Skip to main content
around the industry

Cannabis Professional’s daily roundup of industry news. View archive here.

The United States is taking a closer look at the state of the Canadian hemp industry, Thailand is taking another step towards establishing a legal medical cannabis market, the Green Organic Dutchman is expanding cultivation in Hamilton and Wayland is confirming more delays for its latest financial results.

– Jameson Berkow

U.S. publishes report on Canadian hemp

Just before the long weekend, the United States Department of Agriculture published a six-page report on the current state of the hemp market in Canada.

Among the report’s key conclusions was just how important Canadian hemp production is to the U.S. Last year, more than 70 per cent of Canada’s 5,400 metric tons of hempseed output was shipped southward. Most of the report, however, was focused on clarifying what American importers cannot use important hemp for, such as feed for livestock.

“Currently, the sale of natural health products (NHPs) containing any cannabinoid (including CBD) in Canada is prohibited,” the report said. “The Canadian hemp (CHTA) and natural products (CNPA and CHFA) industries continue to advocate for a different regulatory regime for CBD-containing products.”

In addition to hemp growers, the country’s major foodmakers have also been lobbying the federal government to reclassify CBD, one of many psychoactive cannabinoids in the cannabis plant that does not produce intoxicating effects. Currently, any CBD-based products in Canada are regulated under the Cannabis Act, meaning they can only be sold via licenced cannabis retail outlets.

Health Canada launched consultations in June to investigate the possibility of allowing cannabis-based natural health products to be regulated more similarly to vitamins and supplements, meaning they could be sold from a much wider variety of stores and even to minors without a doctors note.

- Jameson Berkow

Thailand drops cannabis extracts from narcotics list; firms eye investments

Thailand has removed cannabis and hemp extracts from its narcotics list, officials said on Monday, the latest effort to promote the development of marijuana products for medical purposes.

Thailand, which has a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalized marijuana for medical use and research last year to help boost agricultural income.

“The intention is to allow extracts to be used in medicine, cosmetics and food and support hemp as a cash crop,” Tares Krassanairawiwong, Secretary-General of the Thai Food and Drug Administration, told reporters, adding that hemp seed and oil would also be exempt.

So far, only hospitals and research facilities are allowed to apply for licenses to develop medical extracts from cannabis, but businesses see an opportunity.

Ishaan Shah, from the billionaire Shah family, founded the Ganja Group in Bangkok and plans to supply medical cannabis to the family’s GP Group’s pharmaceutical arm, Megalife Sciences Pcl.

Thailand’s cannabis market is expected to reach US$660-million by 2024, according to analysis firm Prohibition Partners.

Extracts from cannabis and hemp plants such as pure CBD, CBD-based products and products with THC content of less than 0.2 per cent, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, were removed from the narcotics Category 5 schedule, the regulator said.

Cannabis production, cultivation and sale is limited to licensed Thai producers for five years to protect the domestic industry, Tares said, adding that it was reviewing regulations that would allow businesses to apply for permits.

Some 334 permits have been issued so far, mainly to hospitals and health agencies, according to the FDA website.

Thailand delivered its first patch of 10,000 bottles of cannabis oil extract to patients last month.

- Reuters

Health Canada approves TGOD expansion in Hamilton

The Green Organic Dutchman has been authorized to begin cannabis cultivation in the third phase of its Hamilton, Ontario facility, the company announced on Tuesday.

Health Canada has approved the 166,000 square-foot purpose-built hybrid greenhouse, TGOD said, which has an annual production capacity of 17,500 kilograms. The company said the facility is in the process of obtaining eGMP certification to allow for exports to European countries with legal cannabis regimes.

Hamilton is currently TGOD’s only asset licenced to produce recreational cannabis, though the company is also building a large growing facility in Quebec, just outside of Montreal. At more than 1.3-million square feet, the Quebec facility will be nearly ten times the size of the operation in Ontario.

The company has spent more than $100-million building out its Hamilton-area facilities since the start of 2019, TGOD said in a recent regulatory filing.

Last month, TGOD reported a net loss for its second quarter as well as its intention to list on the Nasdaq exchange in the United States. The company’s Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)-listed shares have lost more than half of their value over the past 12 months, falling from roughly $7 a piece in September 2018 to less than $3.38 as of Friday’s closing bell.

- Jameson Berkow

Wayland confirms another delay of financial results

Beleaguered licensed cannabis producer Wayland Group will not file its latest financial statements on time, the company said over the long weekend.

The company has yet to file statements for its 2018 fiscal year or the first half of fiscal 2019. As Cannabis Professional reported last month, Wayland recently lost its CEO, its external auditor and agreed to sell its Canadian assets to a cryptocurrency company. It’s Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE)-listed shares have been subject to a cease-trade order since early May.

“Wayland and its [new] auditors, NVS Chartered Accountants, continue to work diligently to complete the audit of Wayland’s 2018 annual financial statements as quickly as possible,” the company said in its latest update, dated Aug 31.

“Wayland intends to file the Company’s 2018 audited annual financial statements together with the Company’s first and second quarter interim financial statements and all associated materials concurrently, and to make an application to have the failure-to-file cease trade order issued on May 6, 2019 lifted at the relevant time.”

- Jameson Berkow

Recently, around the industry:

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe