Some growers say ‘ghost houses’ are popping up across the country as production gets ahead of the demand for cannabis.

Producers like Boaz Pharmaceuticals say cannabis is growing faster than the number of stores opening so there’s too much supply.

“It was mostly a surprise to everyone that they weren’t able to sell and ship the amount of product so we’re hearing terms of ‘ghost houses’ which are greenhouses that the big LPs (licensed producer) aren’t growing anymore.”

According to Health Canada, over 21,000 kg of dry cannabis was sold in the first three months of the year and another 28,000 kg in the following three months.

In that same time, producers went from growing 35,000 kg to around 52,000 kg.

“A province like Ontario that has six times the population of Alberta has 20 some stores,” said Issak. “You just can’t move volume through a bottleneck like that.”

In comparison, the AGLC has 73 retail stores registered and opened in Calgary, the most in the country, and 330 province-wide.

Issak adds Boaz is trying to access new markets, meaning it has adjusted how they grow and ship products.