Thousands of cannabis industry professionals, investors and consumers descended on Toronto this past weekend for the third annual Lift & Co. Cannabis Expo.

The Lift & Co. Toronto Expo is Canada’s biggest and best-attended cannabis industry tradeshow, catering to patients, consumers, industry professionals, investors and media. The energy at this year’s event was particularly high as we are mere weeks from the Canadian government’s promised country-wide legalization. Matei Olaru, CEO of Lift & Co. said they expected over 15,000 people to walk through the doors of the convention center to attend the expo.

Canna, a nutrients and additives company for growing plants

The four-day event kicked off on May 24 with a full-day business conference featuring speakers and focused seminars on different aspects of the industry. The exclusive all-day conference gave professionals the opportunity to join in discussions around the growing medical market and the impending adult-use recreational market.

The first presentation of the day, Canada as a Cannabis Leader: Setting World Standards was given by Director General of Cannabis Legalization and Regulation, Eric Costen.

An inside look at the TVAPE.ca lounge where medical patients could bring their medical documentation to test vaporizers with their product.

“There is a need to have neutral, fact-based conversation about cannabis,” said Costen, on the importance of advancing literacy around cannabis, setting the tone for the rest of the conference.

Topics that followed ranged from government implementation within Canada at all levels of government to retail cannabis and online distribution as well as branding and marketing with so many restrictions in place.

Mayor of Brantford, Chris Friel, was a panelist in the State of the Cannabis Nation: The Federal, Provincial, Territorial and Municipal Perspectives, received a lot of applause following a passionate discussion on how the municipal governments have been left in the dark on legalization. He also expressed frustration with many of the restrictions that provinces such as Ontario, have in place for legal marijuana.

Zenabis, a pharmaceutical company with a focus on medical marijuana research and development.

“For the love of God, we’re adults. We can handle our drinking, we have to manage our gambling, we can also handle our cannabis,” Friel said in support of craft growers and private retailers.

Silicone bongs featured at the Maq Distributors booth.

The expo took place in the exhibition hall of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre where over 200 exhibitors from across North America and Europe showcased their products and services. May 25, professionals from the industry were invited to participate in the expo’s Industry Day where those in the industry were able to engage with other businesses before the consumer portion of the tradeshow took place from May 26 to May 28.

Over the course of the weekend, consumers were invited to attend the conference where they could take a peek at what is happening in the industry, learn about new brands and purchase products.

A range of brands and products from High Park’s portfolio. 

Woodstock, a MedReleaf brand. 

The San Rafael van. San Rafael ‘71 is a MedReleaf’s first adult-use recreational brand.