The Cannabis Council of Canada is the national trade association for licensed producers under Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act. It represents the vast majority of cultivators approved by Health Canada to grow and process cannabis in this country. Its mission is to advocate for key common positions to make the industry more viable while helping its members generate strong employment opportunities for Canadians.
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The council is currently the best representation of unity among licensed producers in the cannabis industry in Canada. Before its formation, there were multiple stakeholder voices in the legal cannabis cultivation space. “Outside of the central associations, there were large-scale independent companies that were not affiliated with any of the common forums, and we recognized, last December, that we needed to get everyone under one umbrella to create one common voice from our industry to policymakers, to community, and to the media, and that was the birth of the council,” says Cannabis Council of Canada Executive Director Allan Rewak.

The Cannabis Canada Association (CCA), the Canadian Medical Cannabis Council (CMCC), and Canopy Growth Corporation joined to establish a single, standalone, nonprofit national trade association for the cannabis sector.

The council provides vitally important services to navigate its members through a heavily-regulated environment, and it has educational and networking resources to assist in dealing with governing and legal obligations. The organization connects cannabis companies to provide support that will help them reach full business potential.

The federal legality in Canada allows the industry to operate without fear of reprisal. Within that, every province can choose what form of retail will be legal, and those channels are developing with variation between each jurisdiction. Most provinces have implemented a hybrid of private and public distribution, but some have chosen one or the other. Quebec and New Brunswick are successfully employing fully-public retail models from distribution to retail sales, while Saskatchewan and Alberta are using fully-private retail models. Ontario has not yet established any physical stores, whereas Newfoundland already has thirty.

It is important to remember that this is still the very beginning of the legal recreational cannabis market, and the retail system will change with time. “October seventeenth didn’t mark the end of this process; it marked the beginning, and it will take years until that full retail supply chain is completely and totally built-out,” says Allan.

Canada may be the shining light in the cannabis industry that the rest of the world will eventually follow and, in hindsight, wonder why this process did not begin sooner than it did. Prior to October 17, 2018, one in six Canadians were consuming cannabis on a fairly regular basis in one way or another, and over fifty percent had tried cannabis at least once. This is a large number of people who were consuming it despite ninety-five years of it being illegal.

Furthermore, although the industry had not been completely controlled by organized crime, there have been serious criminal elements in aspects of the supply chain, and lack of regulatory oversight meant that children were able to access it much more readily than alcohol. Legalization has finally brought cannabis out of the shadows and regulated it after almost a century of failed prohibition.

Adapting to the entirely new regulatory environment created by Bill C-35 has not been without its challenges. “The application of excise tax with stamps and getting the production lines up and running smoothly have been Herculean challenges, but we’re continuing to overcome them, and what we need now is a little bit more flexibility on packaging, because we already are seeing complaints from consumers,” explains Allan.

Consumers have an aversion to waste and have complained about the unnecessary size of the packaging, but unfortunately, distributors are not able to solve that issue as a result of having to use federally-mandated packaging with specific features such as warning labels. As a part of its environmental commitment, the council is working to increase the flexibility of packaging and minimize the waste associated with legal cannabis.

Canada is about to undertake the biggest wave of innovation that the cannabis industry has ever seen, legally or illegally, with the introduction of edibles and concentrates. These products go far beyond the classic weed brownie or cookie and could include new products such as cannabis-infused beverages. As new concepts are developed and brought to market, this may fundamentally change the way cannabis is consumed and where it is consumed.

“I can’t even predict, at this point, the amount of creativity and innovation that we’ll see in the coming weeks, months, and years following that regulatory chain as we develop and test these new products,” says Allan.

It is exceptionally difficult to over-consume cannabis through smoking since it is abundantly clear how much is being used, but the consumption of edibles and concentrates can be riskier. It is important to have a degree of brand presence and communication with consumers to ensure that they can use products safely and responsibly, which will be particularly crucial in October of 2019 as edibles and concentrates become legal.

There were some concerns about the impact it would have on society, yet the aftereffects of legalization in Canada have not resulted in an associated spike in criminal behaviour or intoxication. It has not really affected Canada apart from increasing its wealth and making the country safer. Legal cannabis is not being consumed by people who are brand new to the substance; it is being used by people who are migrating from the illegal market to the legal one.

“The people who were consuming cannabis before the seventeenth are the same who are consuming it now. The only difference is that two-thirds are buying it from a legal, taxable, and regulated source that gives back to our communities and doesn’t cross-subsidize other criminal activities that harm our communities,” says Allan.

A survey found that two-thirds of cannabis users have already transitioned to purchasing products from the legal market. The results were both surprising and validating. “We thought it would take a longer period of time to migrate that illicit market, so that shows us Canadians want legal cannabis. They want to be a part of this, and they want to support it, and that’s a thrilling thing to see,” says Allan.

Some regular cannabis users have continued to use the illegal market as a backup while the supply chain sorts out its initial difficulties. Once cannabis is readily available with fully-stocked shelves providing numerous options similar to shopping for alcohol, the economy will completely shift, and the illegal market will diminish. It is anticipated that the skilled cultivators who choose to grow their own product, now that it is legal to have up to four plants per residence, will be relatively few and will not significantly affect the market.

The immediate next step for the council is to embark on dialogue related to the regulatory regime for edibles and concentrates. There are also elements of the tax system that it hopes to amend in partnership with the federal government to ensure the cannabis industry is prepared for the new venture. For example, there are issues related to the import excise tax on cannabis for oil production because it is calculated using weight, which becomes cost prohibitive from a producer perspective when using large volumes and may create supply challenges. The council hopes to solve this problem before it arises in October.

The Cannabis Council of Canada is excited about the upcoming launch of a public awareness campaign designed to showcase the sustainable economic growth that legal cannabis has brought to the country. Legalization is not simply about a plant; it is about improving the quality of life in local communities by creating opportunity and providing a safer environment, which is a topic the council greatly enjoys discussing.

“Legal cannabis is making Canada better,” says Allan. “It is making it better economically, socially, and it is something that the world will follow. I encourage every other country and all communities to look at the Canadian example and work with us as we expand our footprint globally to better regulate cannabis in the right way while creating great opportunity and jobs for our citizens.”