The week in cannabis was full of change, including the Tilray-Aphria merger that makes it one of the world’s biggest weed companies, the decision to drop the “snortable” cannabis powder Canna Bumps, Mars Wrigley serves notice to cannabis providers over unauthorized packaging and the head of Organigram steps down.

Tilray and Aphria combo to be big on global stage

It’s a done deal for the merging of Tilray, Inc. and Aphria Inc., two Canadian cannabis giants, said to create a weed-focused company with the largest global geographic footprint in the industry.

First announced in December, the business combination means the new company operating as Tilray had a market cap of about US$8.2 billion ($10.1 billion) based on the closing stock prices on Apr. 30.

As part of the deal, each Aphria shareholder received 0.8381 of a Tilray share for each Aphria common share held as of that date, according to Tilray, which has operations in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia and Latin America.

The planned Tilray logo blends the branding of both companies, highlighting the new company’s growing portfolio of lifestyle and wellness brands, the company statement notes.

As COVID-19 lifts and markets open up, “Tilray is poised to strike and transform the industry” because of, among other things, its mix of medical and adult-use cannabis brands and products, multi-continent distribution network and “robust capital structure to fund our global expansion strategy,” says chairman and CEO Irwin Simon.

Tilray “has the strategic footprint and operational scale necessary to compete more effectively in today’s consolidating cannabis market,” the company reports.

It notes that in Canada, products will be supported by low-cost, state-of-the-art cultivation, processing and manufacturing facilities, while in Germany, the company is well-positioned to pursue international growth opportunities with its medical cannabis brands, German distribution network and European Union supply chain.

Apparently, people don’t want to snort cannabis

A weed concentrate known as Canna Bumps that is designed to be snorted, ingested or added to foods certainly didn’t sit well with cannabis advocates and social media users.

“Canna Bumps are intended to permit THC atoms to move straightforwardly into blood flow through the nasal pit, bypassing the liver- and stomach-related framework, for sure-fire impact with a lovely trickle and no sharpness,” notes a product write-up.

Initially available from California-based THC Living, the three-compartment product had 600 mg of THC per package. “Each 10 mg bump gives two mg of THC,” it states.

If snorting is one’s preferred mode of delivery, weed powder that looks like cocaine would make that doable. But the product’s short life has apparently come to an end.

On the THC Living website, Canna Bumps is not included under its products. Although it had reportedly been listed on brand pages for both Leafly and Weedmaps, curious buyers are now met with a message that it cannot be found.

The entire idea of the product went over like a lead balloon with many Reddit commenters. “My buddy posted a picture of this on snapchat today I thought it was a f—–g meme,” wrote one. “Theyre taking it too far with this stuff,” added another.

Commenters on another Reddit board initially appeared all in. One person wrote that snorting would allow for an instant high and do away with carrying around cartridges.

In a statement to Leafly, a law firm representing THC Living reportedly stated the product idea had come from a third party. After learning about it and seeing the feeling of customers and the industry, “our client made the decision to terminate any licence granted to any third party that would use its proprietary information to produce or market a product like Canna Bumps.”

Still, the incredulity and ire generated by the product was significant. Associating cannabis with cocaine — it came with a small spoon and a card — was a sore spot. The product “undoes a lot of the progress made in destigmatizing cannabis and its decoupling from harsher substances,” Rudy Sanchez, a product marketing consultant in California, wrote in Dieline, a sentiment echoed by many, including this Youtuber.

Mars Wrigley tries to stem trademark abuse

U.S.-based Mars Wrigley has put on notice producers of illegal THC-infused cannabis edibles that use lookalike branded packaging in their marketing.

In a lawsuit filed May 3, Mars Wrigley took legal action in both the U.S. and Canada to get the illicit cannabis industry to stop using the company’s brands and products, notes a company statement.

The suit contends using recognizable, sometimes world-famous, trademarks for harmful THC products is not only against the law, but dangerous as well.

Among others, Mars Wrigley brands include Skittles and Starburst. Cannabis edibles packaged to look like both brands were recently seized in Newfoundland and Labrador, prompting a provincial warning. Also, York Regional Police in Ontario issued a caution to parents to keep an eye out after finding that weed edibles, including knock-offs of the two brands, vapes and seeds at a convenience store were being sold to teens and others.

Reports of illegally packaged THC edibles in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere have resulted in people, including children, being hospitalized.

“Mars Wrigley does not manufacture or sell any products containing THC,” the company statement emphasizes, explaining that the fake packaging is sold empty and then “filled with THC-infused candies to market and sell.”

Organigram CEO steps down

Greg Engel will no longer lead Moncton-based Organigram Holdings Inc., but will serve as a special advisor as the company searches for a new CEO.

CEO Engel stepped away from the struggling licensed producer less than two months after financial results for Q2 2021 were released.

The company witnessed a net loss of about $66.4 million, up a staggering 872 per cent from the same quarter of 2020.

Pointing to the challenges of industry dynamics, COVID-19 and staffing limitations, Engel said at the time that there are excellent prospects ahead for the industry.

Organigram recently inked a $221 million deal to sell a stake in the business to British American Tobacco and has acquired The Edibles & Infusions Corp. for a $35 million stock deal. However, the company has also laid off about a quarter of its staff and scaled back how much cannabis would be cultivated at its Moncton facilities in N.B.

Current board chairman Peter Amirault will oversee day-to-day management of Organigram until a permanent CEO has been appointed.