New markets are boundless with potential, and while this is certainly true of the emergent cannabis markets in Canada and across many U.S. states, cannabusinesses are limited in how they can advertise their cannabrands and products.
Industry News
The story of hemp and its prohibition is one of guilt by association… with marijuana. Though they are two distinct plants, they are the both part of the cannabis sativa species and as a result, hemp, despite its countless uses and applications, was prohibited, which stunted the economic potential and value of the plant.
On April 13, 2017, the Cannabis Act, Bill C-45, was introduced in Canada. Ontario took the lead on province-wide consultations and six months later on October 17, 2018, the act came into effect, legalizing and regulating cannabis use for adults in Canada for recreational purposes and opening up a new and exciting market to watch.
As Canada begins the process of adapting to the nationwide legalization of cannabis, workplace impairment and drug testing have become central to the conversation. While the Cannabis Act strictly governs who can acquire cannabis and in what quantities, how it can be produced, how it can be advertised, and much more, workplace use falls under the purview of existing legislation, and some of the relevant law remains unsettled on what is and what is not permitted.
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.
According to a report by Arcview Market Research, in partnership with BDS Analytics, legal cannabis sales totaled $9.2 billion in North America in 2017, a market that is anticipated to reach $24.5 billion in sales by 2021, as perceptions shift and policies are reformed.
Although it has only been a few months since recreational cannabis became legal in Canada, plans for its legalization and regulation go back to the federal election of 2015, with a Liberal Party of Canada campaign pledge to “remove marijuana consumption and incidental possession from the Criminal Code, and create new, stronger laws to punish more severely those who provide it to minors.” Other commitments were to crack down on those who would continue to sell it outside of legal, regulated, and taxed means and anyone operating a motor vehicle while under the influence.
Industrial hemp is a cannabis plant variety with very low concentrations of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that is grown specifically for industrial purposes. It grows quite quickly and has a wide range of applications, as many useful products can be derived from it. Hemp can be processed into pulp for making paper, spun into fibres for creating textiles, made into food, fuel, plastics, and much more.
2018
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Industry News
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Medical
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October 2018
The battle over recreational marijuana continues to make headlines across Canada and the United States, where Colorado became the first state to legalize marijuana for adults twenty-one and over in 2012; since then, nine other states have followed suit. Every day, there are countless stories and opinion pieces in newspapers about the financial benefits of investing in marijuana, followed by articles about raids on illegal dispensaries. In anticipation of legalization, however, one story has been pushed to the back pages: the ongoing use of medical marijuana.
Lawmakers in both in the United States and Canada have had a complicated relationship with marijuana for over a hundred years, ever since it was first entered into the United States Pharmacopeia in 1850. Nowadays, most U.S. states allow the use of medical marijuana, and a few have approved recreational use of the drug as well. In Canada, as of October 17th, recreational marijuana use will be permitted nationwide.