A Metro Vancouver cannabis producer has launched a virtual tour of its growing facility in the hopes of increasing transparency and easing some of the social tensions around legalization, according to the company’s chief executive officer.

Dan Sutton, CEO of Tantalus Labs in Maple Ridge, said opening Tantalus’ SunLab facility to the public eye was meant as a gesture of good faith, intended to assuage the fear of the unknown which may inhabit some corners of the Canadian psyche as Oct. 17 draws closer. “It's like extending an open door to your neighbour,” Sutton said in an interview, adding his hope was to demonstrate to people unfamiliar with cannabis that it’s production is like any other form of agriculture.

“By showing people this isn't something scary, this isn't something secret, this isn't something that needs to exist underground, you can come in, you can look around, you can see what kind of an environment your plants are growing in, it really takes cannabis to almost a farm-to-table kind of place,” he said. “And that, I think, is a beautiful opportunity in legalization.”

Tantalus’ virtual tour uses Google Street View to take the viewer through the 120,000 square foot SunLab greenhouse and around the production facility, with 360 degree visibility. Cannabis plants — from small, early-growth vegetative-stage plants to shoulder-high shrubs, fully flowering with thick green buds — can be seen in high resolution.

Sutton said there were, initially, concerns amongst Tantalus board members that the virtual tour could make the company’s intellectual property vulnerable to theft. But ultimately, he said, the decision was made that if other producers see what Tantalus is doing and wish to emulate their technique, such emulation could only be good for the relationship the company hopes to build with its customers.

Trust is at the core of any lasting consumer-producer relationship, Sutton added.

“If we don't extend that trust to our audience first, then how are they ever going to trust us?” he asked.

The Canadian legal cannabis industry could bring in more than $7 billion dollars in its first year, according to one report. And in July, the B.C. Liquor Distribution Board announced the Health Canada-approved cannabis growers with whom it will partner to provide the province’s recreational weed.

But few members of the general public have yet to actually tour a grow facility, Sutton said, meaning much of the progress that’s been made toward getting product onto shelves and into the reach of Canadians has been made in the dark.

Canada’s licensed cannabis producers “have this privilege of being a leading voice and taking this story out of the shadows,” Sutton said.

“It doesn't need to exist in the shadows anymore.”