Two Canadian Pot Stocks to Watch as the We Move Into the Second Half of July

A group of Canadian police chiefs is calling on the federal government to decriminalize the possession of all drugs for personal use in a committee report issued this month. The report from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) also recommends that an integrated approach to drug addiction be established to address the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis. Canada legalized the use of cannabis by adults and established a regulatory framework for recreational marijuana commerce in 2018.

The Canadian cannabis industry has forged a number of partnerships with celebrities, including Snoop Dogg and LBS (formerly Leafs By Snoop); Seth Rogen and Houseplant; and Trailer Park Boys and Trailer Park Buds. But Trailer Park Buds didn’t last long. Organigram, the licensed producer behind the brand, recently announced that it would cease development of products bearing that trademark following a review with Health Canada — leading many in the industry to wonder what line that particular brand crossed.

The chief executive officer of independent cannabis retailer Fire and Flower Holdings said this week Canada needs 4,000 pot shops in order to compete with the country’s still-thriving

Just because there’s a global pandemic, doesn’t mean cannabis is going to stop growing — in fact, it could be we need weed more than ever before.

Despite the new normal, Canada’s cannabis growers are still getting their work done. The GrowthOp spoke to three head growers across the country about how COVID-19 has affected their work, the secrets to a good crop and what consumers have to look forward to in the coming months on store shelves.  

Although the pandemic has

Canada needs to open as many as 4,000 cannabis stores, more than triple the current number of licensed outlets, if policymakers want to eliminate the illicit market, according to the head of one of the largest marijuana retailers in the country. 

Trevor Fencott, chief executive officer of Fire and Flower Holdings Corp., said that Canada would need to mirror what other legal markets such as Colorado have done to compete directly with the illicit market, where one cannabis store would be open for every 10,000 people served. That would result in Canada needing to open about 3,500 to 4,000 cannabis stores.

Celebrity affiliations with marijuana products have come under scrutiny from Health Canada as the regulator recently warned Organigram about concerns it had with the company’s Trailer Park Buds cannabis brand. 

According to Marijuana Business Daily, Health Canada contacted Organigram regarding the brand which features packaging and label designs based off those of the popular TV show Trailer Park Boys. 

Organigram decided to change the line’s branding and logo after reviewing the issue with Health Canada.

A planting machine crawled along the 100-acre Good Farm in Brant County, Ont. on a sunny June day, dropping seeds into the soil in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Behind the wheel was an employee of 48North Cannabis Corp. one wouldn't usually expect: chief executive Charles Vennat.

"I joked with my team that I was the most expensive farmhand in southwestern Ontario," said Vennat, who professes to keeping a pair of hiking boots in his car trunk for such impromptu jaunts.

"I've always had the leadership philosophy that you should never ask anybody to do a job in your company that you would not want to do yourself."

Canadians are clearly in love with cannabis, but not all provinces were created equal when it comes to permitting pot. While the historic Cannabis Act applies to all provinces, the rules around distribution and consumption fall to the provinces — and municipalities have some say on it, too.

That’s why for Canada Day, The GrowthOp takes a look at the growing industry from coast-to-coast — crunching the data on price, consumption habits, number of stores, public consumption options and the ability to grow at home — to find out which provinces are rolling out the red carpet for weed and which are still warming up to the country’s second favourite leaf.

Here are our findings.