WeedWeek Canada 10/20/18: Cannabis Legalized Nationwide! (Until We Ran Out)

OCTOBER 20, 2018

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POLITICS

Cannabis became legal at 12:01 am on Wednesday, October 17. The first sales were in Newfoundland —see PROVINCIAL NEWS: Maritimes, below. (Wiz Khalifia)

The Ottawa Citizen said, “The change will be orderly. Marijuana is legal today, but it’s no free-for-all. And probably not that much fun.”

Massive crowds and huge lines were the rule everywhere retail stores were open: (CTV News)

in St. John’s, Newfoundland; (Chronicle-Herald)
across New Brunswick; (CBC New Brunswick)
in Halifax, Nova Scotia; (The Star)
in Charlottetown, PEI; (The Guardian)
in Montreal, Quebec; (CBC Montreal)
in Winnipeg, Manitoba; (Global News)
in Saskatchewan; (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix)
in Calgary, Alberta (where the first person in line at one location arrived at 2:00 pm Tuesday); (Global News, Twitter)
in Whitehorse, Yukon; (CBC North)
and in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories ( APTN)
(Ontario and Nunavut had no stores, and British Columbia only had a single location). (Twitter)

I covered the lineups at Montreal’s three Société Québécoise du Cannabis retailers for Leafly. The lines were immense and the waits ranged from three to six hours. Many waited in vain, since the SQDC closed its doors at 9:00 pm. Police were brought in to disperse crowds without event. (Global News, Twitter)

Prices varied, but most provinces raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars on Day One. (The Leaf, Global News)

Global News offered a comparison of provincial cannabis websites.

Across the country, demand immediately overwhelmed available stock, which was limited by supply shortages. (CTV News)

Some Newfoundland stores were out of stock well before day’s end, while the provincial wholesaler struggled to fill online orders. (CBC Newfoundland)
By 4:00 pm on Day One, half the strains of flower on BC Cannabis Stores’ website were sold out. (Global News)
Quebec’s SQDC said it “expects serious supply challenges.” (Montreal Gazette)
The web-only Ontario Cannabis Store reported shortages—as well as several days’ delay due to the volume of orders. (CTV News)
Some Alberta retailers sold out of specific strains within two hours of opening. (Calgary Herald)
Several stores in Nova Scotia were forced to close on Friday pending restocking. (CTV News)
There’s no sign yet the Yukon is running out of its stock, however, despite 1,000 people lining up in Whitehorse and 30,000 visitors to the territorial cannabis website in a territory with a population of 33,000. (Whitehorse Star)

There was also a shortage of legal seeds for sale. (MJ Biz Daily)

By Friday, the Société Québécoise du Cannabis and the Ontario Cannabis Store had released statements addressing the demand and shortages, while Newfoundland’s provincial wholesaler added a shipping-time disclaimer to the top of their website. (Facebook, Twitter)

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said, ““We did recognize there was perhaps going to be some types of cannabis that were more popular than others but so far the supply and demand issue has been dealt with quite well.” (Global News)

Twitter users reported both that they were shorted on weight, and that products were wastefully overpackaged. Other products were sold significantly cheaper as REC items in various provinces than they were on LPs’ MED websites.

As legal retailers were running out of stock, police raided illicit dispensaries in Newfoundland and on Vancouver Island, as well as in Toronto, where police are threatening to fine landlords in addition to business owners. (CTV News, 680 News)

Police no longer require warrants to enter dispensaries and seize products. (Globe and Mail)
Police forces cross-country are getting revenue boosts to crack down on illicit cannabis. (Vice)
The illicit market is expected to turn toward edibles, pills, and vape pens which aren’t expected to be legal until next year. (Globe and Mail)
Dispensary activists argued the illicit market would continue until legalization makes space for small growers and sellers. (iPolitics—Paywall)

The first ticket of the legal-cannabis era came less than an hour into REC Day One, when Winnipeg police fined a driver $672 for consuming cannabis in a motor vehicle on a highway. Later that morning, the Ontario Provincial Police fined a driver $215 for driving with cannabis within reach. (CTV News)

An Abacus Data poll found 70% of Canadians support or “can accept” legalization, while 30% oppose it;

a DART poll found 52% thought legalization would do more harm than good and 76% want the legal age increased to 21;
a Zoocasa poll found only 15% of Canadians would consider home growing, while 52% wouldn’t consider buying a home in which even a legal amount of cannabis had been grown;

Last weekend, legalization point-man Bill Blair was interviewed on CTV’s Power Play, where he discussed distribution, impaired driving rules, and border concerns. (CTV News)

Blair also said edibles regulations will be brought forward in 12 months. (Twitter)
An amendment to Bill C-45 guarantees edibles will be legal no later than October 17, 2019. (Twitter)

The National Post said the coming legal challenges to Bills C-45 and C-46 will pertain to impaired driving, home cultivation bans in Manitoba and Quebec, advertising limits, landlord/condo board and workplace rules, and the jurisdiction of First Nations over sales in their territories.

The government announced on Tuesday that all those with a simple possession record for 30 grams or less would be eligible for a pardon, though there will be no blanket expungement of convictions, and those with records will need to apply for pardons. (Global News)

Bill Blair, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced the decision to “streamline” the pardon process on Tuesday morning. (iPolitics)
Pardons such as these do not erase criminal records. (Lethbridge Herald)
Cannabis Amnesty responded they hoped to see a pardons process that would be free and simple to fill out, be effective immediately, and involve the permanent deletion of records. (iPolitics)

The BBC suggested landlords, craft cannabis producers, and municipalities would be the “losers” under legislation, while researchers, major brands, and lawyers stand to gain the most from it.

If the Conservatives win the general election next year, they won’t touch legal cannabis no matter how hard they’ve fought against it, a Star columnist argued. (The Star)

On CTV’s Power Play, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer wouldn’t say whether or not his party would roll back legalization. (CTV News)
Of federal party leaders, only Justin Trudeau and Andrew Scheer admit trying cannabis; NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party leader Elizabeth May say they never have. None intends to sample legal cannabis. (Globe and Mail—Paywall)’

Conservative Health Critic Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia—Lambton)—who argued in a poem she read to the House of Commons in June, “ With the 4 plants per household, that little Johnny can go put some in the toaster oven and smoke it up”—argued the fruit-themed strain names on sale in Ontario (e.g. Banana Split, Tangerine Dream) would make cannabis appeal to youth. (The Straight, CTV News)

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, whose government introduced a bill in 1990 to place cannabis in the same legal category as heroin, defended joining the board of Acreage Holdings alongside former US Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner by saying, “ In the fullness of time, all of these important matters become accepted.”

The number of cannabis lobbyists in Ottawa continues to grow, especially ahead of edibles. (The Lobby Monitor—Paywall)

The New York Times profiled the Canadian cannabis landscape, speaking with a number of prominent cannabis businesspeople and activists—including Hotbox’s Abi Roach, Cannabis Amnesty’s Reena Rampersad, and BC Compassion Club founder Hillary Black—ahead of legalization.

Another Times article offered suggestions from California’s legalization experience for Canadians, but Canadian insiders pointed out the Californian “wild-west” model bears little resemblance to Health Canada’s tightly regulated approach. (Twitter)

NORML Canada’s Kelly Coulter reflected on the conversation she had with Justin Trudeau in 2012 that convinced him to work for legalization. (The Star)

The president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police stressed Canadian police were ready for REC legalization. (CBC British Colombia)

However, the challenge ahead for police is the “social change” of moving away from seeing cannabis as a “social evil” to a controlled legal product. (The Star)

A McGill University study found young people who used cannabis were at risk of an impaired-driving accident up to five hours later. (CBC Montreal)

Teenagers below 18 who possess more than five grams may (depending on the province) be ticketed for possession, but more than five grams can get a teen charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. (The Star)

Dr. Diane Kelsall, editor of the peer-reviewed Canadian Medical Association Journal, published an editorial arguing because of the “known and unknown health hazards of cannabis, any increase in use of recreational cannabis after legalization, whether by adults or youth, should be viewed as a failure of this legislation.” (CMAJ)

Director of the BC Centre for Disease Control Dr. Mark Tyndall responded, “The reason to legalize cannabis - like all drugs - is because trying to control the use of psychoactive drugs through the criminal justice system creates massive health & social harms and ruins lives.” (Twitter)

For MED users—many of whom are unable to work—the new MED tax may force them to buy illicit cannabis. (The Star)

Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana said 60% of patients cannot afford MED and are forced to under-dose. (Twitter)

Public health and addictions researchers said legal cannabis should immediately be used to fight the opioid crisis. (The Conversation)

The Canadian Medical Practitioners Association published guidelines for what doctors should expect after legalization. (CMPA)

Health Canada published information about what papers MED users must show if they’re carrying more than 30 grams.

Globe and Mail health columnist André Picard applauded the decision to continue the MED system, saying legalization would advance research, and patients should be getting advice from doctors rather than dispensaries.

Parents have different approaches to how they explain their cannabis use to their kids. (CBC Radio)

Bob Marley’s granddaughter Donisha Prendergast lives in Toronto and has mixed feelings about legalization, which does nothing to right prohibition’s disproportionate impact on Black people while enriching “old white men, ex-cops, former incarcerators.” (CBC Toronto)

Cannabis mass-production can be ecologically disastrous. (CTV News)

For some First Nations, cannabis is bringing jobs and money to communities that need both. (CTV News)

Aspiring cannabis chefs are using secret REC supper clubs to road-test their recipes in the runup to edibles. (National Post)

Parks Canada will allow visitors to smoke cannabis at their campsites in national parks. (Vancouver Sun)

Legalization changes the way researchers deal with cannabis. (Nature)

No one knows quite how questions about teenage use, impaired driving, THC limits, and other major concerns will be resolved. (The Star)

The Japanese Consulate General in Vancouver warned Japanese nationals and tourists in Canada that Japanese law forbids them from consuming cannabis in any form, even outside of Japan.

A bipartisan group of US legislators wants the Trump administration to clarify its intentions for dealing with Canadians in the cannabis industry. (MJ Biz Daily)

Mainstream news outlets giddily attempted to give advice about legal cannabis, from how to roll a joint, to how to consume it politely, to how to grow it yourself, to forecasting how far you’ll have to walk to buy legal REC. (Globe and Mail, CTV News, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail)

BUSINESS

Beginning at midnight on REC Day One, Shopify’s cannabis websites saw millions of visitors, and processed 100 orders per minute. BC’s provincial cannabis website reported 1,000 sales in the first hour. (Globe and Mail)

Canadian companies made $8B in deals this year prior to legalization. (Bloomberg)

As of Wednesday, each company’s ability to profit in the REC market is no longer theoretical, and soon LPs and their stockholders will discover whether they have what it takes to be profitable. (Financial Post)

The good news was there were few serious hiccups, most online sales stood up to demand, and sales were strong. (MJ Biz Daily)

Most cannabis stocks declined on REC Day One. LPs weren’t especially worried. (Financial Post, Vancouver Sun)

As of Tuesday night, Health Canada had issued LPs 127 cultivation licences (67 with sales licences and 4 stand-alone stores), 72 licenses for oil production (29 with sales), 9 licenses to sell clones, and 2 licenses to sell seeds. (Twitter)

October 17 also meant Canada’s 250 hemp farmers can now sell their flower for CBD, potentially affecting global CBD prices. (Hemp Industry Daily)

One of the principal supply-chain obstacles preventing LPs from getting their products out was, as I was tipped off last week, with the government’s cannabis excise stamps, which were sent out late and didn’t fit all sizes of Health Canada–approved packaging. Meanwhile, each province has different stamps, and all stamps were distributed without adhesive on the back. (Financial Post)

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued a strike notice to Canada Post, allowing them the power to strike if their contract is not resolved over the weekend. In Ontario and Nunavut, which only have online REC retail (and BC, which has only one retail location), this will prevent consumers from accessing legal REC. (Globe and Mail)

Provincial wholesalers are enlisting other delivery services in case of a Canada Post strike. (MJ Biz Daily)

Legalization ends the liberal period of LP advertising and ushers in stricter marketing regulations. (Globe and Mail)

Canadian companies are likely to lead the global cannabis sector as long as it remains federally illegal in the US. (Globe and Mail)

Once American companies get involved, said insiders, Canada will be swept aside. (Financial Post)
A US producer took out a full-page Wall Street Journal ad demanding Trump protect their “competitive advantage” by legalizing REC. (Global News)

Mad Money’s Jim Cramer called legal cannabis “the most disruptive force since Amazon.” (CNBC)

The pressure for companies to genetically engineer and patent cannabis molecules is high, despite protests from some in the sector. (CBC Business)

Unlike in the US, cannabis companies in Canada can trademark their wares. (CannaLaw Blog)

DEALS

Canopy Growth bought Colorado cannabinoid-research company ebbu, which claims it can, among other things, maximize cannabinoid output through patented plant genetics. The deal could ultimately be worth more than $400M. (CNBC)

The Wayland Group (formerly MariCann) agreed to supply 9,000 kilograms of cannabis flowers over three years to Germany’s Cannamedical Pharma. (Globe NewsWire)

COMPANY NEWS

Aphria destroyed a batch of its crop due to a shortage of skilled workers. (CTV Windsor)

Aurora will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange next week. Aphria has also filed documents to list on the NYSE. (Financial Post)

The Montreal Gazette profiled Quebec’s first and most successful LP, Hexo/ Hydropothecary.

In a Globe and Mail interview, Canopy’s Bruce Linton said to innovate in cannabis, “You need to be a nerd.” He’s looking forward to the dawn of what he calls “ingestibles”—not just edibles, but cannabis products that can be sipped or chewed.

Imperial Tobacco continued to accuse Ottawa of applying a double standard to cannabis producers, arguing the government clamps down harder on illicit tobacco than it does illegal cannabis. (Brampton Guardian)

WORKPLACE

Young and old investment bankers are leaving the financial sector for the cannabis industry. (Financial Post)

Workplace cannabis bans are stoking labour tensions in union shops. (National Post)

On Parliament Hill, there’s no specific rule banning MPs from coming to work high. (CBC Politics)

Air traffic controllers can use cannabis off duty. (The Star)

More than two thirds of Canadian workers don’t know their employers’ cannabis policy. (Penticton Western News)

Gatineau, Quebec said police, firefighters, and first-responders, and other “high-risk” employees (a term as-yet undefined) must have “no trace of cannabis consumption in their bodies.” (CBC Gatineau)

An RCMP officer in New Brunswick with PTSD says he has “a legal right” to smoke MED while in uniform (at an administrative post, not carrying a weapon). (CTV News)

Alberta’s oil-sands companies worry their workers will use REC at their extremely dangerous jobs. (CBC Edmonton)

PROVINCIAL NEWS

ALBERTA

19 retailers opened in Alberta. (CTV News)

A nine-year-old sold out of three cases of Girl Guide cookies in 45 minutes by stationing herself in front of an Edmonton REC store on Day One. (CTV News)

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Only one store opened in BC—in Kamloops—and by 4:00 pm more than half the strains on the provincial cannabis website were out of stock. (Global News)

October 17 was difficult for those who founded BC’s tolerated-but-illegal dispensaries, and many vowed to continue operating as a protest to the increasingly corporate character of the cannabis industry. (Financial Post)

Provincial Public Security Minister Mike Farnworth warned illicit dispensaries to shut down before October 17 if they wanted a chance to get a retail license. (Global News)

BC’s grey-market dispensaries began purging their stock in order to be eligible for provincial licenses. (Vancouver Sun)

BC Hydro expects legal growers will drive an increase in demand for electricity. (Global News)

With profits halved and difficulty selling, underground growers in BC see their economy collapsing and expect the illicit industry will only last a few more years. (CBC British Colombia)

With legalization comes the institution of a new 44-member special constabulary to investigate illicit cannabis. (Vancouver Sun)

The Vancouver airport will allow passengers to smoke cannabis before flights in approved areas. (Straight Cannabis)

BC has always been on the front lines of the fight for legalization, The Straight reminded readers.

ONTARIO

No retail locations opened in Ontario for REC Day One, and all sales were processed through the Ontario Cannabis Store website. (Global News)

The OCS website mislabelled cannabis genital spray as an oral spray. (CTV News)

Ontario health groups want Doug Ford’s government to slow the rollout of REC retail and keep all stores away from both schools and areas where children congregate. (iPolitics)

The government warned dispensaries who want a crack at the legal market that Tuesday was their last chance to close their doors. (National Post)

23 of Ottawa’s 24 illegal dispensaries are shutting down as they apply for REC retail licenses. (Ottawa Citizen, CBC Ottawa)

The provincial government will limit the number of retail licenses one company can have, but hasn’t announced the number yet. (CBC Toronto)

Toronto mayor John Tory told Attorney General Caroline Mulroney he has “significant concerns” about how legalization will affect the city of Toronto, and hopes the city won’t be “unfairly burdened with increased enforcement and social costs triggered by this significant change.” (CBC Toronto)

Once “the tomato capital of Canada,” Leamington, Ontario has been transformed by Aphria and legalization. (Bloomberg)

In Smith’s Falls, outside Ottawa, cannabis rejuvenated a town of 9,000 crushed by the loss of the Hershey’s plant, which is now Canopy’s headquarters. (Financial Post)

There are between 30 and 50 illegal dispensaries in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and cannabis has reshaped the First Nation’s economy. (The Star)

QUEBEC

On Day One, the line for the downtown Montreal location of the Société Québécoise du Cannabis—one of three in Montreal, and 12 across the province— began at 3:45am, though the store didn’t open until 10. (Montreal Gazette)

The SQDC reported on Day One it made 12,500 sales in person at its 12 locations, and 30,000 sales online. On Day Two, it made 8,500 sales in person and 13,800 sales on line. (Twitter)

Some regular users were less excited about Quebec’s model for legal REC. (Montreal Gazette)

Justin Trudeau argued Quebec’s incumbent CAQ government’s plan to raise the age of consumption from 18 to 21 would benefit organized crime. (The Star)

Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said Ottawa will challenge Quebec in court on an age increase, as it will challenge the ban on home growing. (Vigile Québec—In French)

Despite having the second largest population of any province, Quebec is trailing behind smaller provinces in its cannabis industry. LPs blame lack of enthusiasm from the Couillard Liberal government. (La Presse—In French)

Quebec is trapped between two approaches to cannabis—the outgoing Liberals’ more lenient attitude, allowing public smoking and sales to those 18 and up, and the incoming CAQ’s hard-line. (CBC Montreal)

Under Bill 157, now provincial law, any items bearing cannabis leaves will be illegal. Stoner t-shirts are suddenly edgy, at least until the first court throws the section of the law out as a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (Financial Post)

The owner of Montreal’s head-shop chain Prohibition says he’s going to court to challenge the ban. (Montreal Gazette)

Many underground Quebec growers are expecting business as usual to continue. (CBC Montreal)

Quebec environmentalists are upset by how much packaging is used for REC. (Global News)

MARITIMES

Canada’s first legal REC was sold at 12:01am Newfoundland Daylight Time, when Thomas “Herb” Clarke, proprietor of THC Distribution in Portugal Cove–St. Philip’s, sold his father Don seven grams. Or was it Ian Power at Canopy’s Tweed shop in Saint-John’s, where Bruce Linton ran him through? (Maclean’s, CTV News)

The Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation approved retail hours of 9am to 2am, 7 days per week.
The Cannabis NL website also went live at midnight, selling the least expensive flower in Canada. (Financial Post)

New Brunswick hope legalization will buoy the provincial economy, particularly in its embattled rural areas. (CTV News, CBC New Brunswick)

Health Canada investigated the Cannabis NB website to determine whether images of smiling people taking a selfie, a man doing yoga, and a man working broke federal cannabis advertising rules, which ban the depiction of people. It found they did, and ordered Cannabis NB to remove potentially offending items, though it did not give “explicit direction” about which parts of the site broke the law. (CBC New Brunswick, Telegraph-Journal—Paywall)

A coalition of Chiefs from Nova Scotia First Nations argue they have the jurisdiction to handle cannabis themselves, but they’ve given the province a year’s notice of their intention to open stores so prices and products will be consistent across the province. (CBC Nova Scotia)

PRAIRIES

7 Stores were licensed to open in Manitoba, drawing crowds and good-natured lines. (CBC Manitoba)

Manitoba may ban public consumption of edibles before they become federally legal. (The Province)

The Leaf reporter Solomon Israel relayed an email he received from a Winnipeg News reader arguing public smoking bans make cannabis tourism nearly impossible. (Twitter)

With no stores in Saskatoon and Regina, buyers had to go to rural areas, where they paid the highest prices in Canada. (Global News)

Sakimay First Nations in Saskatchewan refuse to recognize the provincial and federal governments’ authorities over their territory on cannabis. (CBC Saskatchewan)

THE NORTH

Nunavut has the highest cannabis consumption in Canada, and officials worry underground dealers will turn to opioids. (CBC North)

There’s no cannabis store in any of the Inuit communities of Nunavik, along the northern coast of Quebec, or in Nunavut but locals in both regions can order online. (Nunatsiaq News)

There’s a lot of interest from potential retailers who’d like to open cannabis stores in Nunavut. (Nunatsiaq News)

Want to reach a devoted audience of top cannabis professionals? Advertise in WeedWeek or WeedWeek Canada. Contact Adrienne Nascimento at weedweekads@gmail.com for details.

Bye,

Jesse

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