Canadian weed companies have their eye on a massive prize: the lucrative medical and adult cannabis markets that are emerging around the world. Much of the hype around corporate cannabis is linked to the acquisition of lands and smaller growing operations internationally. The selling point is that cannabis can be grown overseas and exported to meet demand in Canada (and eventually the US), but also that Canadian companies position themselves as suppliers in emerging local markets. Lobbying to impact national legislation, supporting criminalization of traditional producers, and moving into remote territories with plans to implement plantation style economies are just some of the critiqued practices of Canada’s emerging cannabis sector.

If Canada’s licensed cannabis producers continue ramping up production at their current exponential pace, there will be more than enough pot to meet the government’s projected demand by the end of 2019, predicts one cannabis researcher who conducted an analysis of the government’s most recent data. While some have suggested shortages in the sector could last for years, Brock University professor Michael Armstrong argues that barring any unforeseen circumstances that supply concerns will be resolved much more quickly than that. Total legal production of cannabis began drastically increasing about six months before legalization, Armstrong notes, as evidenced by how quickly cannabis inventories were growing.

A recent study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction, found that a trio of policies adopted to combat the opioid overdose epidemic saved, combined, an estimated 3,030 lives in the Canadian province of British Columbia alone, between April 2016 and December 2017. The findings are a ringing endorsement of the policies adopted by the government of the province hit hardest by the epidemic: promoting access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanding access to supervised consumption or injection sites, and providing access to treatment known as opioid agonist therapy.

Canada became the second country to make it legal for adults to buy, grow and consume small amounts of marijuana. But it also made it a crime to give it to anyone younger than 19 or 18, depending on the province, and set a penalty of up to 14 years in prison for doing so. At the same time, the government began an $83 million public education campaign, much of it targeting Canadian youths, that warns of pot’s dangers. But persuading teenagers not to see legalization as a green light to use marijuana will be difficult, experts say, not to mention that past antidrug efforts have offered little evidence of success. And when it comes to marijuana and the teenage brain, the science is far from clear.

The drug crisis has claimed thousands of lives in Canada, with no communities spared. Now, many are banding together to speak up and find solutions. This is a glimpse at the efforts of everyone from doctors to health groups to the people whose lives have been upended by overdoses and addiction. The Liberals have repeatedly rejected calls to decriminalize possession of hard drugs. The party has said it will proceed on the issue of “safe supply” – that is, helping provide a regulated, quality-controlled source of drugs. The NDP and the Greens both support decriminalization.

Due to the increase in opioid overdoses, British Columbia declared a public health emergency in 2016. Fentanyl was in town, contributing to thousands of deaths. The nationwide overdose crisis killed about 11 Canadians a day between January 2016 and September 2019. An innovation pioneered by Dr. Mark Tyndall – helpful for any community impacted by drug-related problems, but more relevant amid COVID-19 social distancing – represents an step forward. Tyndall saw the need to provide a safe supply of drugs to people, removing the possibility of adulteration, in a way that supported drug-user autonomy. His idea was to make the opioid hydromorphone (Dilaudid) available through “vending machines” in a project called MySafe. (See also: MySafe: When technology and drug policy meet)

Before the new law came into force in October 2018, Statistics Canada started to estimate prices and the size of the illicit market, and to carry out quarterly surveys of Canadians’ cannabis usage. Earlier this month it released the fifth of these—the first before-and-after comparison of the same part of a year. The main finding was a rise in the number of Canadians who had used cannabis in the three months before the survey, of 27% compared with a year earlier. People are probably more willing to admit to getting lit once weed has been legalised. However, half of new cannabis users are aged over 45; use by under-25s, by contrast, did not rise significantly. Nor was there a significant increase in the number of Canadians who said they used daily or near-daily.

Business failures and consolidation failed to stop Canada’s stockpile of unsold cannabis from reaching a new high in the final quarter of 2022, the latest sign that shrinking prices and margins could continue to squeeze companies. Packaged and unpackaged inventory of dried cannabis jumped to an all-time high of 1.47 billion grams (3.2 million pounds) as of December 2022, according to the latest data from Health Canada, which tracks overall unsold stockpiles of licensed producers, wholesalers and retailers. That’s an increase from 1.3 billion grams in December 2021. Last year, Aurora Cannabis closed its flagship Aurora Sky facility in Edmonton, Alberta – one of the biggest in Canada.

An industry group representing Canada’s biggest cannabis companies is appealing to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help address some of the industry’s most persistent challenges. In a letter sent to the prime minister the Cannabis Council of Canada highlighted a number of areas in need of improvement, including a tax on medical cannabis and banking issues that are stymieing legal businesses. The Council asked the incoming ministers of public safety, finance, border security and organized crime reduction to discourage the proliferation of illegal online cannabis dispensaries. “We recommend that the government prioritize the closure and removal of both illegal brick and mortar stores, and actively seek out and shut down illegal online cannabis dispensaries,” the letter reads.

Cannabis producers in Canada have sold less than 20% of their production since the country launched adult-use sales in October 2018, according to an MJBizDaily analysis.The newest data – which runs through 2020 – implies that most of the cannabis produced from 2018 through last year was either stored in inventory or destroyed, and less than one-fifth ended up in retail stores. That disconnect likely helps explain how the largest Canadian cannabis producers, which account for most of the industry’s production, together have lostmore than 11 billion Canadian dollars ($8.8 billion) cumulatively. Some industry experts blame poor-quality cannabis for the sales shortfall.

Cannabis entrepreneurs in Canada are increasingly turning to smaller micro-cultivation facilities to manage costs and produce higher-quality marijuana at a time when the industry is facing a glut of “standard” product and falling prices. That shift ultimately could help shrink some of the Canadian cannabis industry’s current supply glut, given that micro-class licensees operate smaller cultivation facilities. At the end of 2022, Canada’s total indoor growing area was 28% lower than the all-time high reached in 2020. Consumers appear to be weighing price sensitivity with a desire for the highest-quality products they can afford at a particular price point.

Canada’s decision to legalise cannabis has not resulted in removing organised crime from the chain. Police Academy lecturer Pieter Tops, who visited Canada as part of a police delegation last month, told current affairs show Nieuwsuur that it remains easy for criminals to get hold of legally-grown marijuana. ‘The most important conclusion we can draw is that it is a mistake to think you can reduce the illegal cannabis world by legalisation,’ Tops said. The Canadian system, he said, has a number of weak points although it looks good on paper. The Netherlands plans to begin trials with regulated marijuana production although the draft legislation still has to be approved by the lower house of parliament. (See also: Cannabis legalization has no immediate impact on crime stats: Dutch police)

Canadian cannabis wholesale prices tumbled more than 40% last year as companies continued to work through stubborn supply gluts and struggling cultivators chose to sell off their unsold marijuana instead of destroying it. Looking at the latter part of 2023, some industry experts see the oversupply of wholesale cannabis easing somewhat as more licensed producers leave the market and the remaining cultivators adjust growing volumes to match demand. “Oversupply and excess capacity have resulted in high-quality flower being widely available and sold well below the marginal cost of production,” Zach George, the CEO of cannabis producer SNDL, said in a news release this week.

Le ministre de la Santé, Étienne Schneider, est décidé à soumettre courant janvier au Conseil de gouvernement un projet de loi pour légaliser le cannabis récréatif. La date reste toutefois à confirmer. «Il n’est pas exclu que mon successeur héritera de cette tâche», indique le ministre en partance. De retour de leur visite d’études au Canada, les ministres Schneider et Félix Braz (Justice) s’étaient montrés confiants à la mi-mai de pouvoir finaliser un concept pour la légalisation du cannabis récréatif. «On a identifié de nombreuses implications, notamment en ce qui concerne les relations avec nos pays voisins», indiquait Étienne Schneider. Autre obstacle majeur : trouver une tournure juridique pour contourner les conventions internationales de l’ONU, qui interdisent la légalisation du cannabis récréatif.

The half-million Canadians with criminal records for cannabis possession received some encouraging news. Four Liberal cabinet ministers held a news conference to announce that the government is bringing in legislation to expedite pardons for those who were busted with amounts of 30 grams or less. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters that the intention is to remove the stigma of criminal records for simple possession, which will make it easier for people to find housing, employment, and volunteer in their community. (See also: Pardons for past cannabis crimes have major limitations, and there's no simple fix | NDP introduce a private member's bill calling for cannabis amnesty)

The cannabis bankruptcy filings are starting to roll in. Already plagued by a tough regulatory environment, disappointing sales and capital markets that had closed to all but the strongest companies, the industry is now facing a pandemic-related collapse in stock markets and ever-shrinking financing options. Pot companies completed two capital raises worth just US$5.6 million the week ended March 27, according to data from Viridian Capital Advisors. That’s the lowest level of activity this year and compares to 17 capital raises worth $169 million for the same period in 2019. (See also: Global stock meltdown is a disaster for cannabis industry already on the brink | 'Extinction-level event' looms for some cannabis companies as cash dwindles)

Cannabis companies have spent the early days of the legal recreational cannabis era building massive growing facilities, but the chief executive of 48North Cannabis Corp. has been focusing on a plot of land in Brantford, Ont. That’s where her company hopes to launch one of the country’s first major outdoor cannabis operations, a 100-acre site that will, at capacity, be able to yield 40,000 kilograms of cannabis flower. Gordon is banking on getting approval from Health Canada to begin outdoor growing in time for the spring planting season, five months before the legalization of cannabis edibles, expected in October. "Cannabis is meant to be grown outdoors. It went indoors because of Prohibition." (See also: To apply for a licence to grow cannabis in Canada, you now have to have a fully built site ready to go)

The cannabis industry’s moral challenge is to ensure the groups who have suffered the most under the drug war can participate in the green rush and enjoy the spoils of legalization. Marijuana insiders often refer to the “cannabis space” – a term broad enough to include a social justice movement and unapologetic capitalism – and recognize no contradiction between them. For growers who operated in California’s gray and illegal markets and now want to transition into the legal market, the economics can be brutal. In the illegal market, an Emerald Triangle farmer might have sold a pound for $3,000 tax-free. Now the price is more like $600, before taxes and compliance related costs. (See also: High stakes: cannabis capitalists seek funds to drive drug trade)

Some of the biggest cannabis players when legalization took effect 20 months ago have successfully held on to their dominant positions, despite a year of bankruptcies, downsizings, revoked licences, executive firings, mass layoffs and a long market selloff. Licensed producers such as Aphria Inc. and Aurora Cannabis Inc., have increased their market share during the past few quarters due partly to strong sales of dried flower and cannabis 2.0 products such as edibles and vape pens, while Canopy Growth Corp.’s share has substantially eroded from its peak 18 months ago. Just a handful of companies or so hold more than 95 per cent of the legal Canadian market, according to company filings, interviews with cannabis analysts and data from cannabis intelligence firm Headset.