Tag: Canada

A government-appointed panel of experts analyzing Canada’s adult-use legalization law, the Cannabis Act, has recommended the country enable pharmacy access for medical marijuana and reconsider how excise tax is applied to recreational products. The proposals are part of a final report, 18 months in the making, that lays out 54 recommendations and a number of observations for the federal government to consider. Some of the recommendations align with industry expectations, such as allowing pharmacies to sell medical cannabis products, which… Read more.

The CBD maker also extended its partnership with Major League Baseball. Charlotte’s Web (OTC: CWBHF) has been caught in a protracted sales downturn, but management is optimistic that it can still turn the tides for the once stand out CBD maker. The MLB-partnered company reported a 14.8% slide in net revenue in 2023, down to $63.2 million from 2022. Lower sales in both e-commerce and business-to-business (B2B) sectors drove the decline. While the company has been taking “multiple actions to maintain… Read more.

Canada’s tax collection agency is following through on a threat to garnish cash from licensed cannabis producers that are delinquent on their excise duty payments, MJBizDaily has learned. The move is a major escalation in the Canada Revenue Agency’s efforts to collect money it’s owed by federally regulated cannabis companies with outstanding excise debt – a situation that has ballooned in recent years as the industry’s financial challenges mount. The amount of unpaid federal excise tax owed by Canada’s cash-strapped marijuana companies… Read more.

Canada’s THC-infused beverage market is about to get more crowded. Jones Soda, the beloved soft drink company known for its quirky flavors, said on Tuesday that the arm of its cannabis business, Mary Jones, “has been approved to operate in Ontario, Canada, with additional provinces to follow.”  “Starting with their THC-infused beverages, the products are currently slated for Ontario availability in Q1 24,” the company said in a press release. Jones is eyeing an additional expansion into other cannabis categories within the Canadian… Read more.

There are chefs who cook with cannabis, then there are James Beard-nominated chefs who cook with cannabis. Toronto-based culinary master Jordan Wagman is in the latter category. For the uninitiated, receiving a James Beard nomination is very much akin to an Oscar nomination for acting. It’s a big deal (as all you Top Chef fans know). But this chef was on a mission. “It all comes back to my health,” Wagman says when asked about his journey to becoming one of the… Read more.

For the diehard cannabis connoisseur, one whose only mission in life is the quest for the eternal buzz, tracking down that one marijuana strain that really kicks them in the boo-boo can be tough. It means visiting one dispensary after another, where, often, none of the staff ever seems willing to break out the secret stash from the back. And we know they’ve got one! So there is a lot of trial and error in this process. And this search… Read more.

High Tide has opened the doors for its Canna Cabana cannabis store on the Tsuut’ina Nation in the province of Alberta. It’s only the fourth province-approved adult-use cannabis store on or adjacent to a reserve in the province, according to a spokesperson for the Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis (AGLC). The other three are: 7 Points Cannabis in Enoch Cree Nation.Green Nation Naturals in the vicinity of Maskwacis territory.4Hoots in Sucker Creek First Nation.Alberta has 750 legal cannabis stores, meaning… Read more.

The number of legal cannabis retailers has exploded in North America the last decade, but that hasn’t resulted in easier access for kids.  That is the takeaway from newly published survey data that examined perceptions of cannabis among youth in Canada. “Very little research has examined how perceptions of cannabis access among underage youth in Canada have changed since cannabis was legalized and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this paper examines the effect of the early and… Read more.

The Canadian province of Alberta is revamping its regulations to allow cannabis retailers to operate temporary stores at age-gated events such as trade shows and festivals starting next year. Alberta is Canada’s second-largest cannabis retail market, trailing only Ontario. The regulatory overhaul, announced this week, is part of provincial lawmakers’ review of the recreational cannabis market to determine what regulations are working, what needs to be improved and what’s redundant. The new rules will reduce barriers and costs for legal cannabis retailers… Read more.

Financially distressed cannabis companies continued to seek refuge in Canadian insolvency law in 2023, although such insolvency filings under one statute declined from 2022. This year’s cannabis insolvencies included big names such as retailer Fire & Flower and producer Aleafia Health, highlighting the industrywide struggle to keep operating in the face of low marijuana prices, high taxes and trouble accessing new funding. Seven of the 57 filings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) through Dec. 15, 2023, or about… Read more.

Ontario’s government-owned marijuana wholesaler was sitting on more than 500 million Canadian dollars ($367 million) in cash earlier this year, but officials have declined to spell out why the Ontario Cannabis Store held on to that much money rather than remit some of it back to the provincial government earlier. According to recently disclosed Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) financial statements, the wholesaler had CA$536 million ($394 million) in cash as of March 31, 2023 – the end of its fiscal… Read more.

Some ingestible cannabis products that Health Canada considers noncompliant with federal rules still appear to be widely available in parts of the country, almost a year after the regulator asked companies to stop selling them to consumers because of concerns about overconsumption of THC. The wide availability of these products on store shelves in some provinces has thrown the market for ingestibles into turmoil, making it harder for producers committed to regulatory compliance to know what is kosher and what… Read more.

Canada’s federal health regulator has approved Jazz Pharmaceuticals Canada’s cannabinoid-based medicine Epidiolex as a supplementary therapy for certain rare and severe forms of epilepsy, allowing the company to bring to market a clinically tested drug with global sales that dwarf those of the nation’s entire medical cannabis industry. Epidiolex is the top-selling clinically proven cannabinoid-based medicine in the world, with global sales through the first nine months of Jazz’s fiscal year totaling approximately $604.8 million (823 million Canadian dollars). By comparison, in… Read more.

The Toronto Stock Exchange isn’t the only tier one Canadian exchange for U.S. cannabis companies looking to raise capital outside their home turf. A growing number of multistate operators have chosen another tier one exchange, the Toronto-based Cboe Canada exchange, instead of the more junior Canadian Securities Exchange. Cboe (pronounced “see-bow”) Canada was known as the NEO Exchange before its 2022 acquisition by Cboe Global Markets, the parent company of the Chicago Board Options Exchange. These days, Cboe Canada is home… Read more.

A citizen petition in Canada’s House of Commons is seeking to raise the maximum amount of THC in edible cannabis products from 10 milligrams to 100 milligrams, which advocates say will “benefit consumers and will contribute to a more sustainable industry as a whole.”  The petition notes that both the Canada Competition Bureau and the Ontario Cannabis Store, which is run by the government, have called upon Health Canada to increase THC limits.  The petition argues that while the current 10 milligram THC limit… Read more.

Canadian cannabis advocates are calling on the federal government to relax strict limits on the potency of cannabis edibles with a petition seeking a tenfold increase in maximum permitted THC levels. Canada legalized cannabis through an act of Parliament in 2018, and retail sales of cannabis extracts and edibles were authorized for licensed operators one year later. Regulations on edibles set strict potency limits, however, with a cap of 10 milligrams of THC per product. In contrast, California, the largest regulated… Read more.

One after another, many of Canada’s largest cannabis greenhouses and indoor grow operations have been sold or mothballed as the industry continues to search for a supply-demand equilibrium after years of overproduction. The facilities, each costing anywhere from 100 million Canadian dollars ($73 million) to more than CA$500 million, are being closed for various reasons. Some of the operations crashed into the cannabis industry’s hard macroeconomic realities: Canadian cultivators bankrolled and licensed too much cultivation capacity before and after adult-use legalization in 2018,… Read more.

Village Farms International (Nasdaq: VFF), an agriculture veteran turned cannabis grower, is weathering a competitive cannabis market by betting on brand variety and operational efficiency, executives said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. The British Columbia-based company, traditionally known for its produce, has shifted much of its growth narrative toward expanding Canadian cannabis segment. The introduction of the Fraser Valley brand to Ontario has driven positive results, grabbing decent market share by targeting cost-conscious consumers during a period of industry-wide price compressions. CEO Michael DeGiglio cited the… Read more.

Institutional investors are increasingly bullish on U.S. cannabis multistate operators, according to a new survey, which suggests marijuana rescheduling by the federal government could convince those big investors to put new money into MSOs. The group’s sentiment is “more bullish than it was six months ago, mostly because of (the prospect of) rescheduling,” said Frederico Gomes, a cannabis equity analyst with Calgary, Alberta-based ATB Capital Markets and lead author of the report, which surveyed 23 institutional investors between Oct. 23 and… Read more.

The Canadian cannabis industry is on pace to see a record number of federal licenses revoked this fiscal year, largely at the request of the companies themselves, according to new data from Health Canada. The federal agency revoked 42 licenses during the first six months of the current fiscal year – April through September – putting the industry on pace to surpass the 74 that were revoked in the 2022-23 fiscal year. In 2021-22, 50 licenses were revoked, more than… Read more.

Some of Canada’s largest cannabis cultivators are turning to vegetables, fruits and orchids to bolster their bottom line as macroeconomic fundamentals continue to challenge the struggling industry. The latest licensed producer to enter the food business is Leamington, Ontario-based Tilray Brands, which recently said it was converting part of its sprawling facility in Gatineau, Quebec, to grow fruits and vegetables. Tilray joins Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis and British Columbia-headquartered Village Farms International in diversifying their main business at a time when… Read more.

Canadian cannabis growers and processors are eligible to apply for funding under the new 3.5 billion Canadian dollar ($2.6 billion) Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership program if certain conditions are met, the administrator of the initiative, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, told MJBizDaily. Any prospective sources of new funding would be welcome news for Canada’s smaller cannabis growers and processors, many of which are struggling under persistent deflationary and ultracompetitive pressures, plus tight funding from private-sector lenders. Financing from the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable… Read more.

A group that was supposed to have been created by the Canadian government almost two years ago to shine a light on major issues confronting the nation’s struggling cannabis industry is, for the first time, showing signs of life. A long-awaited cannabis “strategy table” designed to bridge communication between Canada’s federal government and the flailing industry quietly had its preliminary meeting over the summer and selected a chair, industry sources say. George Smitherman, CEO of the Cannabis Council of Canada, said the… Read more.

More Canadian cannabis companies are tapping government funding sources to finance research and other projects as private-sector capital has become harder to come by. MJBizDaily found that more than 3 million Canadian dollars ($2.2 million) worth of federal funding was provided to almost two dozen companies over the past year, according to the government’s Grants and Contributions portal. Since 2018, the year Canada legalized recreational marijuana, roughly CA$32.8 million worth of funding has been provided to dozens of cannabis businesses by… Read more.

E-commerce technology company Squarespace Inc. (NYSE: SQSP) announced a partnership with dispensary tech company Jane Technologies to offer its products to cannabis businesses in Canada. “At Square, we’re always looking to solve sellers’ pain points and we know cannabis dispensaries have limited options when it comes to reliable and integrated commerce tools,” said Roshan Jhunja, Head of Retail at Square. “Sellers are looking for an easy-to-use, fully integrated omnichannel solution to help them run their businesses in person and online. We’ve been fortunate to… Read more.

Nearly five years after legalizing recreational marijuana at the federal level, Canada is approaching 4,000 regulated cannabis stores spread unevenly across the enormous country, according to data compiled by MJBizDaily. The latest quarterly store tally comes as Canada’s cannabis retail sector continues to transform. Some private-sector retailers are failing, such as major retail chain Fire & Flower, which entered creditor protection in June after years of operating at a loss. Other retail operators, meanwhile, are acquiring: Fika Cannabis successfully bid 36 million Canadian dollars ($26.7 million) for… Read more.

Some brands just seem to have an innate sense for how to make it to the top. They’re able to attract the old guard with a classic panache while at the same time appealing to hipsters who seek a bougie vibe. Canadian dispensary chain Burb passes the test, blending trendy retail with onsite spaces where artists can create and collaborate and industry members can network and build brands. From consumption lounges and live-music nights to a bud bar and a new location that… Read more.

Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth Corp. entered into subscription agreements with institutional investors in a private placement offering for gross proceeds of approximately $25 million (33.8 million Canadian dollars). The offering of roughly 22.9 million units occurred at a price per unit of $1.09, an approximately 22% discount from Friday’s close, according to a Monday news release. Smiths Falls, Ontario-based Canopy said the investors hold an over-allotment option allowing them to acquire up to about 22.9 more units. The gross proceeds from… Read more.

Columbia Care Inc. (NEO: CCHW) (OTCQX: CCHWF) is changing its legal name to The Cannabist Company Holdings Inc. as it aligns more closely with its retail store name. The company is rebranding to The Cannabist Company and is also changing its trading symbols on the CBOE Canada to “CBST” and “CBST.WT”, respectively, for the common shares and warrants. “The rebrand to The Cannabist Company marks an incredibly pivotal moment for us as an organization and speaks to where we are heading. When we launched Cannabist, we wanted… Read more.

Active medical cannabis registrations and overall spending on the medicine in Canada fell to their lowest levels since before recreational marijuana was legalized in late 2018. The number of active patient registrations with a federal license holder was 212,700 as of the end of March, according to the latest data from Health Canada and Statistics Canada, respectively. That’s 38% lower than the 345,520 active registrations in October 2018, when Canada legalized marijuana for adult use. The Health Canada figures are… Read more.

With its right hand, Tilray Brands has consolidated a swath of the Canadian cannabis market, most recently buying Hexo Corp. in its quest to grow market share. With its left hand, Tilray has gone on a beverage alcohol acquisition bender in the United States. After several alcohol acquisitions that turned Tilray into one of the largest U.S. craft brewers, the company recently announced an $85 million deal to acquire eight craft beer brands from brewing behemoth Anheuser-Busch InBev. As the dust settles on Tilray’s latest… Read more.

Medical cannabis reimbursements by Veterans Affairs Canada in the 2022-23 fiscal year recorded an all-time high, according to the latest figures.However, annual growth of those reimbursements as measured in dollars reached a multiyear low, indicating that growth in the category is slowing substantially.Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is the federal department responsible for benefits and services for retired and serving Canadian Armed Forces members.In the 2022-23 fiscal year ended March 31, VAC reimbursed 21,108 people a total of 167.6 million Canadian… Read more.

Australia and Israel were the top markets for Canada’s medical cannabis exporters last year, as the quantity of flower shipped overseas continued to surge, according to new figures shared by Health Canada with MJBizDaily. In the April 2022-March 2023 fiscal year, Canada’s exports of medical marijuana flower were 59,986 kilograms (roughly 132,200 pounds), a 48% increase over the previous year’s 40,640 kilograms. The vast majority of exports, however, went to only three countries, meaning exporters risk being dependent on a very… Read more.

Health Canada said two licensed cannabis companies have voiced concerns about the wildfires in British Columbia, but the federal regulator told MJBizDaily it has yet to receive any reports the blazes have destroyed marijuana crops. “Health Canada is aware that the wildfires and their associated evacuation orders may have an impact on cannabis license holders,” a Health Canada spokesperson said via email Thursday. “We acknowledge these are challenging times.” The regulator did not identify the companies. Canada has been battling its worst… Read more.

Two indices tracking the performance of cannabis businesses on North America’s largest stock exchanges have been discontinued amid waning investor interest in marijuana stocks and billions in losses suffered by the companies. The S&P/TSX Canada Cannabis Index was decommissioned with little fanfare earlier this year after being launched on Jan. 20, 2020, a spokesperson for S&P Dow Jones Indices confirmed in an email to MJBizDaily. A second cannabis index, the S&P/MX International Cannabis Index, was decommissioned in November 2021. The S&P/TSX Canada Cannabis… Read more.

Back in the regulated marijuana industry’s more heady days, a U.S. hemp-derived CBD subsidiary seemed like the must-have accessory for any Canadian cannabis company worth its bud. Canopy Growth Corp. owned a hemp farm in Springfield, New York, and planned to build a $150 million industrial park in Kirkwood, New York, to produce hemp products. Aurora Cannabis bought Reliva – a Massachusetts-based producer of hemp-derived CBD products – in a $40 million deal that included potential earnouts. And Cronos Group spent hundreds of millions of… Read more.

Tilray Brands Inc. (Nasdaq: TLRY) (TSX: TLRY) is buying the remaining 57.5% of shares in THC-infused drink line Truss Beverage Co. from Molson Coors Canada, the company said Friday. In a statement, Blair MacNeil, President of Tilray Canada, expressed excitement for the move. “In addition to acquiring full and direct ownership of a stable of high-growth brands, this acquisition further strengthens Tilray’s No. 1 cannabis market share position in Canada and positions the company at the forefront of the adult-use beverage sector,” MacNeil… Read more.

Nearly five years after recreational cannabis legalization, legal weed shops are as common as corner stores in most major Canadian cities. In the biggest metropolis, Toronto, more than 400 cannabis retail licenses have been issued across the city’s six boroughs. In contrast, Canada’s second-biggest city – Montreal – is home to only 21 legal cannabis outlets within city limits, plus some stores in outlying suburbs. All are operated by Quebec’s government-owned recreational cannabis retail monopoly Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC).… Read more.

Top executives at Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX: WEED) (Nasdaq: CGC) did their best this past week to convince stakeholders that the business is now making progress on a “path to profitability,” as Chief Financial Officer Judy Hong put it during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. Hong and CEO David Klein tag-teamed during the call to argue that cost-cutting measures, a strategic pivot to an “asset-light” business model, and further investment in brand partnerships, such as the one the company has with… Read more.

Canadian megacorp Tilray Brands Inc. struck an $85-million cash deal with Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) to purchase eight breweries in the United States. The acquisition will triple Tilray’s beverage production capacity to 12 million cases per year, making it the fifth-largest craft beer company in the country. The purchase added 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Blue Point Brewing Company, Breckenridge Brewery, HiBall Energy, Redhook Brewery, Shock Top, Square Mile Cider Company, and Widmer Brothers Brewing to a portfolio… Read more.

Canada’s federal government accounts for a growing share of the unpaid debts racked up by failed cannabis companies, lending credence to claims the nation’s nascent adult-use industry is suffering from pricey fees and heavy taxation. A review of recent insolvency filings by MJBizDaily found that the Canada Revenue Agency, the federal tax collection body, and Health Canada, the national department in charge of regulating cannabis production, are commonly among the biggest unpaid creditors for insolvent marijuana producers. In the 2021-22 fiscal year,… Read more.

Canada’s federal government could face legal consequences for failing to facilitate research on potential health issues experienced by cannabis smokers, according to the former chair of the task force that laid the groundwork for recreational legalization in the country. Anne McLellan, a former law professor at the University of Alberta, told The Globe and Mail newspaper the Canadian government could “potentially” face a class action lawsuit. The federal health minister from 2002 to 2003, McLellan told the Toronto-based newspaper that any lawsuits… Read more.

For cannabis retailers, it’s no secret: Customers like buying weed close to home, if they can. New research into Canada’s regulated cannabis market supports that intuition: Consumer proximity to government-regulated stores increases the odds that people will source product from the legal market. The paper – due to be published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs – explores the association between how far Canadian cannabis users live from regulated cannabis retail stores and how they choose to obtain… Read more.

Cannabis entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to smaller micro-cultivation facilities to manage costs and produce higher-quality marijuana at a time when the industry is facing a glut of “standard” product and falling prices. That shift ultimately could help shrink some of the Canadian cannabis industry’s current supply glut, given that micro-class licensees operate smaller cultivation facilities. At the end of 2022, Canada’s total indoor growing area was 28% lower than the all-time high reached in 2020. Canada’s federal government last year… Read more.

Amid a pending lawsuit and serious allegations of funds misappropriation, Canadian producer iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. (CSE: IAN) (OTCPK: ITHUF) has appointed Richard Proud as its new chief executive officer and director on the board of directors. The announcement comes in the wake of accusations by a Maryland-based cannabis dispensary, and in a RICO lawsuit filed last month, LMS Wellness Benefit LLC. alleges that iAnthus diverted at least $4.5 million of its funds into iAnthus’s other business interests. According to court documents, a… Read more.

Pressure is growing on the Canadian government to adjust the THC limit governing cannabis edibles, with the country’s largest adult-use wholesaler calling on the nation’s marijuana regulator to consider such a move. In a position paper sent to Health Canada, the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) also urged the agency to address the cannabis industry’s “unsustainable” environmental footprint – particularly the impact of packaging and single-use plastics. In recommending a hike in the THC edibles cap, the OCS joins a growing… Read more.

Unpaid regulatory fees owed by cannabis companies to Canada’s federal government jumped more than 200% from a year earlier, to almost 4 million Canadian dollars ($3.1 million) as of the end of March, MJBizDaily has learned. The overdue fees have grown every year since 2019, as cannabis businesses licensed by the federal government struggle under the weight of taxes, fees, an intensely competitive market and poor business decisions. For the 2022-23 fiscal year, the fees in arrears grew to CA$3.9 million, 225%… Read more.

Cronos Group has received a number of expressions of interest about a possible sale and is reviewing those offers, the Toronto-based cannabis producer said. “Cronos is in the initial stages of reviewing these indications of interest, and there can be no assurance that any agreement or transaction will result therefrom,” the company said in a news release. Reuters reported Thursday that Cronos is exploring a potential sale. Cronos is currently working with a financial adviser to handle the expressions of interest from other companies,… Read more.

Hundreds of emails, documents and reports obtained by MJBizDaily through a Canadian federal records request paint a more complete picture of the Cannabis Act review currently underway – a reexamination that could have far-reaching implications for operators in the country’s 5.6 billion Canadian dollar ($4.3 billion) legal marijuana industry. The 1,700-page package of documents reveals fresh details about the government-appointed expert panel undertaking the review, in particular the group’s tardiness in launching, the scope of the topics covered – as well as what’s not… Read more.

A Canadian Senate committee is urging the federal government to revise the county’s adult-use cannabis law to give First Nations the authority to regulate their own production and sales programs. That is one of the recommendations contained in a recently released report by the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, which spent 2022 examining the implementation of the 2018 Cannabis Act and how the end of prohibition affected Indigenous peoples. The group of 14 senators heard testimony from 29 witnesses. (MJBizDaily reported… Read more.

Health Canada is asking federally licensed cannabis producers to stop using certain words on labels and in promotions for infused beverages, warning they could appeal to young people. The words – “soda,” “cola,” “root beer” or “ginger ale” – do not comply with Canada’s strict labeling and promotions requirements for cannabis, according to an email obtained by MJBizDaily that was sent by Health Canada to companies producing the affected products. Health Canada is requesting businesses to “cease all non-compliant promotion and labelling of cannabis,”… Read more.

The cannabis industry is not immune to cyberthreats. Many Canadian businesses lost millions after a distributor for the government-operated Ontario Cannabis Store was hit by a cyberattack that left the region incapable of processing or delivering orders to retailers. In another cyberattack, hackers stole $3.6 million an Australian medicinal-cannabis firm intended to send to an overseas contractor. These are just two examples of how the industry has become a popular target for cyber-extortion in recent years due to the nature… Read more.

Decibel Cannabis is a rare breed among licensed producers in Canada. The company’s ascent to the top of market-share charts in key product categories came not from costly and severely dilutive mergers and acquisitions – a strategy employed by some larger rivals. As of April, the Alberta-based company said its national share was 7.1% – good enough for second place in Canada’s hotly contested market, though market analytics firm HiFyre had Decibel as No. 1 in the key provinces of… Read more.

Both companies plan to use some of the proceeds to further their research. While funding for psychedelics companies may be becoming more scarce, at least two firms have managed to successfully initiate rounds recently. PharmAla Psychedelic drug company PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc.  (CSE: MDMA) (OTC: PMBHF) announced a non-brokered private placement of a minimum 3,333,333 units and a maximum 16,666,666 units of the company at a price of $0.30 per unit for gross proceeds of a minimum of $1 million and a maximum of… Read more.

A cannabis oil company is poised to go public next week in a landmark deal, sidestepping Canada’s downtrodden traditional IPO route after merging with a long-standing, listed crude producer. Zyus Life Sciences Inc. completed a reverse takeover of Phoenix Canada Oil Co. Ltd. on June 9, raising C$20.1 million ($15.1 million). The company, which makes cannabinoid drugs to treat pain for osteoarthritis and bone cancer, is set for its trading debut as Zyus Life Sciences Corp. (ticker ZYUS CN) on… Read more.

Fire and Flower Throw in the Towel, Citing Significant Losses An initial order for creditor protection has been granted by a Canadian court to Fire & Flower Holdings and its cannabis-related businesses due to significant net losses of more than $150 million ($200 million) that have accrued since 2018. The Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) was used by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to grant this order, which enables the company to continue operating as it currently is and interact with… Read more.

Professionals have many reasons for attending cannabis events both domestically and internationally. The obvious: expanding business into new markets, meeting clients in person, and discovering innovation. Then, there’s also the benefit of large-scale discussions about how to adapt in a fast-paced, ever-evolving sector. The Lift Cannabis Conference & Expo in Toronto, Canada, checked all those boxes. This year’s agenda presented a list of change agents, including Muskoka Grown Chief Executive Officer John Fowler, Spirit Leaf and Superette President Dave Marino, and Abi… Read more.

The company's decision to file for bankruptcy underscores the ongoing challenges in the sector. Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. (OTCQX: FFLWF), a major Canadian cannabis retailer, is seeking creditor protection under the Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), the company said Tuesday. The company and a string of its subsidiaries have received an order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for creditor protection, marking a notable — yet foreseen — shift in its financial circumstances. Previously, Fire & Flower has been open about its active pursuit for additional… Read more.

Business failures and consolidation failed to stop Canada’s stockpile of unsold cannabis from reaching a new high in the final quarter of 2022, the latest sign that shrinking prices and margins could continue to squeeze companies. Packaged and unpackaged inventory of dried cannabis jumped to an all-time high of 1.47 billion grams (3.2 million pounds) as of December 2022, according to the latest data from Health Canada, which tracks overall unsold stockpiles of licensed producers, wholesalers and retailers. That’s an… Read more.

The company said it plans to open five more stores in Florida. Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (OTC: RWBYF) posted its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2023. The company posted revenues that ticked down over the year and opened newly re-branded stores in Florida, as it tries to stave off losses. The Toronto-based firm reported revenues of $27 million, down from last year’s $28 million, with a gross profit of $9.4 million. Operating expenses amounted to $10.9 million, and the… Read more.

An excise stamp needs to be affixed to all legal cannabis products sold in Canada. The amount of unpaid federal excise tax owed by Canada’s cash-strapped licensed cannabis producers more than tripled in the latest fiscal year from a year earlier as companies complain they’re getting buried by government fees and levies. Federally licensed cannabis producers owed the Canada Revenue Agency 192.7 million Canadian dollars ($145 million) as of March 31, 2023, a more than threefold increase over the 2021-22… Read more.

The Canadian federal government’s revenue service is ramping up pressure on cannabis producers with outstanding excise debt, MJBizDaily has learned, adding more pressure on companies that already are struggling financially. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is said to be raising the possibility of garnishment, liens on plant property and equipment, and legal action. Excise payment debts have soared in recent years, as cannabis producers suffer from a combination of industry-wide overproduction, which is driving down prices, and high taxes at various levels… Read more.

With the increasing number of states legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational purposes, there are growing concerns about the potential rise in incidents of cannabis-impaired driving. Unlike alcohol impairment, which can be easily tested using a breathalyzer, identifying cannabis impairment requires a more intricate approach. Police officers must rely on observational skills, physical tests, and specialized technology to determine if a driver is under the influence of cannabis. This article will explore law enforcement's various techniques to test for cannabis-impaired driving. So… Read more.

The study showed how mushroom extracts could boost immune cells in the brain. Psyched Wellness Ltd. (CSE: PSYC) (OTCQB: PSYCF) stock jumped 11% to lately sell at four cents based on the release of a new study demonstrating how mushroom extract can help modulate brain health. The study, to be published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, shows that Amanita muscaria extract activates human microglia, which play a key role in maintaining brain function. These mushrooms are known to contain muscarine, muscimol, muscazone, and ibotenic acid and… Read more.

PharmaCielo Ltd. (TSXV: PCLO) (OTCQX: PCLOF), the Canadian parent of Colombia’s premier cultivator and producer of dried flower and medicinal-grade cannabis extracts, PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings S.A.S., released its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2022. The company reported $1.5 million in sales for the quarter versus last year’s $339k for the same time period. This was also much higher than the third quarter revenue of $475k. The net loss for the quarter was trimmed to $2.9 million versus last year’s… Read more.

Canadian marijuana operator Organigram Holdings is asking a federal court to quash a Health Canada decision that the company’s popular ingestible cannabis lozenges should be classified and regulated as edibles instead of extracts. The legal challenge could have broader implications for Canada’s regulated cannabis sector and affect millions of dollars in sales of high-potency lozenges and similar products. Toronto-headquartered Organigram is seeking an application for judicial review. In Canada, such reviews give stakeholders, including companies, the opportunity to challenge decisions by government authorities, explained… Read more.

Produce and marijuana company Village Farms International has been warned by the Nasdaq stock exchange about its low share price. The company’s Nasdaq-listed shares (VFF) have closed below $1 since March 7. Village Farms has until Oct. 17 to become compliant with Nasdaq’s $1 minimum bid price requirement, the Delta, British Columbia-based company said in a Monday news release. If not, “the company may be eligible for an additional period of 180 calendar days to regain compliance or may be subject to delisting… Read more.

After the market closed on Thursday, Mind Cure Health Inc. (CSE: MCUR) (OTCQB: MCURF)  announced its financial results for the quarter ending February 28, 2023.  All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. The company had no revenue to report and C$200k in losses. On March 16, 2022, Mind Cure announced that additional capital required to execute the company’s plan was unlikely to be found. Accordingly, the company made the decision to eliminate all expenditures outside those required to preserve the value of… Read more.

TerrAscend Corp. (CSE: TER) (OTC: TRSSF) decided to celebrate 420 by filing its preliminary proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its next step to listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the TSX). While the company had hoped to time the release at 4:20pm, it managed to post the notice at 5:30pm. Shareholders will first have to approve the proposed transaction, which is expected, and the listing would come shortly thereafter. The meeting is scheduled for June 22, 2023… Read more.

A new delivery option will be available for consumers of legal cannabis in British Columbia starting this week. E-commerce and delivery technology company Uber Eats is partnering with online marijuana platform Leafly to offer delivery of cannabis products in British Columbia starting April 18. Last fall, the two companies started offering cannabis ordering and delivery in Toronto. In British Columbia, customers 19 and older will be able to place orders on the Uber Eats app and have cannabis products delivered to their door from… Read more.

Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED) (NASDAQ: CGC) announced that it has entered into an exchange agreement with Greenstar Canada Investment Limited Partnership, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Constellation Brands, Inc., in order to extinguish C$100 million (approximately USD$73.9 million) aggregate principal amount of the company’s outstanding 4.25% unsecured notes due 2023. The goal of the transaction is to preserve cash on hand and cut the company’s annual expenses. Greenstar is buying and then canceling the C$100 million aggregate principal amount of the Existing Notes held by GCILP… Read more.

Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld Quebec’s prohibition on homegrown cannabis, ruling that a provincial ban on possessing and cultivating marijuana plants for personal purposes is constitutional. Quebec is one of the provinces that does not allow the home cultivation of cannabis. Manitoba’s ban is also being challenged in court. When Canada legalized marijuana in 2018, Quebec Cannabis Regulation Act prohibited the possession and cultivation of the plant for personal use. In 2019, Janick Murray-Hall successfully challenged the ban before the province’s… Read more.

After the extraordinary winter most of North America suffered through this year, the balmy weather of last May and June may feel like a figment of our imaginations. Fortunately, time is flying by, and friends and families soon will gather at the beach or for cookouts. There will be good music, great food, festive libations … and perhaps a new item will find its way onto the menu: infused beverages. At first glance, it is easy to overlook or dismiss the beverage… Read more.

Canadian cannabis producer Phoena Group has been granted creditor protection and is winding down its operations, the company said in court documents. The Vaughan, Ontario-based company – formerly called CannTrust – said it no longer has the financial footing to continue operating. As a result, Phoena plans to immediately halt the cultivation of new plants, destroy cannabis inventory not yet released for sale and lay off 87 employees, although upward of 238 of its workers will be affected. CannTrust was… Read more.

LFLY-4.46%+ Free Alerts, a leading online cannabis marketplace and resource for marijuana users, is shifting its focus from journalism about the industry to offering consumer-oriented content, which will include product information. WeedWeek and newsletter Cultivated were the first to report the news. Consumer Education Is The Way Leafly aims to shift its content strategy towards being more focused on products and marketplaces, with the goal of providing consumers with valuable information to help them make better purchasing decisions, a company spokesperson told MJBizDaily. Former Leafly… Read more.

Marijuana multistate operator TerrAscend Corp. could become the first U.S. plant-touching company to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange by this summer if the restructuring plan it shared with shareholders and analysts wins TSX approval. And if the company is successful, that potential could trickle down to other U.S. plant-touching cannabis operators, which have been barred from major exchanges because marijuana remains federally illegal in the United States. Massachusetts-based Curaleaf Holdings, for example, has also had discussions with the TSX about the possibility… Read more.

Potency testing on store-bought cannabis flower by a Canadian laboratory has found THC levels significantly lower than the labeled value, sparking an industrywide conversation about how to address inaccurate THC claims. Rob O’Brien, CEO and chief science officer of Kelowna, British Columbia-based licensed cannabis testing laboratory Supra Research and Development, shared the findings from his Canadian potency tests online. O’Brien tested 46 different cannabis flower products, grown by 21 producers, in a variety of package sizes purchased from several different stores in… Read more.

Cannabis retailer High Tide Inc. (NASDAQ: HITI) (TSXV: HITI) (FSE: 2LYA) released first-quarter results Friday, posting a 64% year-over-year revenue increase. "Our Q1 earnings numbers represent the best quarter ever in High Tide’s history in terms of revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and market share growth. Q1 is now our second consecutive quarter of record revenue and adjusted EBITDA and saw a meaningful improvement in our free cash flow position," said CEO Raj Grover. HITI Financial Highlights Revenue increased to $118.1 million in the first… Read more.

Adastra Labs, a Langley-based company known for its cutting-edge cannabis and ethnobotanical products, has recently received approval from Health Canada for an amended license. This license permits the lawful possession, production, distribution, and sale of a highly regulated substance. Following decriminalizing personal amounts of controlled substances in British Columbia, Adastra can now interact with up to 250 grams of cocaine and import coca leaves to create and synthesize the substance. As a leading manufacturer and supplier of innovative scientific products, Adastra Labs… Read more.

An increasing amount of cannabis grown by licensed Canadian producers has been lost or stolen over the past five years, new data shared with MJBizDaily shows. Separate data provided by Health Canada, the department responsible for federal health policy, also revealed that thousands of instances of theft have been reported to various levels of police. However, the sum of the missing products – including 2,219 kilograms (4,870 pounds) of dried cannabis – is a small fraction relative to the amount… Read more.

The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, the world's largest gathering of cannabis decision-makers, founders and investors is returning to Miami Beach, Florida on April 11-12, 2023 and Raj Grover, president and CEO of High Tide, will be there. High Tide Inc.  HITI+1.48%+ Free Alerts is Canada’s largest non-franchised retailer of recreational cannabis so you won't want to miss out on what he's got to say about the industry. Need A Business Strategy? Ask A Transparent Negotiator Since starting his first company at the age of 22, Grover established himself as one of Canada’s foremost… Read more.

Since recreational use of cannabis became legal in Canada in 2018, the federal government of that country has imposed a total duty on cannabis products of over 1 billion Canadian dollars ($740 million). Executives expect that the government would ease the tax and excise regime it imposes on the sector as employment and financial losses rise as the milestone is reached. Around CA$862.3 million in total duty on cannabis products was levied by the federal government between the 2018–19 and 2020–21… Read more.

Adastra Labs, a cannabis company based in Langley, British Columbia, announced that it had received approval from Health Canada to include cocaine as a substance that it can legally process, sell, and distribute. B.C. Premier David Eby said he was “astonished” when he became aware of the news, according to CTV News. “The short answer is I was astonished by this announcement. I understand that this company says Health Canada has given them some sort of authorization. It is not part of our… Read more.

Two young entrepreneurs turned their zeal for fizzy drinks and cannabis into a craft beverage brand, using tasteless full-spectrum cannabis as well as organic and simple ingredients. Canada-based Zèle (pronounced zéll) is helping to transform the cannabis beverage game, led by CEO and Formulator Callum Hanton, and National Brand Manager Jonathan Martin. Both were under the age of 20 when Hanton first developed the company’s proprietary technology, and when they launched the brand. “We have overcome many hurdles to get to where we… Read more.

Canada’s cannabis consumers spent 4.52 billion Canadian dollars ($3.35 billion) on regulated adult-use products in 2022, growing 17.9% over 2021’s sales total, according to new retail sales data released Tuesday by Statistics Canada. The year-over-year sales increase came as the number of licensed cannabis stores in Canada increased. In 2021, Canadians bought CA$3.83 billion worth of recreational cannabis from licensed stores. Despite the notable year-over-year increase, the pace of cannabis sales growth in Canada appears to be slowing, said Michael… Read more.