The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) released its year-end financial results today, June 14.

For the fiscal year April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, total sales were up 3.5 per cent to $820.5 million, with an increase in both beverage alcohol and cannabis sales compared to the previous fiscal year. Beverage alcohol sales increased 1.7 per cent to $718.7 million, and cannabis sales increased 18.2 per cent to $101.7 million.

Earnings decreased 2.1 per cent to $268.7 million. Earnings were down due to increased sales of cannabis and local products, which both have lower margins compared to other products, higher payroll costs and increased freight costs.

36-year-old man faces almost a dozen charges

A Nova Scotia man faces cannabis and prohibited weapons charges after the two were discovered in both his car and home late last month.

At about 2 p.m. on Apr. 23, a Nissan Altima car driven by the 36-year-old man was stopped as part of a vehicle enforcement checkpoint, notes a statement issued this week by Eskasoni RCMP.

Upon approaching the vehicle, officers “detected a strong odour of cannabis” and could plainly see that drugs inside the car were within reach of the driver.

Producers say they've been plagued by changing regulations, slow Health Canada approvals

It's been a wild ride for some cannabis companies in Nova Scotia since the legalization of cannabis in Canada in 2018.

While some have expanded their business, other facilities have closed.

"In many ways things have exceeded our expectations, but there were also things we weren't expecting with the industry," said Aqualitas CEO Myrna Gillis.

Aqualitas built its facility on Nova Scotia's South Shore at the old Bowater-Mersey pulp plant in Brooklyn, Queens County.

Gillis said business is going well, but fluctuating prices and supply issues have cannabis companies rolling with the punches.

A NEW BRUNSWICK CANNABIS PRODUCER IS NOW SELLING ITS PRODUCT TO BOTH ITS MARITIME NEIGHBOURS. CRYSTAL CURE HAS SIGNED A DEAL TO SELL TWO STRAINS AT NOVA SCOTIA CANNABIS RETAIL LOCATIONS.

Jonathan Wilson, CEO of Crystal Cure, said the company has introduced two strains of cannabis to the Nova Scotia market, where they will be sold at NSLC Cannabis locations. It’s the biggest order the small, Shediac Cape-based grower has received to date.

“It’s exciting for us and we can keep it nice and close to home, so it’s wins all around. We’re happy to get into [the Nova Scotian market],” said Wilson. “The big thing is that it’s not a one-time deal. This initial order opens up the door for us to continue to ship.”

Albert Marshall Jr. said he has invested close to $100,000 into his cannabis dispensary, which he said he has shut down after being continuously "harassed" by RCMP.

The owner of a cannabis dispensary in Eskasoni First Nation hopes the charges against him will be dropped before his trial this summer but said he will fight his case “right to the very end.”

Albert J. Marshall, 49, is facing charges under the provincial Cannabis Control Act for selling marijuana without being an authorized seller.

Marshall opened his dispensary, Bear Buds Trading Post, in the fall of 2020, more than six months after Eskasoni chief and council issued a press release stating they would not approve or authorize any privately owned dispensaries to sell cannabis products.

Wastewater samples show that Nova Scotia’s capital city leads far larger cities in rates of cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy consumption

It appears that Halifax residents consume higher rates of cannabis than those living in four of Canada’s largest cities, or so suggests wastewater samples from the last five months of 2020.

Posted online this week, figures from Statistics Canada show the counts for drug metabolites in wastewater in five Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Metro Vancouver.

Considering the load per capita — which StatCan explains is grams per 1 million people per day — Halifax’s rate in December 2020 was 22.7, up from about 16.4 in August of that year.

Perhaps more people would have paid attention in chemistry class if they knew it could lead to a career in weed. 

Nichole Taylor, director of Bloom Labs in Bible Hill, has a master’s degree in chemistry and a mellow outlook. 

Bloom Labs, which is under the umbrella of the provincial Crown corporation Perennia, is the only accredited cannabis lab in the province. 

“Health Canada dictates that in order to sell your product in a licensed retailer — NSLC, in this province — you have to have testing done by a third-party lab; you can’t do it in-house because that’s a conflict of interest, obviously,” said Taylor in her lab. 

In an apparent move to cut costs, Canadian producer Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. has closed two cultivation facilities in Nova Scotia. (Originally appeared on Benzinga)

The company announced Monday that it shuttered its Robinsons facilities in Kentville and Hortonville and will focus on simplifying its cultivation platform and achieving its goal of becoming EBITDA-positive in the first half of the year.

Around 55 employees will lose their jobs related to the closures.

The company said the first Glacial Gold products, which includes Anytime Vape and Distilled 30/30 Blend Oil, will be available to Ontario consumers beginning in May 2022.

Nextleaf Solutions Ltd (CSE:OILS, OTCQB:OILFF) announced that it has received approval from the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) to list Nextleaf’s Glacial Gold products for sale in Ontario.

The company said the first Glacial Gold products, which includes Anytime Vape and Distilled 30/30 Blend Oil, will be available to Ontario consumers beginning in May 2022.  

“We are thrilled for British Columbia's #1 selling CBD-focused vape to be available at cannabis retailers across Ontario this Spring,” Nextleaf Solutions CEO Paul Pedersen said in a statement.