms goes through HEPA filters, charcoal filters and ultraviolet radiation. The water goes through a reverse-osmosis filter. Aeroponics uses no soil.
The entire operation uses 250 high-pressure sodium bulbs. Each bulb is 1,000 watts. The electricity bill for the facility will be more than $10,000 a month, Woodworth said.
The first crop will contain no THC, the psychoactive ingredient that gets users high. Instead, this strain of marijuana will produce buds rich in painkilling cannabinoids.
"That way people get a lot of relief from symptoms," Woodworth said.
Prescriptions for medical marijuana are issued to people with Crohn's, colitis, epilepsy, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and high blood pressure. It is also used to stimulate appetites and reduce anxiety.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to legalize marijuana during the last election campaign. That will open the market to recreational users.
It has been about 10 years since Woodworth was first licensed to grow three plants in his house. Now, as the marijuana is about to be legalized, the market could grow faster than the plants in his warehouse.
But nobody knows how the legal market will evolve and operate. Who will sell the bud? Will growers sell directly to consumers? How much will legal marijuana be taxed?
"We are in a nascent industry. This is just the beginnings of legal cannabis in Canada," Woodworth said. "As a result, I can't be certain how things will work out."
Shares in publicly traded companies that grow marijuana have soared in recent months, leading some analysts to warn of a pot bubble.
"Over the past few years it has been a difficult struggle to get to this point, but the demand for medical cannabis is very real, and we don't anticipate that our product will remain unsold," Woodworth said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Waterloo Region's First Medical Pot Firm Starts Production
Author: Terry Pender
Contact: Contact Us Waterloo Region Record
Photo Credit: Peter Lee
Website: The Record
"We are a high security facility, but we attempt to maintain a low profile," Nathan Woodworth, president and chief executive officer of James E. Wagner Cultivation, said.
JWC, as the company is known, is the 38th in Canada to secure federal approval to grow medicinal grade marijuana. Woodworth's team has spent three years getting all the approvals.
After spending about $250,000 on the security system for the 14,500-square-foot building, and another $250,000 on grow rooms, among a long list of other expenses, JWC started growing its first crop earlier this week.
"I can tell you it is an expensive endeavour," Woodworth said.
Woodworth's brother Adam, sister Laura Foster and cousin Dan Bexon also work for JWC. Nathan, Adam and Laura are the children of former Kitchener Centre MP Stephen Woodworth.
"Right now, it is entirely a family effort," Woodworth said. "My family and I are passionate about growing marijuana."
The company is named after Woodworth's grandfather, who was once a tobacco farmer in Tillsonburg. Woodworth remembers his childhood visits to the farm, and learning how plants grow. His grandfather had lots of good advice when Woodworth first started growing marijuana.
"He was the one who was supportive when we got our start," Woodworth said. "It felt like a fitting homage to name our company after him."
Earlier this week, JWC moved 200 clones into the vegetative room at its facility. Clones are the cuttings taken off a robust "mother" plant. While the company is just starting to grow its first commercial crop, Woodworth has been doing this for years.
After obtaining a licence under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations in 2007, Woodworth could grow for his own use, and provide marijuana to fill prescriptions for three other people. He uses marijuana to control the pain from migraines.
The regulations changed and he could sell only to one person who had a prescription. So Woodworth organized a group of growers and patients. They helped each other with growing techniques, and helped connect people with prescriptions to growers with bud for sale.
During that time Woodworth and his brother, who has a bachelor's degree in plant biology, experimented with growing techniques. They iterated on the water-based method known as hydroponics, and developed a new one they call aeroponics.
"Everyone found our product to be extremely high quality, flavourful and as a result we began to attract more patients," Woodworth said.
The plants grow in water, and aeroponics gives the grower complete control on delivering nutrients directly to the root system, he said.
"We are able to track the micrograms of nutrient uptake," Woodworth said. "We grow a cannabis product that is cleaner, higher quality and more consistent than our competitors."
In 2013, after Health Canada unveiled regulations governing medical marijuana producers, Woodworth's pot-growing collective disbanded, and he founded JWC.
When the Liberals won the federal election in 2015, they made more changes and released the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Woodworth had to change his applications, and hired a consultant to help with securing a producer's licence.
Right now, JWC has a licence to grow medical marijuana. A licence to sell the marijuana will only be issued after Health Canada tests the first two crops produced by the company.
Meanwhile, Woodworth is trying to contact former customers from his co-op days. Once JWC has a licence to sell, customers can submit orders on the company's website, pay online and receive the pot in the mail. They must have a prescription.
The bud is expected to retail for $6 to $9 a gram. The facility is expected to produce 25 kilograms of bud per week when it is running at capacity.
Woodworth said the company already is planning a second facility in Kitchener-Waterloo – it hopes to build the plant in the fall – that will have 10 to 20 times the production of the existing facility.
The interior of the JWC building looks like a lab. All of the surfaces are covered laboratory-grade epoxies and paint. Every surface is sterilized. Everyone wears white coats and special shoes. Visitors must pull covers over their street shoes.
The small clones are under lights in the vegetative room for about five weeks When ready, the plants will be moved into the flowering room for another nine weeks.
The air coming into the grow rooms goes through HEPA filters, charcoal filters and ultraviolet radiation. The water goes through a reverse-osmosis filter. Aeroponics uses no soil.
The entire operation uses 250 high-pressure sodium bulbs. Each bulb is 1,000 watts. The electricity bill for the facility will be more than $10,000 a month, Woodworth said.
The first crop will contain no THC, the psychoactive ingredient that gets users high. Instead, this strain of marijuana will produce buds rich in painkilling cannabinoids.
"That way people get a lot of relief from symptoms," Woodworth said.
Prescriptions for medical marijuana are issued to people with Crohn's, colitis, epilepsy, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and high blood pressure. It is also used to stimulate appetites and reduce anxiety.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to legalize marijuana during the last election campaign. That will open the market to recreational users.
It has been about 10 years since Woodworth was first licensed to grow three plants in his house. Now, as the marijuana is about to be legalized, the market could grow faster than the plants in his warehouse.
But nobody knows how the legal market will evolve and operate. Who will sell the bud? Will growers sell directly to consumers? How much will legal marijuana be taxed?
"We are in a nascent industry. This is just the beginnings of legal cannabis in Canada," Woodworth said. "As a result, I can't be certain how things will work out."
Shares in publicly traded companies that grow marijuana have soared in recent months, leading some analysts to warn of a pot bubble.
"Over the past few years it has been a difficult struggle to get to this point, but the demand for medical cannabis is very real, and we don't anticipate that our product will remain unsold," Woodworth said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Waterloo Region's First Medical Pot Firm Starts Production
Author: Terry Pender
Contact: Contact Us Waterloo Region Record
Photo Credit: Peter Lee
Website: The Record