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Cannabis Jobs Update – July 2024

Cannabis Jobs Update – July 2024

Are you looking to work in Canada’s cannabis industry, or to find a new position? There are always many different positions available, from entry-level to executive, from cultivation to labs, from budtending to brand reps; there’s a plethora of pot jobs available at any given time. 

Check out our July 2024 cannabis jobs roundup below for a brief snapshot of the many jobs currently available in Canada’s cannabis industry. 

The OCS is looking to hire for several positions, including a Social Responsibility Analyst and a Digital Merchandising Specialist, as well as a Social Media Manager and Senior Financial Analyst.

High Tide, Canna Cabana’s parent company, is looking to hire an E-Commerce Specialist. Canna Cabana is also looking to fill many retail positions at locations in several provinces. 

Cannara Biotech Inc. in Quebec is hiring for several positions, including a Refrigeration Engineer, a Quality Assurance Associate, an Accounting technician, an Evening Packing Attendant, and an Electromechanic.

Cannabis producer Greentone is hiring a Chargé de projects in Quebec and a Territory Sales Rep in Toronto (remote)

Inspired Cannabis is hiring full-time and part-timebudtenders and managers for several locations in BC and Ontario.

Aurora Cannabis currently lists more than a dozen open positions ranging from Total Rewards Specialist and Production Associate to Senior Legal Counsel and Senior Manager. 

Decibel Cannabis Company is hiring a Key Account Manager for eastern Canada.

Cronos is hiring for several jobs: Three operations positions at its Stayner, Ontario facility, a Sensory Sciences Specialist for its R&D facility in Toronto, a head of Sales in Israel, and a Territory Manager for Vancouver Island.

A Circle K in Brampton, ON is hiring a Cannabis Store Manager

Fika is hiring a Lead Educator for a retail store in Kitchener, Ontario. 

BC’s Pure Sunfarms is hiring a VP of International Business Development, along with several other positions.

Motif Labs is hiring a Packaging Associate in Aylmer, ON.

Gage Cannabis is hiring an Assistant Manager in Toronto.

Cannabis NB is hiring a Store Manager in downtown Fredericton and Cambellton and Customer Experience Representatives in several locations across the province.

Hive Cannabis is hiring a Cannabis Sales Associate in Fort St John, BC, and a part-time Sales Associate in Port Alberni, BC.

The Herbary in Yukon is hiring full and part-time retail clerks.

Adastra is seeking a National Key Account Manager and a Quality Assurance Manager (QAP) in Langley, BC.

You can see some of our past monthly cannabis job listings below.

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Sub-personalities, Invisible Forces, Spirit Attachments, And An Alternative Perspective On Mental Illness

Sub-personalities, Invisible Forces, Spirit Attachments, And An Alternative Perspective On Mental Illness

Sub-personalities, Invisible Forces,

Spirit Attachments, And An Alternative Perspective

On Mental Illness

By Bernhard Guenther

Chapters:

  • Introduction
  • Ask yourself, who do you “think” YOU are?
  • People are Machines
  • Suggestions & Influences from the Outside
  • Collective Suggestions
  • Suggestions from People Surrounding You
  • Influences and Suggestions from Conscious Non-Terrestrial Beings, Spirits, and Entities (Occult Forces)
    • Claim 1: There is no proof that spirits and occult forces exist
    • Claim 2: These beings and entities are our own creation, imagination, or shadow parts of ourselves
  • How to differentiate what is “mine” and what may be coming from the outside in the form of an Occult Interference?
  • There is no such thing as “Mental Illness”
  • The Detrimental Spiritual Effects of Psychiatric Drugs
  • Spiritual Crisis and Initiation instead of “Psychosis”
  • Some Human Beings are not Human
  • Important Considerations

Introduction

Our view of ourselves, others, and the world as a whole is shaped, for the most part, by the assumption that we are an independent person,  separate from everything and everyone else. Many also tend to assume that their mind is located in the brain, enclosed like a fortress, existing independently of other people’s minds and the external physical world.

We tend to assume that everyone has their own “mind bubble,” that we alone are the creators of our thoughts and that they are generated from signals between neurons inside the brain.

The idea that the brain is the organ of the mind is based on a materialistic view of reality and ourselves as perceived by our five senses. We live in a materialistic age. The opinions of mainstream consensus science and medicine are based on this physical perception of reality.

Humanity was not always disconnected from the spiritual world as we are now. Still, the split between spirituality and materialism has exponentially increased since the dawn of the “Age of Enlightenment” (also called the Age of Reason) in the 17th century.

Humans have become increasingly “mentalized,” not only disconnected from the spiritual realms but also dissociated and disconnected from their bodies, living exclusively in the head. The dawn of transhumanism/A.I. and the exponential increase of technology keep humans even more externally focused and stuck in their heads, to the detriment of their inner lives and soul beings.

The sense of an independent identity and persona, separate and impenetrable from everything else, is the greatest illusion and spell we’ve fallen under. The truth is our mind is porous and permeable. We are transducers of cosmic, universal, and environmental forces, and we are influenced by conscious non-physical (spiritual) beings of the higher and lower realms, elementals (nature spirits), and the unseen forces of nature.

The porosity of the mind (porosity: the state or quality of being permeable) has been known to all occult esoteric traditions:

We live in the midst of invisible forces whose effects alone we perceive. We move among invisible forms whose actions we very often do not perceive at all, though we may be profoundly affected by them.

We need to realize that human consciousness is not a closed vessel. Cosmic forces circulate through it all the time, like seawater through a living sponge.

Whatever emotional state may arise within us is reinforced from the outside. The subjective self only has the kindling; the Cosmos supplies the fuel. Once the fire is started, the cosmic forces of the appropriate type will stoke it.”

– Dion Fortune, Psychic Self Defense

Ask yourself, who do you “think” YOU are?

Before we dive deeper into the different types of “suggestions we receive from the outside” and other conscious forces that can influence [and manipulate] us from non-physical realms THROUGH our minds, let’s look once again at the ultimate question: “Who am I”? [I have discussed it HERE before]

This is the ultimate question to “Know Thyself.” It sets the foundation for the Great Work.

The more sincere you are with this internal inquiry via psycho-spiritual inner work, self-reflection, and meditation (which is an ongoing process and not just brief contemplation), the more you will realize that many of “your” thoughts, feelings, desires, wants, needs, etc., are not your own but have been conditioned or inserted “externally” via “suggestions” which you have accepted (unconsciously) as your own.

The person who you think you are (who you refer to as “I” or “me” and identify with) – meaning, your persona –  is made up of or influenced by these unconscious programs (social/cultural conditioning), memories, biological drives, wounds, traumas, fragments, and experiences (“good” and “bad”); accumulated over lifetimes based on the universal law of cause and effect (karma). (The idea of rebirth and multiple lifetimes is also shunned and laughed at by the consensus science establishment.)

“In a certain sense, we are nothing but a complex mass of mental, nervous and physical habits held together by a few ruling ideas, desires and associations – an amalgam of many small self-repeating forces with a few major vibrations.”

– Sri Aurobindo

As I’ve written in “The Most Important Realization On The Path Towards Awakening,” :

[…]I’ve come face to face with the “terror of the situation” [Gurdjieff] within myself many times. It is truly terrifying to see and experience it as a witness looking at “me” [my personality] and observing all the mechanical behaviors, feelings, actions, thoughts, desires, and impulses that are entirely automated and happen without any “free will” involved – all of which the personality identifies with as its “own.” It is even more terrifying to witness that none of that is my “true self.” I realized that I was living a “lie.”[…] 

Once you embark on this inner journey and reach a higher level of self-awareness and self-observation [establishing the impartial witness within], you will also realize that you have different personality parts within yourself that most often contradict themselves.

Many people even admit to these different parts when they say, “A part of me wants/thinks this…, but another part wants/thinks this…”. They don’t realize that they are referring to the different subpersonalities living within them, which they mistake for their true self.

There are many different subpersonalities in Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS); for example, they refer to wounded inner child parts as “exiles,” shut off from conscious awareness. These inner child parts tend to be “stuck in time” at a particular developmental age due to trauma from childhood wounding.

Everyone has these wounded parts because the ultimate “perfect childhood with perfect parents” doesn’t exist. Each part has its own personality, voice, thoughts, needs, and desires, and they affect and influence you more than you are consciously aware of.

All these parts also seem very contradictory, and if you are somewhat conscious and have the capacity for self-reflection, you may start to question who the real “I” or “you” is.

“Man has no individual “I”. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small “i”s, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible. Each minute, each moment, man is saying or thinking, “i”. And each time his i is different. just now it was a thought, now it is a desire, now a sensation, now another thought, and so on, endlessly. Man is a plurality. Man’s name is legion.”

–  G.I. Gurdjieff

What Gurdjieff described 100 years ago is known and taught in all esoteric spiritual traditions. The goal of esoteric work is to establish and connect with the real “I,” your true self/essence hidden behind many layers and parts of the false personality.

From an IFS (Internal Family Systems) perspective, these subpersonalities/parts and exiles often blend with the conscious surface personality and override our ability to experience the true Self. In fact, most people live in a state where they are blended and identified with these “parts,” which they mistake for the true Self, while their true soul Essence gets shoved deep into the cellar of the unconscious.

Many grown adults can act like children when their wounded parts take over. If you are honest, you will see it in yourself as well. We all can easily mistake these parts for the true self at any moment when a trigger or unconscious trauma response activates various parts to come out with all their various defense mechanisms.

People are Machines

For the most part, people’s various parts and inner child parts argue, debate, and communicate with each other like mechanical automatons; hardly ever does the essence of the true self appear in the average human being, where they can then connect to others from Self to Self. That is why Gurdjieff said that people “are machines” who don’t know themselves and “dream to be awake but are deep asleep.”

People are machines. Machines have to be blind and unconscious, they cannot be otherwise, and all their actions have to correspond to their nature.‘Progress’ and ‘civilization,’ in the real meaning of these words, can appear only as the result of conscious efforts. They cannot appear as the result of unconscious mechanical actions.

And what conscious effort can there be in machines? And if one machine is unconscious, then a hundred machines are unconscious, and so are a thousand machines, or a hundred thousand, or a million. And the unconscious activity of a million machines must necessarily result in destruction and extermination. It is precisely in unconscious involuntary manifestations that all evil lies.

In speaking of evolution it is necessary to understand from the outset that no mechanical evolution is possible. The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness. And ‘consciousness’ cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and ‘will’ cannot evolve involuntarily. The evolution, of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and ‘doing’ cannot be the result of things which ‘happen.’

People do not know what [a human is]. They have to do with a very complex machine, far more complex than a railway engine, a motorcar, or an aeroplane—but they know nothing, or almost nothing, about the construction, working, or possibilities of this machine; they do not even understand its simplest functions, because they do not know the purpose of these functions.

[…]You often think in a very naive way You already think you can “do”. To get rid of this conviction is more difficult than anything else for a (hu)man. You do not understand all the complexity of your organization and you do not realize that every effort, in addition to the results desired, even if it gives these, gives thousands of unexpected and often undesirable results, and the chief thing that you forget is that you are not beginning from the beginning with a nice clean, new machine.

There stand behind you many years of indulgence in every kind of weakness, of shutting your eyes to your own errors, of striving to avoid all unpleasant truths, of constant lying to yourselves, of self-justification, of blaming others, and so on, and so on. All this cannot help affecting the machine.

The machine is dirty, in places it is rusty, and in some places artificial appliances have been formed, the necessity for which has been created by its own wrong way of working. These artificial appliances will now interfere very much with all your good intentions. They are called ‘buffers.‘”

– G.I. Gurdjieff, [from “In Search of the Miraculous” by P.D. Ouspensky]

Gurdjieff’s “buffers” in his analogy of humans as “machines” are our beliefs, excuses, distractions, addictions, rationalizations, identifications, etc., and other protective personality parts [called “managers” and “firefighters” in IFS], which act as defense mechanisms to cover up the true self/essence and protect the wounded exile parts.

Buffers keep people from facing all that they have suppressed within themselves and experiencing the death of the false personality, which is necessary for the true self to emerge.

These buffers and parts are not bad in themselves. They play their role and function from a psychological perspective, which becomes apparent when working with them consciously. The problems come when they take on extreme roles and overtake the whole being when we identify with them and mistake those personality parts/buffers for the true self.

The foundation of these parts and exiles are unconscious core beliefs driving the person’s whole life as a result of trauma and early childhood wounding, popular beliefs such as: “I’m not good enough, I don’t deserve it, I don’t trust myself, I don’t trust life, I’m flawed, I’m invisible, no one loves me, when I ‘m authentic I’ll be rejected, I don’t want to be here,” etc.

Since it would be too terrifying to bring these suppressed parts to consciousness and feel all the pain they are carrying, people create “buffers,” as well as external coping mechanisms, and try to fill the hole they have inside with external trappings, relationships, experiences, distractions, addictions, etc. – anything to avoid feeling and facing that core belief.

The shadow of this suppressed pain and their unconscious negative emotions (shame, guilt, grief, self-disgust) is then most often projected externally on others via hate, anger, jealousy, envy, vengeance, etc, creating “psychic epidemics” that result in wars and even cataclysms on a collective level, as Carl G. Jung talked about.

“The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of physical or biological order but psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree, we are threatened by wars and revolutions, which are nothing other than psychic epidemics.

Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and inundations, modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche.”

– Carl Jung

This is also what Gurdjieff meant when he said, It is precisely in unconscious, involuntary manifestations that all evil lies.”

Disconnected from essence and their true selves, acting like machines, people become easily programmable and conditioned by the latest hype, trends, outrage, propaganda, and artificial social engineering. They quickly identify with labels, a side, ideology, belief, etc.

Most often, they take on a new spiritual identity (Christian, star seed, lightworker, etc.), engage in spiritual bypassing, or use activism or anything else to avoid facing themselves. Getting trapped in victim/blame consciousness is also very common. As Carl Jung said:

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul.”

– Carl Jung

All of this happens unconsciously if the person is not self-aware and engaged in sincere inner work to know the difference between these parts and the true Self.

Suggestions & Influences from the Outside

Beyond our wounded inner parts and exiles, we are also influenced by the vibrations, thoughts, and energies of the environmental consciousness, which consists of:

    • The place and time you were born (looking at your astrological natal chart can give insights into that)
    • The influence of your parents, family, and people you surrounded yourself with (not just their conscious influence but what you picked up unconsciously through their unexpressed thoughts, desires, beliefs, and emotions)
    • The shadow and unprocessed trauma of your family and ancestral line
    • The energetic imprint and history of any place (city, country) you have lived and currently live
    • The constant stream of thoughts and feelings of people you’re surrounded by
    • The thought creations (elementals) of others you mistake as your own
    • Group hive-mind entities (egregores)
    • Your own [most often contradictory] thought creations that have become living thought entities feeding on you and enticing you into compulsory behavior and self-sabotage
    • The pronounced influence of media, education, society, and culture

All of these influences alone can create specific drives and thoughts, influencing you with needs and desires that are not your own but that you mistake as your own and even base your life decisions on. These influences can affect the work and life partner you choose, all without you ever questioning where your desires actually come from and who you truly are.

An observation I’ve made based on having worked with thousands of people over the past 15 years: The number #1 reason for their suffering & unhappiness was that they pursued desires & goals that were not their own but were based on social, cultural, parental conditioning, or trauma responses.

Hence, when someone asks me, “How can I fulfill my dream of [insert goal]?” or “How can I manifest [insert goal/desire]?” I usually reply first with,

    • Is that what you REALLY want?
    • Have you ever examined where your desires and aims are coming from?
    • Are they aligned with your true self, or could they possibly be conditioned into you?
    • Are there suggestions/thoughts you may mistake as your own?
    • Could they be trauma responses, trying to fill an empty hole within?

Answering these questions involves deep self-inquiry and can not be answered in a short contemplation. In fact, going deeper with these questions already requires a consistent engagement in psycho-spiritual work.

As long as you live on the surface consciousness of the personality, you have no true free will or true freedom.

The task of the Great Work toward awakening and embodying the true Self is to rid yourself of these accumulated suggestions or, at the very least, become conscious of all the different parts within you and where they originate from so you can consciously choose what to keep and what to reject.

There certainly can be helpful influences. I’m not suggesting that all conditioning is bad, but it can limit you and, at worst, vector you off your deeper soul purpose for being here. The goal is to establish “pure will” that is not part of past and unconscious programming and conditioning but aligned with Divine will expressing itself uniquely through you.

The influences we receive from the “outside” through the porosity of the mind can be categorized into three major areas:

  1. Collective suggestions
  2. Suggestions from other people
  3. Suggestions from conscious non-terrestrial beings and entities (occult forces)

The first two can be included in the influences of “environmental consciousness.” The third one goes deeper into the hyperdimensional aspect of reality and other beings interacting with and through us.

The Mother Mira Alfassa describes these three types of suggestions from the outside:

Without knowing it or at times even knowing it, you are moved by influences coming from outside which enter in without your even being aware of them and arouse in you what you call the “will” that a certain thing may happen or another may not, etc.

Naturally, these influences are of very diverse kinds. In very few people, and even in the very best at very rare moments in life, does the will of the being express that deep inner, higher truth.

What you call yourself, the individual being enclosed within the limits of your present consciousness is constantly penetrated by vibrations of this kind, coming from outside and very often presenting themselves in the form of suggestions, in the sense that, apart from a few exceptions, the action takes place first in the mental field, then becomes vital, then physical.

Most of the time, these suggestions enter you without your being in the least conscious of them; they go in, awaken some sort of response in you, then spring up in your consciousness as though they were your own thought, your own will, your own impulse; but it is only because you are unconscious of the process of their penetration.

These suggestions are very numerous, manifold, varied, with natures which are very, very different from each other, but they may be classified into three principal orders….

Collective Suggestions

“…First – and they are hardly perceptible to the ordinary consciousness; they become perceptible only to those who have already reflected much, observed much, and deeply studied their own being – they are what could be called collective suggestions.

When a being is born upon earth, he is inevitably born in a certain country and a certain environment. Due to his physical parents, he is born in a set of social, cultural, national, and sometimes religious circumstances, a set of habits of thinking, understanding, feeling, conceiving, all sorts of constructions which are at first mental, then become vital habits and finally material modes of being. You are born into it.

Naturally, when you are very young, you are altogether unaware of it, but it acts on your formation – that formation, that slow formation through hours and hours, through days and days, experiences added to experiences, which gradually builds up a consciousness.

You are underneath it as beneath a bell glass. It is a kind of construction that covers and, in a way, protects you but, in other ways, limits you considerably. All this you absorb without even being aware of it, and this forms the subconscious basis of your own construction.

This subconscious basis will act on you throughout your life if you do not take care to free yourself from it.

And to free yourself from it, you must, first of all, become aware of it; and the first step is the most difficult, for this formation was so subtle, it was made when you were not yet a conscious being when you had just fallen altogether dazed from another world into this one, and it all happened without your participating in the least in it.

Therefore, it does not even occur to you that there could be something to know there and still less something you must get rid of. And it is quite remarkable that when, for some reason or other, you do become aware of the hold of this collective suggestion, you realize at the same time that very assiduous and prolonged labor is necessary in order to get rid of it. But the problem does not end there….”

Suggestions from People Surrounding You

“…You live surrounded by people (family, friends, strangers in dense cities). These people themselves have desires, stray wishes, and impulses, which are expressed through them and have all kinds of causes but take in their consciousness an individual form.

These formations, according to each one’s capacity of thought and the strength of his vitality, are more or less powerful, but they have their own little strength, which is usually much the same as yours, and so what those around you want, desire, hope or expect from you enters in this way in the form of suggestions very rarely expressed, but which you absorb without resistance and which suddenly awaken within you a similar desire, a similar will, a similar impulse….”

If you want to learn more about the influences of “environmental consciousness” (people, places), listen to our podcast Environmental Consciousness and How Places Affect Us, where we discuss this topic in more depth.

Influences and Suggestions from Conscious Non-Terrestrial Beings, Spirits, and Entities (Occult Forces)

At the same time, as I’ve written about extensively over the years and summarized in a previous article, we are also influenced by the forces of nature and conscious forces from the higher and lower realms. We are subjected to the suggestions of occult hostile forces of the lower astral world, but we also receive insights, creative and inspirational impulses from spirit guides, and divine forces, which also manifest as thoughts.

We all receive a mixture of these impressions/thoughts from the whole range of lower to higher realms, depending on many factors. Based on our level of Being [level of soul embodiment and conscious access to Self], our intentions and aspirations in life can either be guided by the lower nature or aligned with our higher nature. The direction we bring awareness toward determines which realm we tune into.

As long as we live on the surface of the ego-personality with all its fragmented parts, most of our actions will be unconscious and mechanical, as Gurdjjef discussed.

The more soul-embodied you are, living from the true Self, the more free will you have and the more access you have to Divine forces and guidance.

Most people are influenced by forces of the lower nature who take advantage of people’s unconsciousness, conditioning, unconscious trauma, shadow, and personality identifications. They also tag into exiled parts of ourselves. The Mother continues:

“…If that were the end of the problem, one could yet come out of the mess; but there is a complication. This terrestrial world, this human world, is constantly invaded by the forces of the neighboring world, that is, of the vital [hyper-dimenional] world, the subtler region beyond the fourfold earth-atmosphere, and this vital world which is not under the influence of the psychic forces or the psychic consciousness is essentially a world of ill-will, of disorder, disequilibrium, indeed of all the most anti-divine things one could imagine.

This vital world is constantly penetrating the physical world, and being much more subtle than the physical, it is very often quite imperceptible except to a few rare individuals.

There are entities, beings, wills, and various kinds of individualities in that world who have all kinds of intentions and make use of every opportunity either to amuse themselves if they are small beings or to do harm and create disorder if they are beings with a greater capacity.

And the latter have a very considerable power of penetration and suggestion, and wherever there is the least opening, the least affinity, they rush in, for it is a game which delights them.

Besides, they are very thirsty or hungry for certain human vital vibrations, which are a rare dish they love to feed upon. So their game lies in exciting pernicious movements in man so that man may emanate these forces and they may be able to feed on them just as they please.

All movements of anger, violence, passion, desire, all these things that make you abruptly throw off certain energies from yourself, project them from yourself, are exactly what these entities of the vital world like best, for, as I said, they enjoy them like a sumptuous dish.

Now, their tactics are simple: they send you a little suggestion, a little impulse, a small vibration that enters deep into you and, through contagion or sympathy, awakens in you the vibration necessary to make you throw off the force they want to absorb.

If you are in the least sincere and observe yourself attentively, you become aware that it is something in the being which is responding to an influence, an impulse, a suggestion, even something at times very concrete, which enters and produces similar vibrations in the being.”

– The Mother Mira Alfassa

Many people are very skeptical about the idea that spiritual beings exist in non-physical realms, affecting and influencing us. The two most common arguments people have brought up to me are:

    1. There is no proof they exist, and it can’t be proven
    2. These beings and entities are our own creation and imagination, shadow parts and aspects of ourselves and our “psyche”

Let me briefly address both of them.

Claim 1: There is no proof that spirits and occult forces exist

Modern civilization does not acknowledge the recognition of spiritual reality and conscious beings inhabiting it because materialistic science cannot prove it. As long as humans operate from the level of mind-consciousness and five-sensory perception, it cannot be proven via physical instruments in the current state of science and the limitations of the five-sensory mind apparatus.

It’s as simple as that.

As I addressed at the beginning of this article, consensus materialist science operates on a false foundation/assumption. What is left out of the equation is humans’ “level of being/awareness” and activating the “spiritual organs of perception” [Rudolf Steiner] within that would allow us to perceive these non-physical realms and beings directly via sixth-sense psychic cognition, which doesn’t have to be necessarily clairvoyant/visual but can be clairsentient and higher intuitive perceptions.

Activating the “higher organs” of spiritual perception is essentially a byproduct of the Great Work to spiritualize the being and bring it into union with the Divine, realizing our spiritual nature.

As long as humans operate from the surface of ego-personality, they won’t be able to perceive these forces directly.

According to esoteric science, attuning to the spiritual realms and developing (or activating) organs of higher perception requires deep inner work. Some people may already be naturally more attuned to these realms, have psychic gifts, and perceive these forces easily (for better or worse.)

However, on a collective level, in our current state of evolution, we are still in kindergarten and far away from developing and embodying higher perception en masse [this may change in future incarnations]. In fact, we are currently being distracted by external technology to the detriment of developing our “inner technology” – our organs of spiritual perception.

Our difficulty in discovering the [hidden] forces of life is due to the nature of the normal or ordinary consciousness of the human being at the present point of his evolution. For the ordinary consciousness, which is mental, can apprehend things only through the sensorium, that is, the sensory and intellectual apparatus.

Consequently, our knowledge of forces is indirect and limited to what the senses can perceive of the outward effects of forces and the intellectual inferences that can be drawn from such sensory perceptions.

It is when the consciousness develops and becomes more subtle that it comes into a more direct contact with the inner reality of things and gains an awareness of forces.

– A. S. Dalal

It is about developing extra-sensory perception (“yogic consciousness,” as Sri Aurobindo talked about, which is part of the awakening/embodiment process via esoteric self-work) – which will also help you to separate external suggestions from your internal guidance.

This higher-level embodied consciousness will also help us understand the difference between the true self and aspects of the personality.

The mind/intellect (and our limited five-sense ordinary consciousness) will never be able to perceive these forces and will, in fact, often deny their existence. Anyone looking for “proof” (from a five-sensory scientific perspective) will never find it.

Sri Aurobindo elaborates:

“Modern thought is aware of no invisible forces other than those revealed or constructed by Science; it does not believe that Nature is capable of creating any other beings than those around us in the physical world, men, beasts, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, germs and animalculae.

But if there are invisible cosmic forces physical in their nature that act upon the body of inanimate objects, there is no valid reason why there should not be invisible cosmic forces mental and vital in their nature that act upon his mind and his life-force.

Whatever reality or mythical unreality we may attach to the traditional figures of past human belief or experience, they would then be representations of things that are true in principle. In that case, the first source of good and evil would be not in terrestrial life or in the evolution from the Inconscience, but in Life itself. Their source would be supraphysical [non-physical], and they would be reflected here from a larger supraphysical Nature.

This is certain that when we go back into ourselves very deep away from the surface appearance, we find that the mind, heart, and sensational being of man are moved by forces not under his own control and that he can become an instrument in the hands of Energies of a cosmic, character without knowing the origin of his actions.

It is by stepping back from the physical surface into his inner being and subliminal consciousness that he becomes directly aware of them and is able to know directly and! deal with their action upon him. He grows aware of interventions which seek to lead him in one direction or another, of suggestions and impulsions which had disguised themselves as original movements of his own mind and against which he had to battle.

He can realize that he is not a  conscious creature inexplicably produced in an unconscious world out of a seed of inconscient Matter and moving about in an obscure self-ignorance, but an embodied soul through whose action cosmic Nature is seeking to fulfill itself, the living ground of a vast debate between a darkness of Ignorance out of which it emerges here and a light of Knowledge which is growing upwards towards an unforeseen termination.

The Forces which seek to move him, and among them the Forces of good and evil, present themselves as powers of universal Nature; but they seem to belong not only to the physical universe but to planes of Life and Mind beyond it.”

– Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine

The critical point in Sri Aurobindo’s words is that human beings are “THE LIVING GROUNDof a vast debate between a darkness of Ignorance out of which it emerges here and a light of Knowledge which is growing upwards towards an unforeseen termination.

In other words, we are transducers for these cosmic forces, and the spiritual battle of Dark vs Light is THROUGH us.

Claim 2: These beings and entities are our own creation, imagination, or shadow parts of ourselves

This claim is true and false at the same time. Yes, we can mistake our own thought-form creations, unconscious shadow aspects, or even exiled parts of ourselves for “entities.”

However, not everything we’re dealing with and uncovering within ourselves is our shadow self or an exiled part that needs to be integrated. It could also be hyperdimensional interference from other beings, thought projections from other people, or your own thought creations coming back around (occult law of rebound).

They can be suggestions of the environmental consciousness or stuff we have taken on energetically from others (especially through sex). It is essential to discern what is “mine” and what is not.

The idea that these occult forces and entities are just part of our disowned shadow is a distortion of Jungian shadow work. Carl Jung talked about the difference between the personal shadow that needs to be integrated and powerful archetypal forces, which are NOT parts of ourselves but have access to our psyche and should never be integrated.

“Jung believed that when we stop talking about the demons, we become more vulnerable to their destructive force. So, I want to suggest that there is more to this archetype of spiritual warfare than simply integrating your personal shadow or merely learning how to love those denied parts of your personality.



It involves learning how to tell the difference between the personal shadow that comes from your individual experience and the archetypal forces which have access to your psyche from within, that you can never integrate, and had better not try to integrate.“

– Robert L. Moore, “Facing the Dragon: Confronting Personal and Spiritual Grandiosity”

The vast majority of entity interferences are very subtle, nuanced, and often hardly distinguishable from your own childhood trauma, triggers, shadow projections, and fragmented exiles.

For example, in his work on “Spirit Releasement Therapy,” Dr. William Baldwin emphasized the importance of knowing your psyche and yourself very well, including all the different parts of your personality, such as the exiles of the inner child, inner critic, inner manager, and so on, similar to Internal Family Systems (IFS), before assuming that you may be dealing with an entity or an earthbound spirit attachment.

How to differentiate what is “mine” and what may be coming from the outside in the form of an Occult Interference?

In other words, what do we need to integrate as part of our shadow or split off parts of ourselves due to trauma and childhood wounding – like a soul retrieval – and what do we need to reject as not parts of ourselves?

First of all, it is very important to understand and acknowledge that it takes a higher level of Being and soul embodiment [self-awareness] —connected to your true Self/essence—with a still mind, an objective inner witness, and grounded psychic sensitivity—and most importantly, an in-depth understanding of your own psyche and mind to discern what is what. In other words, Know Thyself! 

Key point #1: As long as you are not in Self, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

Achieving this already takes advanced inner work. I’ve seen many people overestimate their level of being and awareness, rush into all kinds of assumptions about having entities without being grounded in Self, and become very fixated on this topic without doing the groundwork on a psychological and embodiment level.

The more connected you are to your true Self and Essence, the more naturally clearer your discernment will become in the process of sincere psycho-spiritual work and soul embodiment.

Key point #2: Unless you are absolutely 100% certain that you may be dealing with an entity or external occult force, treat it as if it is a wounded part of yourself 

One of the worst things you can do is reject a part of yourself you mistook as an “entity.” These wounded and defensive parts can also be very hostile and angry, especially if there is a history of suppressed anger and severe childhood trauma. Beneath anger is usually unconscious pain, shame, grief, and guilt, which must also be processed.

If you mistake a very wounded/exiled/shadow part of yourself for an “entity” and attempt to reject or, even worse, forcefully exorcise it, it will create more severe psychological issues and soul fragmentation that will be harder to retrieve. People offering all kinds of questionable “entity removal” modalities are doing much damage that way.

Key point #3: Entities and non-terrestrial beings need an entry point WITHIN you to be able to come in

Unconscious blind spots, Trauma, childhood wounding, unintegrated shadow aspects, giving in to the temptations of the lower nature: lust, greed, power over others, mechanical reactive behavior, ego blindspots, pride, arrogance, hate, rage, self-importance but also self-pity, victimizing yourself, blaming others – all serve as entry points for other forces to come in through the cracks of your un-integrated being, They can also attach to wounded parts of yourself.

Removing an entity is not enough, or it will come back tenfold if the original “entry point” has not been closed, healed, or integrated.

For a more comprehensive list of entry points, read my article “The Hidden Spiritual War Through Us” and listen to our podcast episode #119, “Beginner’s Guide To Occult Forces.”

Key point #4: The psycho-spiritual inner work is imperative in all cases, dealing with occult forces or not

Ultimately, consistently engaging in sincere inner work to bring forth your true Self/soul is the best clearing and protection strategy. The more you live from Self as the ground of your being, the less these forces affect you. Anything else is just symptom management and is temporary.

The more you integrate your shadow and exiled parts of yourself (due to trauma), the less any entity can get a hold of you or interfere with you – the less you are also influenced by any malevolent suggestion from the outside as you start to live from and are grounded within your soul being.

As a result, you will have more access to a creative life force and more free will as you become more aligned with Divine Will, divine guidance of a higher nature, and divine forces.

There is no such thing as “Mental Illness”

Considering everything we have explored so far about the porosity of the mind, the different personality parts within a human being, and the suggestions of occult forces and environmental consciousness, what really is “mental illness”—do we accept the materialistic explanation that this means it is something biological and there is something “wrong” with the brain? What are “hallucinations,” “hearing voices,” and “psychosis”?

The term “mental illness” was invented by the materialistic medicine establishment in the modern West, which led the Pharmaceutical Industry to medicalize complicated feelings like sadness, grief, shame, melancholy, anxiety, and depression. It started a multi-billion dollar industry and gave people pills to make them feel “better,” which often means more numb and dissociated.

The pharmaceutical approach doesn’t do much other than temporarily suppress the feelings, which eventually need to be processed emotionally and spiritually. In fact, this drug-induced suppression often makes things worse in the long run and only enriches Big Pharma.

These so-called “negative” emotional and mental states are symptoms [not causes] related to suppressed unconscious trauma (including intergenerational trauma and past life trauma) or childhood wounds and exiled parts that need to be processed and integrated internally.

There can also be normal ups and downs in everyday life that we all must get accustomed to experiencing. We are not robots; we are human beings with emotional waves like the tides of the sea. Some people are also more sensitive than others to places and environmental energies and can more easily pick up emotional states from other people and crowds.

Mental and emotional suffering, depression, and anxiety can also be a “cry of the soul” as modern humans try to adjust to a world and live in a society where pathologies have become normalized. It can also be a symptom of the loss of meaning in our current culture, as we become increasingly disconnected from spirit, nature, and our own soul being and authentic Self.

But like Krishnamurti said:

“It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

– Krishnamurti

The more you identify with and live from your false self, trying to find happiness externally and not living an authentic life, the more you stifle your creativity and life force, which in turn creates more disease and what the status quo calls “mental illness.” It’s a “betrayal” to your soul as you go against your true nature and deep inner calling.

This downward spiral [of identification with false self] can also lead to nihilism, addiction, suicide, getting caught in victim/blame, “black pill” doom&gloom territory, and projecting one’s own misery onto a world where “everything and everyone sucks.” Identification with a counterfeit version of ourselves is also an aspect of being taken over by wetiko

Most people live in a constant state of anxiety, fight or flight, or a dissociated “checked out” frozen state without realizing it because that state of living is all they know.

It’s a vicious self-defeating loop that produces more emotional and mental dis-ease – all of which provides “loosh,” which malevolent occult forces feed off of.

The Detrimental Spiritual Effects of Psychiatric Drugs

Big Pharma and the allopathic medicine cult stuck in materialism take advantage of billions of people’s suffering and keep them sick and addicted, for you cannot make a profit from people who are healthy in body, mind, and soul.

Nor can you control and manipulate a person who is holistically healthy, living authentically from the true self.

Rudolf Steiner has been correct; over the past 100 years, the modern medical cult has been in the process of (in Steiner’s words):

  • “abolishing the soul via a medicine,”
  • “[creating] a terrible belief in authority as far as matters of health are concerned,“ and 
  • “hardening humans into materialism.”

The soul will be made non-existent with the aid of a drug. People will invent a vaccine to influence the organism as early as possible, preferably as soon as it is born, so that this human body never even gets the idea that there is a soul and a spirit….Materialistic physicians will be asked to drive the souls out of humanity .”

– Rudolf Steiner, “Fall of the Spirits of Darkness – Changes in Humanity’s Spiritual Make-up”, 1917

All potent psychiatric drugs, like anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, anti-psychotics (to name a few), opiates, and vaccines, have detrimental effects on the energy/astral body. They can negatively affect the afterlife experience and keep the soul earthbound after death.

In his book “Covid Vaccines from a Spiritual Perspective: Consequences for the Soul and Spirit and for Life after Death”, Thomas Mayer describes several cases of the detrimental effects of not only vaccines but also psychiatric drugs and other allopathic medicines on the astral/ether body during life and in the afterlife.

The damage can keep the spirit stuck in the lower earth realm [earthbound] and vulnerable to the influence and attachment of soratic occult hostile forces. Mayer also observed that it disconnects people from their angel (higher self or primary spirit guide).

It’s not black and white, and it is not implied that ALL allopathic medicine and pharmaceuticals have these effects on the astral body and afterlife experience. It depends on the frequency you take it, the dosage, strength, and the body/mind/soul constitution of the person taking it.

Spiritual Crisis and Initiation instead of “Psychosis”

People who are suffering from what modern psychiatry calls “schizophrenia” or other severe “psychotic” states are not “mentally ill,” nor is there anything wrong with the brain, rather these symptoms can be directly related to an entity or earthbound spirit attachments, possession, and interferences. They can also be subpersonalities that took on extreme protector/exile roles due to trauma.

Ironically, we all are a little bit “schizophrenic” since we all have multiple personalities within us – all the different false “I’s” we mistake for the real “I,” as Gurdjieff alluded to when he said that “Man is a plurality.” A psycho-spiritual modality like IFS shows that as well. We all are also subject to the influences of hidden forces.

Traditional cultures, still connected to nature and the spiritual world, recognize and understand “the porosity of mind,” they understand that we are constantly influenced and affected by forces or beings flowing and working through us. Yet now, “modern materialistic man” dismisses these ideas as “woo woo” or “superstitions” of “primitive people” taking pride in their disembodied intellectual rationalism.

The mind is not isolated in the brain, disconnected from everything else. All kinds of forces, beings, and energies manifest as thoughts and sensations come from the outside and non-physical realms and constantly flow through us.

We are enclosed in an individual, personal body only through a stubborn visual delusion; in fact, we are porous throughout and bathe in universal forces, like an anemone in the sea.

Our sole freedom is to lift ourselves to higher planes through individual evolution. Our only role is to transcribe and materially embody the truths of the plane we belong to.

These planes [of consciousness] do not depend upon us or upon what we think of them any more than the sea depends on the anemone; they exist independently of man.

Modern psychology, for which all the levels of being are mixed together in a so-called collective unconscious, like some big magician’s hat from which to draw archetypes and neuroses at random, betrays in this respect a serious lack of vision:

first, because the forces of these planes are not at all unconscious (except to us), but very conscious, definitely more so than we are; and secondly, because these forces are not” collective,” in the sense that they are no more a human product than the sea is the product of the anemone; it is rather the frontal man who is the product of that Immensity behind.

– Satprem

Cultures that recognize this porosity of the mind and the spiritual world also understand that people who have what we call “psychotic breaks” or “schizophrenia” may be having a spiritual crisis [intensified via spirit attachments/possession] that serves as a potential for transformation, like a shamanic initiation.

The shaman, healer, or medicine man/woman can help the possessed person in this spiritual process and inner journey. It’s a rite of passage that contains a vital soul lesson and not a sign that something has broken or has gone wrong, i.e., “mental illness.”

People who have gone through his process most often become powerful healers or spiritual teachers/masters, as the lessons of these dark nights of the soul tend to align them with their deeper soul purpose.

But in the modern world, we lock these people up in mental institutions and/or pump them with psychiatric drugs, which creates tremendous damage to the soul on a metaphysical level.

If you want to learn more about this topic, check out these podcasts where we have discussed it in depth:

Some Human Beings are not Human

Some people who we would label as psychopaths, narcissists, and sociopaths can actually be incarnations of demonic asuric hostile forces and only appear “human.” They can’t be healed or changed in this lifetime.

Powerful asuric and demonic entities can take over a person over time (through various entry points and temptations), slowly driving out the human personality and soul until only the empty human vessel remains, occupied by the asura. In rare instances, they can also take birth in a human body.

“Asura” in the original Sanskrit is the term for adversary occult spirits. The Asura are non-evolutionary hostile beings.

It’s very important to point out that the external human appearance can be deceiving when possessed by an Asura. They don’t usually appear as “crazy” or “psychotic,” like in a Hollywood horror movie.

They are often highly intelligent beings who know how to manipulate and seduce. In human form, they can appear as very confident, charismatic beings and are most often very beautiful in physical appearance. Hence, the average human is easily distracted and fooled by their outer appearance. They can be very successful and established in life.

Asura-possessed humans can be charming and have a very cunning personality mask, which most people fall for because it’s hard to discern. They seem “too perfect.” Only psychically sensitive people, already connected to their essence/true Self, can pierce through this “mask of sanity” and faux appearance.

Women possessed or influenced by asuric hostile forces can use their looks, sexuality, and lower nature in overt or covert ways to gain more money/power. They may even exert powerful sexual magnetism, which is initiated by the Asura to manipulate other humans (especially men) as they feed off of the attention they get.

That lower sexual vital energy is also a feeding ground for predatory occult forces, keeping them entrapped on a soul level. Still, they can be highly successful on a social appearance and worldly level.

Sri Aurobindo referred to the Asura in “Letters on Yoga”:

“The Asuras and Rakshasas, etc., do not belong to the earth but to supra-physical worlds, but they act upon the earth life and dispute the control of human life and character and action with the Gods. They are the Powers of Darkness combating the Powers of Light. Sometimes they possess men in order to act through them, sometimes they take birth in a human body.

The ordinary Asura is not an evolutionary but a typal being. It represents a fixed principle of creation that does not evolve or change and is not intended to do so. These Asuras, as well as the other hostile beings, Rakshasas, Pisachas, and others, resemble the devils of the Christian tradition and oppose the divine intention and the evolutionary purpose of the human being.

The Asura has no soul, no psychic being which has to evolve to a higher state; he has only an ego and usually a very powerful ego; he has a mind, sometimes even a highly intellectualized mind, but the basis of his thinking and feeling is vital [lower life force] and not mental, at the service of his desire and not of truth. He is a formation assumed by the life-principle for a particular kind of work and not a divine formation or a soul. They prefer to get hold of human beings and make them their instruments.

The Mother elaborates further:

[Some human beings] are not human; there is only a human form or appearance. They are incarnations of beings from the world that are just next to the physical beings who live on the plane, which we call the vital world. It is a world of all the desires and impulses and passions and of movements of violence and greed and cunning and every kind of ignorance, but all the dynamisms too are there, all the life-energies and all the powers.

The beings of this world have by their nature a strange grip over the material world and can exercise upon it a sinister influence.

There are others, far more dangerous, who have never been in human form; never were they born into a human body upon earth. Most often, they refuse to accept this way of birth because it is slavery to matter. They prefer to remain in their own world, powerful and mischievous, and to control earthly beings from there. For, if they do not want to be born on earth, they do want to be in contact with the physical nature, but without being bound by it.

Their method is to try first to cast their influence upon a man; then, they enter slowly into his atmosphere and, in the end, may get complete possession of him, driving out entirely the real human soul and personality.

These creatures, when in possession of an earthly body, may have a human appearance, but they do not have human nature. Their habit is to draw upon the life force of human beings; they attack and capture vital power wherever they can and feed upon it. If they come into your atmosphere, you suddenly feel depressed and exhausted; if you are near them for some time, you fall sick; if you live with one of them, it may kill you.

The vital power incarnated in these beings is of a very material kind, and it is effective only within a short distance. Ordinarily, if you do not live in the same house or if you are not in the same company with them, you do not come within their influence. But if you open some channel of connection or communication, through letters, for example, then you make possible an interchange of forces and are liable to be influenced by them even from a far distance. [Note: ore the Internet/social media nowadays]

The wisest way with these beings is to cut off all connection and have nothing to do with them – unless indeed you have great occult knowledge and power and have learned how to cover and protect yourself – but even then, it is always a dangerous thing to move about with them. To hope to transform them, as some people do, is a vain illusion, for they do not want to be transformed. They have no intention of allowing any transformation, and all effort in that direction is useless.

These beings, when in the human body, are not often conscious of what they really are. Sometimes, they have a vague feeling that they are not quite human in the ordinary way. But still, there are cases where they are conscious and very conscious; not only do they know that they do not belong to humanity, but they know what they are, act in that knowledge, and deliberately pursue their ends. The beings of the vital world are powerful by their very nature; when to their power they add knowledge, they become doubly dangerous.

There is nothing to be done with these creatures; you should avoid having any dealings with them unless you have the power to crush and destroy them. If you are forced into contact with them, beware of the spell they can cast. These vital beings, when they manifest on the physical plane, always have a great hypnotic power; for the center of their consciousness is in the vital world and not in the material, and they are not veiled and dwarfed by the material consciousness as human beings are.

Important Considerations

It’s important to note that these full-blown “demons in human disguise” are not very common. They are not to be confused with “Organic Portals” or what people nowadays call NPCs.

We must be careful not to label people prematurely. It takes a lot of observation, inner psycho-spiritual work, connected to one’s true soul being, grounded psychic awareness, and occult knowledge to perceive the hidden forces in others correctly so our perception is not polluted and overlaid with our stuff and shadow projections.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen many people abuse this topic and use it to demonize and blame others preemptively. There can also be varying degrees of possession and variations in how much influence an entity has over a human vessel.

Remember, from a higher perspective, in light of the evolution of consciousness, it’s very important to understand that these entities and occult forces serve a teaching function. They highlight your issues and are to be seen as tests and lessons.

“The hostile forces have a certain self-chosen function: it is to test the condition of the individual, of the work, of the earth itself and their readiness for the spiritual descent and fulfillment.”

– Sri Aurobindo

Before looking only at how other people can be possessed or influenced by these beings, I suggest taking a look into the mirror first and clearing your inner being for potential entry points of occult forces affecting you.

This world is a learning experience where we experience both light and darkness, ignorance and truth, and we must rise to greater levels of non-dual reactivity and true Self-awareness if we are to truly transcend the influence of these occult forces, who play on our weaknesses, core wounds, and mechanical nature like we are puppets on strings.

For a more in-depth exploration of the teaching function of evil and the interrelationship between the Divine and Anti-Divine, check out these podcasts:

To learn more about Occult Forces, check out my articles HERE and my in-depth course “Occult Forces of Hyper-Dimensions: Entity Attachments & Interferences.”


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Cannabis Jobs Update – July 2024

Week in Weed – June 29, 2024

This past week, we looked at record-low cannabis-related reports to Ontario’s Ombudsman and Manitoba’s announcement of its new cannabis product freshness criteria. The OCS also made a promising move by announcing plans to provide sales data to producers, a move highly welcomed by the industry. 

New Brunswick’s ninth private retail store is coming soon to St. Andrews. Organigram announced plans to expand into the German cannabis market. Nova Scotia sold $121 million worth of cannabis in 2023, and several micro cultivators say they see no real need for an expanded canopy.

We also looked into Australia’s cannabis regulator issuing more than $600,000 in marketing fines. Police in Edmonton are still searching for two suspects in a cannabis store robbery, and CanadaBis reported a continued trend of profitability in their newest quarterly report.

In other Canadian cannabis news this past week

One of the big stories this week was a new study of blood tests taken from injured drivers at emergency departments across Canada that revealed that cannabis (16.6%) has now narrowly edged out alcohol (16%) as the most commonly detected single substance. While some media reports predictably sensationalized this report, UBC notes that in most cases the cannabis level was not high enough to indicate impairment and increased crash risk. Drunk driving remains a bigger problem in road safety and public health, notes UBC’s writeup on their research. 

David Brough, CEO of Klonetics Plant Science, announced he was stepping down in a post on Linkedin.

Alberta’s Simply Solventless Concentrates Ltd. announced it entered into a share purchase agreement with Lifeist Wellness Inc. for the acquisition of all of the shares of CannMart Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lifeist and the brands Roilty and Zest Cannabis. CannMart Labs Inc., another of Lifeist’s subsidiaries, which is currently in Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) proceedings, is not involved in the Transactions.

UFCW’s BC Budtender’s Union held their Solidariweed 2024 event on June 15th, wowing the crowd with speakers like Jodie Giesz-Ramsay and Dana Larsen.

HYTN Innovations Inc. announced it has been granted a Drug Establishment License (DEL) by Health Canada. This license allows HYTN to engage in the GMP fabrication, packaging, and labeling of non-sterile pharmaceuticals containing both cannabis and psilocybin.

High Tide announced it intends to acquire a Cantopia location in Mississauga for $600,000. Cantopia lists four other locations under its brand, all in Ontario. The company also announced plans to open two Canna Cabana stores later this month in Alberta and Saskatchewan as well, High Tide’s 175th and 176th Canna Cabana locations in Canada.

A new research paper reports that medical cannabis use in Canada increased from 4% to 11% between 2014 and 2019, while recreational cannabis use increased from 9% to 15% between 2014 and 2019.

As we head into the long weekend, the Canadian Border Services Agency reminds people not to bring cannabis into or out of the country.

The Vancouver Sun ran a piece on BZAM’s sale of its facility in Midway, BC, to Christina Lake Cannabis, which was announced in 2023 and finalized months ago

Pure Sunfarms launched its new ‘Trials by Pure Sunfarms’, offering consumers limited batch, ‘trial’ cultivars, for the first time, launched exclusively to consumers in Pure Sunfarms’ home market of British Columbia. The first small batch release is Trial No. 001 (Gas Face x Purple Kush), beginning July 1.

Ayurcann Holdings Corp. and Arogo Capital Acquisition Corporation announced they entered a definitive business combination agreement.

Law firm Miller Thomson LLP posted a good overview of some of Health Canada’s recently proposed regulatory changes. Remember to get your feedback to Health Canada by July 8! 

Also, two were arrested, and cannabis was seized in Saint John, NB, and police in Quebec seized around 1,000 cannabis plants and 100 kg of cannabis in two raids. 

International cannabis news

In the US, Kentucky announced it will open applications for the state’s medical cannabis business beginning July 1 as part of an accelerated push to have products available in early 2025. Qualifying patients can apply for medical cannabis cards starting January 1. The state initially will issue 48 dispensary licenses divided among 11 regions.

Brazil’s Supreme Court voted to decriminalize possession of cannabis for personal use, making the nation one of Latin America’s last to do so. The process began in 2015. 

The NCAA lifted its ban on cannabis use for Division 1 athletes in championships.  

And finally, Cannabis Europa was held June 25-26 in London. Prohibition Partners has some coverage here.


Police in Quebec seize large amount of dried cannabis, plants, in two raids

Police in Quebec seize large amount of dried cannabis, plants, in two raids

Police in Quebec say they seized nearly 1,000 cannabis plants, more than 100 kg of cannabis, along with cash, equipment, and some methamphetamine pills in the course of two searches on June 27.

The searches were made in the Laval and Saint-Jérôme areas northwest of Montreal. In an announcement about the collaboration between the Sûreté du Québec’s Contraband Investigation Service and the Laval and Saint-Jérôme police services, they say no arrests were made.

The Sûreté du Québec’s ACCES Cannabis program targets illicit cannabis production, distribution, and sales in the province. Quebec’s Ministry of Public Security coordinates the agency.

The searches were conducted on Fortin Boulevard in Laval and 103rd Avenue in Saint-Jérôme. Images shared by Le Journal de Montreal show a large amount of cannabis as well as grow lights being removed from a building. 

Image via Wikipedia


How to Hit a Target No One Else Can See

How to Hit a Target No One Else Can See

How to Hit a Target No One Else Can See

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” ~Schopenhauer

You don’t have to be a genius to be creative, but you do have to be creative to be a genius. Focus on creativity. Get out of your own way. Allow your imagination to fly.

Get weird. Be the glitch. Go mad if you must. As Bill Murray famously said, “Weird is just a side effect of being awesome.” Be awesome!

Practice the ability to embrace paradox and hold the tension between opposites. Learn how to live with uncertainty. Learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Reimagine imagination itself, and you might earn the right to hit a target no one else can see.

When you allow yourself to be weird, you free yourself to be whatever you want to be. Fear of the unknown dissipates. You become the unfamiliar, the strange, the quixotic. All fetters fall away. Boundaries dissolve. The world unlocks. Suddenly everything is permitted, and both your curiosity and your creativity are heightened.

Genius manifests. Destiny becomes a plaything. The will to power is trumped by the will to humor. The Infinite Game reveals itself, and you are the gamemaster. Here are five rules that will take your genius to the next level…

Rule # 1 Don’t be certain, be curious:

“Belief is the death of intelligence.” ~Robert Anton Wilson

What does it mean to hit a target no one else can see? It means ruthlessly cutting through the known to discover the unknown. It means stiff-arming ancient “truth,” sidestepping outdated laws, and hurdling contemporary maxims. It means personifying Occam’s Razor by slicing through all the hitherto found precious certitudes and dropping question-mark bombs into their flimsy bunkers.

Most of all it means decimating all comfort zones. It means usurping all thrones. It means castrating all sacred cows. It means getting so far ahead of “establishment” that all you see is the desert wastes of the unknown reaching on forever. And atop that desolate sand dune, alone and reeking of solitude, you stare into the bare bones void and dare it into revealing its secrets.

Rule # 2 Don’t be on the fence, flatten all fences:

“The more likely we are to assume that the solution comes from the outside, the less likely we are to solve our problems ourselves.” ~Carl Sagan

Forget having an opinion; embrace having a notion. Forget having preferences, embrace having references. Forget having a point of view, transcend it all and become the view.

Those who can fly were not meant to sit on fences. Fuck fence sitting! Fly! Flatten all fences. Get some air under your wings. Regain the bird’s-eye-view you lost in your childhood. As Robert Greene said, “Elevate yourself above the battlefield.”

Don’t insecurely cling, courageously detach. Practice nonattachment. Cultivate transcendence. Get above the petty culture that incessantly tries to keep you conditioned and contained.

Rule # 3 Don’t get ahead of yourself, check yourself:

“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.” ~Albert Camus

You are just as fallible and imperfect as the rest of the world. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Keep humility ahead of hubris. Keep humor ahead of ardor. Remember: the only way to stay ahead of the curve is to realize that everything is on the curve, including you.

Use self-deprecating philosophy to keep things in perspective. Implement self-interrogation tactics to poke holes into inflated ideals and ideas. Count coup on thyself! Realize: the self is masks all the way down perceiving delusions all the way up. Cross-examine all masks. Probe all delusions.

Don’t be afraid to kill the false self. Be like the Phoenix, constantly in the throes of rebirth.

Rule # 4 Don’t seek perfection, embrace the suck:

“Success is often a function of who is willing to suck at something the longest.” ~Mark Manson

Don’t fear failure. Enter the cave of your failure and grow roots. Allow Iteration to be your only God. As Rick Rubin said, “Create an environment where you’re free to express what you’re afraid to express.”

Transform your cave of failure into a refuge of imagination. Use setbacks like building blocks and build an empire out of your creativity. Polish grit into pearls. Pressurize demons into diamonds. Fleece fear into fearlessness.

Sapere aude: “Dare to know.” Then dare to unknow. Then dare to fail at knowing. Rinse and repeat. Use the mettle of self-discipline to build an antifragile backbone. This is all about iteration. Seize the day! Practice, practice, practice. Self-improvement leads to self-esteem leads to prestige.

Rule # 5 Don’t be merely sane, be beautifully insane:

“I think we all have a little bit of that beautiful madness that keeps us walking when everything around us is so insanely sane.” ~Julio Cortazar

Be divergent. Be Dionysian despite the Apollonian world. Dance through the mannequin culture. Thunder past the status quo junkies. Stop pretending to be asleep. Unbridle your madness. It’s a courage-enforcer, a mettle sharpener, a lion-awakener.

It’s time to unleash your madness and assert your uniqueness. It’s time to let your Shadow shine into the blinding light of Mother Culture. It’s time to fly over all the false gods. To crucify your past and push your beliefs off a cliff. To climb a mountain and reap the whirlwind. To rejoice in the folly of it all. To laugh and to learn how it’s all laughable. It’s time to get mad and revel in a new way of being human in the world.

Image source:Homo Cosmico by Julian Majin

About the Author:

Gary Z McGee, a former Navy Intelligence Specialist turned philosopher, is the author of Birthday Suit of God and The Looking Glass Man. His works are inspired by the great philosophers of the ages and his wide-awake view of the modern world.

This article (How to Hit a Target No One Else Can See) was originally created and published by Self-inflicted Philosophy and is printed here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Gary Z McGee and self-inflictedphilosophy.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this statement of copyright.

420 with CNW — Ohio Companies Prepare for Recreational Cannabis Sales Launch

420 with CNW — Ohio Companies Prepare for Recreational Cannabis Sales Launch

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Ohio’s move from solely medical cannabis sales to also allowing recreational sales is taking a unique path compared to other states. The specific date for the start of recreational sales remains unclear, even though the application period for converting medical cannabis licenses to dual-use began on June 7, 2024. Industry insiders anticipate that the first dual-use licenses might be approved in the coming weeks, but state officials have not confirmed this timeline.

Ohio’s regulators are also prioritizing applications from testing labs, cultivators and processors over retailers. This means cannabis businesses and consumers will see approvals happen in stages based on when applications are submitted and whether applicants meet all necessary criteria, such as inspections and POS systems that differentiate between recreational and medical sales.

Projections suggest that Ohio’s marijuana sales could surpass $1 billion by 2025 and potentially reach $2 billion by 2028. The state’s sizable population (nearly 12 million people) and strategic location are key factors in this growth, likely drawing in many new consumers despite a decline in medical cannabis patients.

Of the five states Ohio borders, only Michigan has licensed recreational cannabis sales. Other states, including Wisconsin and Indiana, still don’t have any form of regulated cannabis program, which could also boost Ohio’s market. Minnesota, meanwhile, is preparing to launch its recreational cannabis market next year.

The move to recreational sales in Ohio was spurred by a voter-approved ballot initiative in a November 2023 special election. When Ohio issues its first recreational licenses, it will become the 21st state in the United States to do so, following Maryland and Missouri, which began their recreational markets in July and February of 2023, respectively. The gap between these launches is the longest seen since the first states legalized recreational cannabis more than 10 years ago.

As the state prepares for the new market, its medical-cannabis sector has seen a decline in sales and patient numbers. The latest figures show 165,746 registered patients, a drop of nearly 15,000 since last November. For comparison, Pennsylvania, with a similar population size, had more than 441,000 registered patients as of April, a figure that has increased by more t han 6,000 since November.

One reason for the decline in Ohio’s medical-cannabis patients could be the lower prices in Michigan, where many Ohio residents purchase their products. In 2023, Ohio’s medical-cannabis dispensaries reported sales of $484 million, a modest 1% increase from the previous year. To support the market, Ohio regulators reduced the fee for caregiver and patient cards to just one cent in March.

Most operators are expected to apply for dual-use licenses. According to the voter-approved law, the converted licenses must be issued by September 7, 2024. Regulators also need to complete the recreational market guidelines by this date. Until then, the market will adhere to medical cannabis standards, delaying the availability of pre-rolls and the increase of THC potency caps on concentrates. Smoking accessories such as rolling papers and delivery services are also restricted.

The wider marijuana industry, including leading entities such as Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ), have their eyes on Ohio and are rooting for this latest addition to the adult-use markets to launch without major hiccups such as those that have dogged the market in New York State.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ

About CNW420

CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of an article each business day at 4:20 p.m. Eastern – a tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. The concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.

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Private cannabis shop finds downtown spot in Saint Andrews

Private cannabis shop finds downtown spot in Saint Andrews

By Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal

Cannabis Xpress owner Chris Jones says the hardest part of opening a store in Saint Andrews was finding the right spot.

But with the keys in hand, New Brunswick’s ninth licensed private cannabis retailer is set to open this week.

Jones is the Toronto-based owner of the Cannabis Xpress chain, which has 14 locations in Ontario and now three stores in New Brunswick, with a location in Grand Bay-Westfield that opened last year, a Hampton store that opened in February and a Saint Andrews location opening Thursday in a storefront at the back of the Kennedy House at 218 Water St., Suite C.

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Opening a store in Saint Andrews took “longer than anticipated” due to availability of real estate and finding the right location, Jones said, but a spot was available in the Kennedy House building. Jones says it’s a “great location” that’s accessible but not highly visible to those who would be bothered by it, which “satisfies everyone.”

“I literally just got the keys for this location on June 1,” he said. “Once we have access to the store, we open it pretty quick.”

The permanent store comes after an unsuccessful request from Cannabis NB to open a mobile cannabis truck in Saint Andrews last June, which it said at the time was to increase access to “safe, legal cannabis” products until the private store could open.

Mayor Brad Henderson said last week that the reason the cannabis truck was turned down was the “concept of a mobile truck,” citing tight limits on food trucks in town.

“To go from no taco trucks to cannabis trucks, I think it was quite a jump for council,” he said, saying the current application went before the planning advisory committee and the building owner met its terms and conditions.

“Despite how people may have varying opinions, we do have an ANBL downtown in Saint Andrews, and it is a legal (product),” Henderson said. “For those who use that product, to have something locally … the closest store is St. Stephen, which if you do not have a vehicle could be very hard to get to.”

There is a Cannabis NB location in St. Stephen and Stewart Farms, which is a “FarmGate” private retailer authorized to sell its own products. Both are about a 25- to 30-minute drive from downtown Saint Andrews. Jones says he’s heard it as an issue when he visits and asks locals about their tastes and purchasing habits.

“A lot of them (say) it is a bit of a long drive … and if it is too far people just end up buying products from illegal sources,” Jones said. “People will start buying from us because we are more convenient and have a wider product selection, and the products are regulated and tested.”

Jones said people can be “hesitant to see what comes of it” when a store opens, with concerns around loitering or children having access to the store. He says they’re hoping they’ll be able to demonstrate that it’s a “a professional business, and we have pretty high standards of training and staff.”

He said they’re looking to benefit from word-of-mouth promotion, including from local staff, and have applied for permission to display an A-frame sign on the street.

The New Brunswick wing of Cannabis Xpress is “really really booming,” Jones said, saying that other than finding locations, operations are “far easier” than in Ontario and that they have hired locally. He says the opening of the store in Hampton has been “phenomenal,” and staff from that store have assisted in the Saint Andrews’ launch with setup and training.

In addition to the nine private stores, three “new format” Cannabis NB locations have opened, with the goal of “reducing the illicit market,” Cannabis NB said in April. Jones said that the illegal market is still estimated to account for 40 to 50 per cent of sales in the province, and that he hopes with this latest private store opened, more licences may be on the way.

Cannabis NB spokesperson Emilie Dow passed along congratulations to Cannabis Xpress on the upcoming opening, saying it’s part of the agency’s evolution “to enhance convenience and access to safe and legal cannabis products” in the province.

“We are pleased to see this new offering in the community of Saint Andrews,” Dow wrote. She said Cannabis NB plans to “continue to expand its network” with the right types of locations, saying another “new-format” store is opening in Moncton in the future.

Cannabis Jobs Update – July 2024

Cannabis-related complaints to Ontario’s Ombudsman lowest since legalization

Ontario’s Ombudsman reports a near-record number of complaints in its recent 2023-2024 report, but a record-low amount of issues related to the province’s cannabis industry.

The majority of cannabis-related cases heard by the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario were connected to the Ontario Cannabis Store, or OCS.

Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé’s ninth Annual Report, released on June 26, says the organization only heard six cases related to the OCS in 2023-2024, down from 18 in the previous year and 2,411 in the first year of legalization. 

The Ombudsman’s report at the time said that most of these were quickly resolved, helping the OCS and its partners like Canada Post address “serious service gaps.”

In fiscal 2019-2020, following the first year of legalization, OCS-related complaints dropped significantly to just 49. In that same year, the Ontario Ombudsman also received 16 complaints related to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s (AGCO) process for granting licences, as well as other retail sales matters. The Ombudsman’s report says these were resolved by referral to the AGCO’s complaint and appeal processes.

In the following year, 2020-2021, Ontario’s Ombudsman heard 20 cases related to the OCS, and a case where a quorum of council for the Town of Pelham, Ontario, “decided over email not to accept a donation from a cannabis producer,” and that the “Ombudsman found this was wrong and contrary to law, as municipalities are only permitted to make decisions by by-law or resolution.”

Then, in 2021-2022, the organization heard 31 cases about the Ontario Cannabis Store, mostly customer service-related. One of these cases involved a woman who reached out to the Ombudsman after spending several weeks trying to get a refund for an OCS order she had placed that had been destroyed when a postal truck caught fire. 

In 2022-2023, the Ombudsman’s office received 18 complaints about the Ontario Cannabis Store, and just six in 2023-2024, out of 27,030 complaints and inquiries total. Over half (57%) of these were addressed in two weeks or less. The Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario says this near-record total case volume is up 10% from the previous year and is among the office’s highest in decades—surpassed only by 2018-2019’s total of 27,419.

Ashley Bursey, manager of communications for the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario says that while the organization cannot reveal the details of any specific complaints due to confidentiality requirements, it often addresses cases related to the Ontario Cannabis Store in regard to delays, customer service, concerns about product quality, or billing issues. She also says that all six of cases mentioned in their most recent annual report have been closed.

“We receive relatively few complaints about the OCS each year, with the exception of 2018-2019, the year the OCS began online retail operations, where it was our single most-complained-about organization,” Bursey tells StratCann. “That year, we received 2,411 cases about the OCS and we established a dedicated team to triage and prioritize these complaints, working collaboratively with senior staff at OCS and the Ministry of Finance.

“Among the issues we identified (including delays, product quality concerns, and customer service issues) was a serious privacy breach involving Canada Post’s online tracking portal, which allowed anyone to see the name and address of an OCS customer if they had a tracking number; this was quickly rectified.”


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Ayurcann Holdings Corp is Entering Into a Business Combination With Arogo Capital Acquisition Corp.

Ayurcann Holdings Corp is Entering Into a Business Combination With Arogo Capital Acquisition Corp.

Ayurcann Holdings Corp., an award winning Canadian cannabis extraction company specializing in the processing and manufacturing of pharma grade cannabis and hemp for various derivative cannabis products, and Arogo Capital Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement dated June 26, 2024. The Business Combination is an arm’s length agreement. In connection with the Transaction, ARC Group Limited will receive finder’s fees in the amount of 799,731 common shares of the Company.

“Ayurcann is one of the most innovative companies we have encountered, particularly in cannabis extraction and product development. With their impressive achievements and forward-looking plans, this business combination is set to drive the business onto a new growth trajectory, enhancing its capabilities and expanding the market reach in meaningful ways,” says Suradech Taweesaengsakulthai, CEO and Director of Arogo.

About Ayurcann
Ayurcann is focused on its operational expertise and gaining market share in every product category, and its management team believes that Ayurcann’s strong market share capture is driven by the quality and reputation of its brands. By continuously providing high-quality products, innovations and value that complement our current market offerings, Ayurcann continues to look for opportunities to increase revenue.

Financial Highlights
Ayurcann financial highlights include 100% year over year growth of gross revenue over the last three audited financial reporting years, based on Ayurcann’s audited financial statements available under its profile on SEDAR+. These results have been achieved only 2.5 years after being licensed to sell cannabis products in Canada.

“We are proud of our team for what we have achieved as a company,” said Igal Sudman, Chief Executive Officer of Ayurcann. “The business combination with Arogo, is our next step in growing the company nationally while allowing us to also look for international opportunities.”

Summary of the Transaction
Under the terms of the Business Combination Agreement, by way of a plan of arrangement under the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario), a Canadian merger sub will amalgamate with and into Ayurcann, which will become a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the post-business combination publicly traded entity, and a Delaware merger sub will merge with and into Arogo, as a result of which Arogo will become a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the post-business combination publicly traded entity. At the effective time of the Transaction, shareholders of Ayurcann immediately prior to the effective time will receive shares of common stock of the publicly traded entity based on an implied pro forma enterprise value of approximately $210 million, at a price of $10.00 per share. Ayurcann’s common shares are anticipated to be valued upon closing of the proposed Transaction at approximately $1.00 based on the current number of fully diluted outstanding common shares before consolidation to be completed in connection with the proposed Transaction. At the closing of the proposed Transaction, Arogo expects to have up to US$19.6 million in cash on its balance sheet (assuming no redemptions by Arogo’s stockholders and before payment of Transaction expenses and deferred underwriting fees), including existing cash brought over from Ayurcann’s balance sheet, any capital raised in connection with the Transaction, and expected cash proceeds from Arogo’s trust account, which is expected to be used to support general business activities, including new product development, new distribution networks, and exploring national and international acquisition opportunities.

The Transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2024, subject to the receipt of all regulators, court, shareholder and other approvals, and the satisfaction or waiver of all customary closing conditions. The Transaction is subject to the approval of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List). The Transaction will also require the approval at a special meeting of Ayurcann’s shareholders of not less than two-thirds (66 2/3%) of the votes validly cast by Ayurcann’s shareholders, present in person or by proxy at the special meeting. The Transaction will also require the approval of Arogo’s stockholders and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) declaring the registration statement effective.

The directors, senior officers and certain other shareholders of Ayurcann have entered into a support agreement with Arogo to, among other things, support the Transaction and vote their Ayurcann shares in favor of the Transaction. Shareholders of Ayurcann will hold rights of dissent to the Transaction under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario).

The Board of Directors of Ayurcann unanimously recommends that Ayurcann shareholders vote in favor of the resolution to approve the Transaction, which will be the subject of the Ayurcann meeting expected to be held in the third quarter of 2024. There are currently 194,703,863 common shares of the Company issued and outstanding. Following the Transaction, the Company anticipates that approximately 260,703,863 common shares of the Company will be issued and outstanding, which will be consolidated on a 10:1 ratio in connection with the Transaction, resulting in approximately 26,070,386 common shares.

The Transaction remains subject to certain other closing conditions, including the receipt of certain approvals and the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions, including but not limited to a committed PIPE financing or other mutually satisfactory financing.

Further information regarding the Transaction will be included in Ayurcann management information circular to be mailed to Ayurcann shareholders in advance of the Ayurcann special meeting and in Ayurcann’s material change report in respect of the announcement of the Transaction, each of which will be filed with the Canadian securities regulators and will be available under Ayurcann’s profile on SEDAR+.

Advisors
Brown Rudnick LLP is representing Arogo as U.S. legal counsel and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP is representing Arogo as Canadian legal counsel. Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP is representing Ayurcann as U.S. legal counsel and Garfinkle Biderman LLP is representing Ayurcann as Canadian legal counsel. ARC Group Limited is acting as sole financial advisor to Ayurcann. EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments, LLC, is serving as capital markets advisor to Arogo.

About Arogo
Arogo Capital Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company. Arogo aims to acquire one and more businesses and assets, via a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, and reorganization. For more information, visit www.arogocapital.com.

Additional Information and Where to Find It
For additional information regarding the Business Combination Agreement and the proposed Transaction, see Arogo’s Current Report on Form 8-K, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) concurrently with this press release. In connection with the proposed Transaction, Arogo intends to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-4 (the “Registration Statement), and after the Registration Statement is declared effective by the SEC, Arogo intends to mail a definitive proxy statement/prospectus relating to the Transaction to its stockholders. The management information circular to be mailed to Ayurcann shareholders in advance of the Ayurcann special meeting and Ayurcann’s material change report in respect of the announcement of the Transaction will contain further details regarding the Transaction and will be available under Ayurcann’s profile on SEDAR+. This press release does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed Transaction and is not intended to form the basis of any investment decision or any other decision in respect of the proposed Transaction. Arogo’s stockholders and other interested persons are advised to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and the amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed in connection with the proposed Transaction with the SEC by Arogo, as these materials will contain important information about Ayurcann, Arogo, and the proposed Transaction. When available, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials for the proposed Transaction will be mailed to stockholders of Arogo as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed Transaction. Such stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed with the SEC, without charge, once available, at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to Arogo Capital Acquisition Corporation, 848 Brickell Ave, Penthouse 5, Miami, FL 33131.

Pure Sunfarms Launches Grower-Led ‘Trials’ Program

Pure Sunfarms Launches Grower-Led ‘Trials’ Program

Published: July 1, 2024

Pure Sunfarms Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Village Farms International, Inc., announces the launch of ‘Trials by Pure Sunfarms’, an innovative program aimed at offering consumers limited batch, ‘Trial’ cultivars for the first time. This program will be launching exclusively to consumers in Pure Sunfarms’ home market of British Columbia (“B.C.”)

‘Trials by Pure Sunfarms’ is a grower-led initiative aimed at bringing consumers exclusive access to limited-release strains. Created by its expert cultivation team as part of the company’s trialing process, each cultivar featured in Pure Sunfarms’ Trials series is carefully selected for its unique expressions and special characteristics—such as aromas, colour, and bud structure.

Twenty percent of B.C. consumers identify as ‘cannabis connoisseurs’, and almost 30 percent prioritize high quality in their selections1. Through this program, B.C. consumers will be offered an exclusive look at the company’s hand-selected strains, grown in small batches.

“We are committed to the art and science of cannabis cultivation. Our team of expert growers is constantly trialing, experimenting, and pheno-hunting to discover unique strains,” said Orville Bovenschen, President and CEO at Pure Sunfarms. “With the launch of ‘Trials’, we’re bringing B.C. consumers and budtenders closer to our process and products than ever before, with exclusive small batches that offer a one-of-a-kind experience. We hope to captivate consumers with these limited-release cultivars grown right here in their backyard.”

The first small batch release is Trial No. 001 (Gas Face x Purple Kush) a heavy-hitting indica that was hand-selected by Pure Sunfarms’ growers for its dank nose and chunky trichome-rich buds. Its aromas are distinct and complex with pungent gassy notes balanced by a creamy, slightly citrussy finish. Trial No. 001 will be available to consumers in Pure Sunfarms’ home market of B.C. as of July 1, 2024, with new additional limited small batches to be released in the months to come.

About Pure Sunfarms
Pure Sunfarms is a global leader in cultivation, operating one of the largest cannabis facilities in the world. With a focus on high-quality BC-grown cannabis, the company combines decades of agricultural and legacy experience with large-scale operational excellence in its state-of-the-art greenhouses located in Delta, British Columbia. Known as a top-selling brand of recreational dried flower across Canada, as well as a top licensed producer, Pure Sunfarms is renowned for producing popular cultivars like its Pink Kush.www.puresunfarms.com