(Globe Newwire) Vancouver – HYTN Innovations Inc., a pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, formulation, and manufacturing of psychoactive and psychotropic compounds, including cannabis and psilocybin, is pleased to announce the receipt of initial orders and import permits from the UK’s 4C Labs.
This achievement allows HYTN to begin exporting cannabis-based pharmaceuticals to the UK under the company’s recently established agreements. The first shipment, manufactured by HYTN under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, reflects HYTN’s commitment to expanding its global reach and providing high-quality cannabis products to international markets.
“We are thrilled to take this next step with 4C Labs,” stated Elliot McKerr, Chief Executive Officer of HYTN. “This milestone underscores the strength of our collaboration and signals the shift from a domestic to international cannabis company.”
HYTN notes the receipt of this initial order and importation permits required the company to obtain registration on the UK’s National Drugs Control System (NDS) which has since been completed. Now registered, HYTN is permitted to transact with UK companies that hold a UK domestic controlled drug or domestic drug precursor license.
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4C LABS is a Canadian based Medical Cannabis company which is building a vertically integrated, quality-driven infrastructure for procuring and delivering premium medical cannabis products to the UK, EU and other international regulated markets.
The UK legal cannabis market is experiencing significant growth, with its value expected to increase from $134.9 million in 2023 to $537.9 million by 2030, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.8%.
Electroculture gardening is sending shock waves through social media and the gardening world. By inserting metal rods into the soil or your garden pots, you can harness electricity in the soil and atmosphere and stimulate plant growth!
Electroculture’s History and Science
Researchers and scientists began experimenting with the idea that electrical currents could increase plant growth as far back as the 1800s. Still, the idea didn’t take off until the 1920s, when French inventor Justin Christofleau published “Electroculture,” a book on atmospheric electricity in gardening.
The introduction of chemical fertilizers in the mid-20th century replaced electroculture as a growing trend. However, as gardeners wake up to the effects of synthetic inputs on the soil, electroculture gardening is making a comeback. Scientists worldwide have also been experimenting to see if the practice can be introduced into agriculture as a replacement for fertilizer.
One 2009 study showed that generated electricity may increase the yield of oats and barley by as much as 22%. Another 2022 study published inNature Food described how researchers planted two plots of peas; one plot was grown in an electric field and produced approximately a fifth more product.
Benefits of Electroculture
The premise is straightforward: copper antennas are coiled around wooden stakes and placed into the ground to capture electrical currents in the air. Proponents of the practice say it stimulates the production of plant hormones responsible for cell elongation and growth. Plants exhibit faster growth, larger yields and more abundant blooms. Electricity also enhances the movement of nutrients and water within the plant, improving overall plant health. Healthier, more resilient plants are naturally better equipped to ward off pests and diseases.
Electroculture: You Be The Scientist!
If you want to try electroculture methods in your garden, think like a scientist. Remember: a home gardener can’t access the large-scale, high-voltage plant electrification researchers have used for their results, so your findings may be less impressive.
Separate one group of plants and let it grow independently as a control group. For the second group, copper antennas should be placed on the ground. Keep a chart to track your results. Record what you observe, any changes in the plant’s appearance, and how much you harvest.
Enthusiasts claim that certain fruits and vegetables, such as leafy greens, carrots, peas, cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, and blueberries, are better suited for electroculture growing. Flowers that attract pollinators reportedly also do well with a little electroculture help.
You can buy affordable electroculture kits online or from big box stores or make your own.
How To Make An Electroculture Antenna
You will need a wooden dowel, wire snips, a hand saw, and a spiral template made from a paper towel roll or water bottle.
Start by sawing off a section of dowel to the plant’s expected height at maturity plus another 8 inches.
Next, twist the wire up the dowel so the wire loops are about 1 inch apart.
Keep spiralling the wire around the template until it’s 4 to 6 inches past the end of the rod.
Remove the template and stake the newly made antenna into the ground – north of the plant.
You’ve just made an electroculture antenna. Good luck and happy gardening!
As 2024 draws to a close, the cannabis industry continues to evolve, bringing new opportunities for professionals eager to make their mark.
December is still a busy month for hiring, with businesses preparing to hit the ground running in the new year.
In our December 2024 roundup, we’ve captured openings across the cannabis sector, from cultivation and retail to marketing and compliance. Whether you’re looking to advance your career or take on a new challenge, these opportunities could be your next step.
Let’s dive into the latest job postings in Canada’s cannabis industry!
Cannabis Producers/Brands
British Columbia
Pistol and Paris is looking for an Experienced Grower to join their team in Agassiz.
In our industrialised societies of 24/7 connectivity and e-Everything, almost every aspect of daily life is mediated by some form of technology. The worlds of work, education, leisure, food, transport, health, media and many more are now not only extended and sometimes enhanced by technology, increasingly they are almost impossible without it. Aside from the potentially catastrophic consequences of this dependence – a subject recently explored at length in these very pages – the proliferating technologies of communication, commerce, and entertainment present particular cause for concern. Drained by chronic overstimulation, gorged on info-tainment, and drowning in a tidal wave of trivia, billions of us are increasingly lost in a lurid fantasy land of surfing, gaming, smartphones, and various other digital distractions.
Although critics of current trends aren’t difficult to find, their influence is no match for the global media machine that techno-evangelists such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Bill Gates have at their disposal. Even calmly-reasoned suggestions that we give more consideration to the future we are making are noisily drowned out by the launch of glitzy new gadgets or the latest plans to colonise Mars.
One can, of course, argue that we are and have always been technological beings. From hammerstones to hand-axes, hominids have used tools for millions of years, so in that sense haven’t we always been cyborgs? There are two distinct points here: what it is in our nature to do, and how we actually do it. We are both creative and destructive, but even the better angels of our nature sometimes make bad decisions. We’re social animals too, so talking and listening and liking and sharing are part of what we do. Yet the sheer scale, scope and speed of information exchange in the techno-industrial age is causing some serious side-effects, and they’re getting worse.
During the early days of mass media and communication, some worried about the increasing presence of propaganda, excessive consumerism, and vapid pop culture. The blue glow of television screens began to take over family gatherings now fallen silent. Then a TV in each room broke up such gatherings altogether. Soon, televisions in bars, restaurants, hotel lobbies, airport lounges, and train stations began to take centre stage, further sidestepping human interaction. Even hospitals and dentist waiting rooms weren’t immune. Such burning issues of the mid-to-late 20th century, however, now appear almost quaint.
In some sense, however, we’ve always known that this day was coming. From Orwell’s 1984 to Huxley’s Brave New World – in which propaganda and mass communication play such a central role – the spectre of a near-future dystopia has loomed large in the collective consciousness, although often just beneath the surface. It was there even earlier, in fact, when some of today’s machines and mechanisms of control could only be imagined. In Fritz Lang’s 1927 movie Metropolis, for example, and in E.M. Forster’s visionary 1909 short story ‘The Machine Stops’ which anticipated the Internet with uncanny accuracy.
The birth and growth of the Internet and modern communication technologies is transforming our daily lives, occasionally for the better. But the transformation of our minds and bodies – profoundly, rapidly, and with scant heed to the consequences – should make us stop and think. The general technological milieu of smartphones, tablets, PCs and other devices used in social media, gaming, and Web surfing produces many negative effects, from depression to loneliness, isolation to anxiety, and low self-esteem. Technology, supposedly designed to bring us together, can instead drive us apart, or to despair. And despite the vague sense of unease many of us feel about our relationship with our gadgets and gizmos, it seems we simply can’t live without them.
Many people suffer significant distress if forced to endure network outages, no signal, flat battery or similar malfunctions. Nomophobia – or phone separation anxiety – although not officially accepted as a pathology, is real enough, and it seems that most compulsive smartphone users would rather visit the dentist than be without their little e-window on the world (although the dentist’s waiting room presumably has a TV). Phone store employees have reported customers with dead handsets displaying levels of grief normally reserved for funerals. Checking your phone during the night, during meals, while driving, while reading this article, or during sex (yes, this actually happens) may indicate that you have a problem. It can ruin your sleep, compromise your relationships, and cause all manner of mental and physical stress.
The fact that we are social animals inevitably means that, to some extent, we all need a certain amount of validation from our peers. In a world of ‘friends’ and ‘likes’, therefore, our online activity is often reactive, dictated by the responses of others. It’s social media as popularity contest. This can quickly become anti-social, not just when it eats up time once devoted to relationships and meaningful activities in the real world, but when it attacks those who aren’t sufficiently sold on the ‘obvious’ merits of increasing and unlimited time online. In this sense, social media and modern communications technology function like religion: too many people openly opting out can cause the faithful to question the fundamental basis of their beliefs. For the techno-utopians, this clearly will not do.
The content of all this online activity – memes, memories, and media of all kinds – also exerts enormous pressure on both the poster and the reader: those whose existence the thoughts, pictures, songs, videos and ‘life events’ supposedly represent, and those for whom these scrapbook entries either make them feel better about their own lives or appear as an idealised vision of a life of which they can only dream. This has a number of side-effects. Individuals with otherwise perfectly satisfactory lives can suffer undeserved feelings of inadequacy by comparing their own jobs, relationships or material possessions to those of others. ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ may be nothing new but the Net lets us into the lives of others to an extent that suburbia never could. Filtered, air-brushed, photoshopped versions of reality also foster unrealistic expectations that the real world can never really hope to match. This can spawn a sense of entitlement similar to the reward-without-effort, gain-without-pain picture painted by TV ‘talent’ shows such as The X Factor – the idea that little Johnny or little Jenny are as talented as anyone else and that this conspicuous talent must be publicly recognised and rewarded.
Another outcome is the tremendous tide of narcissism currently sweeping tech-societies. Obviously Facebook is your face and Myspace (remember that?) is your space, but the Net broadcasts and boosts our egos instantly and everywhere, sometimes causing us to believe our own hype. This unprecedented power also has a nasty habit of emphasising and exaggerating negativity, making things seem worse than they actually are as they are copied and shared everywhere. News that would once have taken days or even weeks to wend its way around the world now goes global in seconds. Whether it’s actually true or not isn’t the main issue. And as transitory and ephemeral as stories, selfies, and all other Web froth seems, it will be preserved online forever, in theory at least. Our dreams of immortality may finally come true as profiles that cannot be deleted.
Isolated Individuals & Hikikomori
In large part due to the isolation and lack of face-to-face contact from excessive tech use, the early 21st century is witnessing the widespread erosion of social skills. Many young people simply do not develop the ability to communicate without a digital mediator. This can leave them floundering in the endlessly-complex world of real people and real situations. Although partly due to economic factors and the wider cultural milieu, the Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori offers an ominous glimpse of the future for the rest of the industrialised world. Living with their parents well into their thirties (with no end in sight), hikikomori are reclusive misfits – mostly male – who endure lives of extreme isolation cut off from the rest of society. It’s a pattern beginning to repeat in the West where asociality and avolition are on the rise, and not just among young males. A subset of these groups is those whose feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness breed with a festering sense of entitlement and unrecognised genius to produce nihilism and even misanthropy. Left unchecked, this can result in depths of despair that have ended in desperate acts such as suicide and school shootings.
The generalised disinhibition seen online has other unfortunate downsides. As most of us know to our cost, the Web is full of tough guys who know it all and have all the answers. It’s largely positive that pretty much anyone is now free (subject to a certain amount of self-censorship or account suspension) to express their opinions online. But the fact that so much discourse is now virtual has eroded and, in some cases, erased the emotional and physical boundaries which govern and guide human interactions – and all but dispensed with the idea that actions have consequences. Keyboard warriors hiding behind false identities are unlikely to get a punch in the face from someone they offend. Combined with anonymity, this apparent immunity and invulnerability fuels stalking and cyber-bullying which on many occasions had dire real world consequences in the form of murder and suicide. The rise of so-called ‘hate speech’ has happened for similar reasons, and this phenomenon highlights another side of the story. As so-called ‘snowflakes’ and ‘safe spaces’ proliferate, so too has rapid-fire, knee-jerk offending and being offended. Extreme over-sensitivity increasingly stifles online debate and discourse. Uploaded to the Web, political correctness has indeed gone mad, and online trends have a habit of spreading offline too. From celebrity sex scandals to transgender toilets, we will seemingly focus on just about any nonsense or nonentity rather than face much more pressing social, economic and environmental problems.
It’s worth noting at this point that the clichéd dichotomy of digital natives (younger generations born into technology) versus digital immigrants (older people adopting technology) is often misleading. Much of the growth in social media use, for example, is among older people with younger people now showing less enthusiasm for many of the most popular platforms.
Education & Fragmented Thinking
One area where our tech-addicted culture does, however, detrimentally affect young people in particular is education. There are a host of factors in play, from over-reliance on technology in the classroom to the symptoms of tech-addiction which make learning itself difficult. Depending on the Internet for information recall has meant little or no need to actually memorise anything. This has contributed to both declining reading rates and declining literacy, further aggravated by a growing inability to write – not just spelling, grammar, and punctuation now transposed into text speak – but actual physical writing on paper. Numerous studies have shown that absorbing information on paper as opposed to screens leads to more immersion and better retention. We also see shrinking vocabulary among certain groups of young people and the resulting inability to express themselves generates enormous frustration. This, in turn, affects their ability to function in the real world where poor communication skills are a definite disadvantage. Overstimulation caused by tech-overload also leads to fragmented information intake and fragmented thinking. Instead of reading an entire book or listening to an entire broadcast, we get cut-and-paste snippets and sound-bites, often out of context. Although touted as necessary and even desirable in today’s fast-paced world, our tendency to multi-task is atomising our minds. This comes with an increasing inability to concentrate or remain focussed for even modest periods of time. Shortened attention spans result in shallower thinking and understanding. In some cases, we may even be losing the very capacity to think. Thinking in any meaningful way about anything much is fast becoming unfashionable.
In response, the education system in many tech-societies has been dumbed down, with the lowest-common-denominator mentality of mainstream media now applied to schooling. That pass rates and IQ scores (a far from flawless measure of intelligence) are reportedly hitting all-time highs simply suggests a degree of manipulation to maintain the illusion of ever-upward progress. The tendency to force every activity online and use technology because we can, rather than because we should, can be seen everywhere, education being merely one of the most conspicuous examples. The disadvantages of distance learning and overemphasis on interactivity play into the psychological problems already mentioned, further exacerbated by the plagiarism that the Web encourages, and increasing the difficulty of discerning fact from fiction. Possibly the most insidious trend is that of infants with iPads – the disastrous belief that children growing up in this technological age should get the earliest possible start in engaging with gadgetry. This gives kids a dubious ‘advantage’ in a life lived through technology, but the concomitant lack of parental physical contact can have devastating consequences. Connections made or not made at this stage establish the neurology for all future communication and emotional systems of the child.
Health Impacts on Body & Mind
The physical fallout of our tech-addiction is no less disturbing. In many ways it’s a continuation of trends set in motion during the early days of television – sedentary lifestyles marked by overconsumption and lack of physical exercise. The resulting obesity combined with poor muscle and cardiovascular development leads to a declining ability to do physical work, and the less-recognised but equally-worrying decline of traditional manual skills and crafts. Degenerative problems normally associated with older people are increasingly showing up in the younger population. Macular degeneration, RSI and nerve compression problems, and the deleterious effects of bathing in blue light day and night, are now common. To say nothing of the carcinogenic hazards of the electromagnetic radiation now present almost everywhere.
The natural rhythms of our bodies, closely linked to those of our minds, can also be deeply disturbed by the toxins of tech-addiction, not least the aforementioned blue light. Sleep disruption and insomnia can result when our circadian rhythm is disturbed. The circadian rhythm is an internal time clock or pattern that influences processes in the body and mind in 24-hour cycles. Few of us rise with the Sun and sleep when it sets, as our ancients ancestors did, but excess exposure to artificial light late at night from screens of all types throws our body clocks out of whack, placing us at risk from debilitating disease.
The psychological and physical side-effects noted thus far can also combine with the ubiquity and abuse of pornography that the Internet promotes. Pornography, too, is nothing new but technology has made it available anywhere and everywhere (much of it became free as of 2008) just as it has become more explicit and extreme. What used to be called soft-core porn is now seen on billboard ads. Therapists are seeing all manner of sexual dysfunction right across populations, and it is in the very young where it is most pronounced. Many young heterosexual men in tech-societies are losing or simply never developing interest in pursuing the opposite sex. Both sexes are affected, but the decline of ‘traditional’ masculinity in young men is particularly pronounced. Waning interest in committed relationships and the responsibility that goes with them mirrors a general unwillingness to take responsibility for life in general. Just as so-called ‘herbivore men’ in Japan are indifferent and apathetic about sex, marriage, and family, growing numbers of young males elsewhere are embarking on lives of disengagement and disinterest that may profoundly reshape our collective future. From the sexualisation of ever younger children, to growing gender confusion, and the boom in ‘sexnology’ – smartphones as sex toys – the tech-matrix is mapping out some malefic new possibilities for our species.
One immediate physical hazard resulting from our love-affair with iDevices and e-gadgets is that of accidents, sometimes fatal, as people mesmerised by their mobiles and oblivious to the world around them stumble blindly into harm’s way, usually traffic. Such dazed carelessness is only compounded by the tendency to wear headphones, further cutting us off from the five-sense external environment. Distracted walking finds its evil twin in distracted driving, and an alarming proportion of convictions for death by dangerous driving involve some form of attention-sapping activity such as texting or adjusting a Sat Nav. Stories of people falling to their deaths from balconies or cliffs whilst texting or trying to take a selfie are also all-too-common.
Perhaps the most profound physical impact that the use and abuse of communications technology can have on our bodies is on our brains. Much has been written about mobile phones and brain tumours, but emerging discoveries in neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to change throughout a person’s life – give most cause for concern. ‘Neurons that fire together wire together’, so they say, thus bonds and connections in the brain strengthen and weaken with use. What and how we think, what we focus on, what we choose to ignore, how often and how intensely, all cause physical brain changes which are often measurable within just a few days. Degeneration and dysfunction of cognitive skills, therefore, become compounded over time. That the same applies to expansion and improvement means that we are free to raise our own consciousness should we so choose, but only if we know that we have that choice. Where humanity goes from here remains to be seen, but one thing is certain, the rewiring of our brains currently underway is already shaping our evolution.
What Happens when the Machine Stops?
This poses some fascinating yet troubling questions: What happens if the majority become subsumed into this mindless tech-matrix? If global decision making becomes ever more based on instant-gratification and short-term thinking? If this ineffectual, immature, and anti-intellectual posture becomes that of world leaders? Should those in control become little more than tyrants and thugs or egomaniacs wearing ignorance like a badge of honour, then we will finally have entered the dysgenic realms of Cyril M. Kornbluth’s The Marching Morons or Mike Judge’s Idiocracy.
There is one further question, however, which is rarely asked when discussing these matters. What happens if, as E.M. Forster wondered, The Machine Stops? What happens if the infrastructure supporting our global techno-industrial society simply goes away? It needn’t be the result of a doomsday scenario such as an asteroid strike or geomagnetic storm. Its cause could be much more mundane and – as the likes of John Michael Greer, James Howard Kunstler and Dmitry Orlov have been suggesting for years – it may already be underway. The techno-utopian view of the future assumes virtually unlimited capacity for the manufacture and consumption of technology, endless advances and improvements in said technology, and – crucially – unlimited energy to power it all. This is simply not going to happen. The question then becomes: how will we deal with the dawning realisation that the very foundations upon which our world is built are slowly falling apart? Watching people blow a fuse over poor network coverage may provide some clues.
Technology isn’t going away, but our dreams of merging with machines, transhumanist immortality, and sailing off to the stars are being revealed as what they really are – dreams. We are faced with a choice: integration versus interference. Endless unwanted updates to already overloaded operating systems, lacklustre product launches (iPhone X anyone?), moves from smartphones back to ‘dumb’ phones, and ‘delete Facebook’ are just a few warning signs of a system gradually unravelling. Can we then recognise our techno-industrial civilisation for what it is – just another phase in our development, another chapter in the human story – and in doing so, be prepared to turn the page? Or do we continue to blindly believe that in piling layer-upon-layer of complexity we can push ever-upward on the curve of consumption, convenience, and connectivity, ignoring hard limits and the lessons of history while thinking ‘this time it’s different’?
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Health Canada’s Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System (CTLS) User Guide is now available online.
Markham, Ontario’s 1CM have been issued their Cannabis Distributor Licence from the Manitoba cannabis regulator the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA). They join Open Fields Distribution, Maqabim Distributors Inc., Lineage Distribution, and 100 LBS in offering distribution services to the Manitoba cannabis retail market on behalf of MBLL.
Simply Solventless Concentrates Ltd. announced the appointment ofTairance Rutter from ANC to Vice President, Marketing & Product Development with SSC. SSC also provided Q4 2024 guidance, including record projected gross revenue, adjusted EBITDA and normalized net income, and the graduation from TSXV Tier 2 to TSXV Tier 1 status. The company also issued a correction of this press release.
Jesse Lavoie from Toba Grownposted an update on Instagram about the Manitoba government’s efforts to finally allow people to grow cannabis at home. Lavoie says there should be more info from the government in the coming weeks, and expects seeds to be available for purchase legally as early as next February.
Truro Police Service patrol officers in Nova Scotia conducted a traffic stop on Robie St. that resulted in a 32-year-old New Brunswick male being arrested for possession of cannabis for the purpose of distribution. A large amount of cannabis and a large sum of cash were seized in this investigation.
A Moncton business owner was fined $20,000 after admitting his business continued to illegally sell cannabis products even after being warned repeatedly not to by the province.
Police seized $16,000 in cash, illegal drugs, and 265 cannabis plants following a search of two Calgary residences.
Police charged a 17-year-old Lloydminster, Alberta youth after investigations into a break-and-enter at a south side cannabis store where about $15,000 worth of items was stolen. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at a home and took a male youth into custody, as well as recovering items taken during the break-and-enter.
Canopy Growth Corporation has named Luc Mongeau as the next CEO of Canopy Growth, effective January 6, 2025. Mongeau was previously CEO of ESolutions Furniture and President of Weston Foods.
A new research paper looks at Canadian cannabis researchers’ perspectives on the conduct and sponsorship of scientific research by the for-profit cannabis Industry, underscoring the issue of industry-academic relationships as a structural problem.
The US Farm Bill 2025, which has previously come under intense scrutiny from the country’s hemp industry, has been released by the Senate Agriculture Committee. The updated draft now redefines hemp to include “total THC” levels, incorporating all variants like delta-8, delta-10, delta-9 and THCA, and keeping to a 0.3% limit.
Denmark’s six-year medical cannabis pilot scheme could soon be expanded into a fully legalized market following a recent surprise announcement from the government, reports Business of Cannabis.
And finally, Australia’s ‘booming’ medicinal cannabis trade is on track this year to quadruple 2022 sales, reports The Guardian.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) continues to seize cannabis destined for foreign shores.
Recent press releases document more than 500 kilograms of illegal cannabis seized in the past few months, most destined for the UK.
In the first two fiscal quarters of the 2024-2025 year, the CBSA seized 9,474.804 kilograms of cannabis and 309.754 kilograms of hash. In the previous year, the agency reported seizing 23,553.038 kilograms of cannabis and 126.21 kilograms of hash. The amount of cannabis seized has increased each year since 2018.
In a post on Facebook on November 27, CBSA air cargo officers atVancouver International airport (YVR) seized 533 kilograms of cannabis in three separate shipments.
In a press release on November 25, CBSA agents found approximately 62 kilograms of concealed cannabis in an outbound baggage examination on October 23, destined for London, UK.
In a press release the following day on November 26, the CBSA announced three seizures totalling 425 kilograms of suspected cannabis recently intercepted at ports of entry in Nova Scotia.
On October 25th, a Canadian air passenger arrived at the Toronto Pearson International Airport with a scheduled departure flight to Germany. An outbound baggage examination by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) found approximately 45 kilograms of cannabis concealed inside her luggage.
The first seizure on October 22 at the Port of Halifax included 347 kilograms of cannabis and one package of suspected hashish weighing approximately 1 kilogram.
Then, on November 13, CBSA officers at Halifax Stanfield International Airport (HSIA) intercepted two large suitcases containing approximately 49 kilograms of suspected cannabis destined for London, United Kingdom.
The following day, CBSA officers at HSIA intercepted two suitcases containing approximately 30 kilograms of suspected cannabis destined for London, UK.
CBSA arrested one individual for smuggling out of Canada. The individual, Alexander James Mahar, was transferred into the custody of the Special Enforcement Section of the RCMP/Halifax Regional Police Integrated Criminal Investigation Division, along with all evidence.
Mahar was charged with exporting, possession for the purpose of selling, and possession for the purpose of distributing. He will next be in Dartmouth Provincial Court on January 28, 2025.
Such seizures have become more common in recent months. In a media release on November 19, the RCMP and CBSA say the Canada Border Services Agency found approximately 40 kilograms of cannabis concealed inside luggage destined for London on October 21. Police claim this was worth CAD$120,000.
Two Chinese nationals were recently jailed in the UK for importing cannabis from Canada as part of what authorities said was a “significant criminal enterprise.” The two students allegedly recruited other students to receive packages of cannabis at student housing in the city.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) found approximately 40 kilograms of cannabis concealed inside the luggage of a man scheduled to fly to London, UK, on October 21.
On October 29, 2024, CBSA officers intercepted a package containing 171.5 kg of dried cannabis being exported to Belgium at the Montréal Trudeau airport.
Cannabis retail chain Tokyo Smoke has completed its restructuring process and exited from Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) protection following final approval from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The company says the majority of its retail locations were unaffected by the restructuring, and there will be no disruption or change to its online business or its loyalty program. Initially, Tokyo Smoke said it planned to close “underperforming locations” while also beginning discussions with landlords to obtain consensual lease amendments for its remaining store locations.
At the time, the company listed 61 corporate stores, 29 franchise stores, and 11 vacant stores for a total of 101 in the monitor report, as well as 474 employees. Five of its corporate stores, comprising 37 employees, are unionized. Stores have been located in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
As of November 26, Tokyo Smoke successfully restructured and executed lease amending agreements for approximately 25 of the 101 stores originally operated as of its CCAA filing. The company was not able to reach consensual lease amendments for six underperforming stores and issued notice of disclaimers of the retail store leases. The company expects the restructured business will include approximately 57 go-forward store locations.
Approximately 107 store-level and eight corporate employees were let go due to these closures, leaving approximately 328 employees across the retail stores and head office as of November 26.
A principal element of the company’s restructuring plan was to seek consensual lease amendments for stores, which it expected to remain part of the business going forward.
One of the main goals of those rent negotiations was to achieve rent reductions that would allow remaining locations to be cash flow positive, to obtain acceptable length of lease terms, or to close store locations that do not achieve the desired level of profitability.
Leadership at Tokyo Smoke had said the “significant overhead costs” required to manage its approximately 100 retail locations resulted in material and recurring losses, helping to drive the company’s financial challenges.
The stalking horse transaction included a purchase price of approximately $77 million.
In a press release on August 29, the company says it is now emerging from this process stronger and “better positioned to continue providing premium products and service to its customers over the long-term—while continuing to provide jobs to hundreds of dedicated employees across Canada.”
Entourage Health Corp. reported a net loss and comprehensive loss of nearly $8.4 million from $13.6 million in revenue and $9.5 million in net revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2024 (Q3 2024).
Revenue was up from the previous quarter (Q2 2024) and the same quarter in the previous year (Q3 2023), which the company says is primarily due to an increase in bulk B2B sales.
The company sold nearly twice as much cannabis at twice the price compared to the same quarter last year. Kilograms equivalent sold rose by 59% to 6,246 kilograms compared to Q3 2023, while the weighted average cost per gram of inventory on hand increased by 93% from $0.58 to $1.12.
Net loss and comprehensive loss were also down from the previous year Q3 2023, and the previous quarter, which the company attributes in part to a recent increase in its adult use sales with the introduction of new products and operational enhancements.
Of the $9.5 million in net revenue, $3 million were medical sales, $5.5 million were adult-use sales, and about $1.1 million were bulk sales. Medical sales were down year-over-year by 7%, and adult-use sales declined by just 1%. There were no recorded bulk sales in the same quarter in the previous year.
The company says the decrease in medical sales is due to lower patient renewal rates and reduced basket sizes, which it says is consistent with seasonality experienced in previous years.
The average selling price per gram for medical sales was $2.85 in the most recent quarter, $1.91 for adult use sales and $0.46 in bulk sales. The average selling price for medical use was up 5% and down 5% for adult use year-over-year. The average selling price (net of excise taxes) per gram declined from $2.23 in Q3 2023 to $1.53 in Q3 2024.
The company attributes the overall decline in the selling price for adult-use cannabis to the higher proportion of sales in its value-focused Dime Bag brand.
“Our increase in net revenue for Q3 reflects the success of our strategic shift into different markets, allowing us to diversify and tap into new opportunities,” said Vaani Maharaj, CFO of Entourage. “While the adult-use and medical segments faced shifts in market dynamics, initiatives like the launch of our Dime Bag value brand are helping us address evolving consumer needs and expand into new segments. These efforts demonstrate our adaptability and commitment to growth in a competitive industry.”
The company’s selling, general and administrative expenses, including salaries and benefits, dropped by 32% year-over-year.
The company sells under the brands Color Cannabis, Saturday Cannabis, and Dime Bag, and under Starseed Medicinal in the medical cannabis stream. It also sells products under its health and wellness brand Syndicate Cannabis.
As of September 30, 2024, Entourage held adult-use distribution agreements in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. The company sells dried cannabis flower, pre-rolls, vapes, cannabis oils, topicals, edibles, and a “micro inhaler”.
Entourage is now producing over two million cannabis pre-rolls per month.
The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) has made amendments to its Retail Cannabis Store Handbook and the Cannabis Representative Handbook Cannabis.
In a November 28 bulletin, the provincial cannabis regulator noted several updates to the two relevant handbooks to cannabis retailers and registered cannabis representatives. AGLC is responsible for overseeing relationships among cannabis suppliers, cannabis representatives and cannabis licensees.
One change allows cannabis retailers to now use their secure cannabis rooms for more than just the storage of cannabis, and another allows cannabis stores to now sell lighter fluid refills. The policy that previously didn’t allow the off-site sales of non-cannabis items has also been removed.
The rest of the changes are related to advertising and promotion, primarily to create more clarity of existing policies.
For example, cannabis suppliers, cannabis representatives and licensees are now specifically responsible for ensuring their advertising, including any advertising conducted jointly or by a third party, complies with all legislation and these policies.
Other changes/clarifications include:
Advertising may not include content that displays or identifies a cannabis product or accessory.
The definition of “Product Promotion” now includes activities not only within licensed premises.
Clarification on how cannabis representatives and retail cannabis store licensees are permitted to promote cannabis products.
Promotion outside of places where persons under the age of 18 are prohibited from entering by law must: a) be directly communicated (i.e. mail-outs, email, etc.) to an individual, by name, who has been confirmed to be 18 years of age or older; or b) include reasonable steps in online promotion to ensure that persons under the age of 18 cannot access the promotion (i.e., age verification)
Free cannabis or cannabis accessories are now prohibited in the promotion of cannabis products and accessories (this does not apply to sampling to retailers).
The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) is adding vaping products to its product offering, but consumers will have to wait a year or so to buy them.
In an information note to all suppliers posted on November 28, the provincial cannabis wholesaler and retailer says it has decided to finally allow the sale of vape products in order to provide a lower-risk alternative to Québec customers compared to unregulated vape products that are easily purchased across the country.
The SQDC company will hold an online meeting on December 10 to explain to suppliers its requirements for batteries and cartridges. To ensure products comply with regulations and that the new process goes smoothly, the SQDC says it is giving itself approximately one year before beginning to sell these products.
“In a year or so, Québec consumers will have access to quality regulated products, will know exactly what they are inhaling and will be guided by knowledgeable trained advisors,” reads the bulletin, in part [translated].
The new category will be introduced gradually, with an initial rollout of around 20 products.
The SQDC will hold two separate product calls, one for batteries and the other for cannabis vape cartridges. The first online meeting on December 10, 2024, will also be the opening date of the battery product call, with an end date of January 31, 2025.
The SQDC will then open up a product call for cannabis vape carts on March 31, 2025, which will end on April 25, 2025.
The planned start of sales will be fall 2025.
Despite a provincial ban, a quarter of cannabis-using Quebecers report using cannabis vapes, according to a survey from the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) in early 2024. Twenty-five percent of Quebecers who reported consuming cannabis in the past year said they have vaped it.
Quebec banned cannabis vape pens in 2019. Since there is no legal source for cannabis vapes in Quebec, residents told ISQ that they sourced their vapes from family and friends, from legal sources in other provinces, from illicit suppliers, and/or online. Newfoundland and Labrador had also previously banned the sale of cannabis vapes but began allowing them in 2022.
The survey results come from the 2023 Quebec Cannabis Survey (EQC), collected between February and July 2023 from 13,209 people. The first results from the survey were released in October 2023.
Most Quebecers who consume cannabis do so by smoking it (81%), while 31% reported using edibles and 23% consuming oral cannabis drops such as cannabis oils. These oils have the same active ingredient as in cannabis edibles.
About three-quarters (71%) of Quebecers over the age of 15 who consumed cannabis in the last year reported getting at least some of their cannabis from legal stores in Quebec (SQDC).
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