Investigators “located a truck filled with garbage bags containing smaller individual packaging of cannabis bud.”

Two men face drug-related charges after members of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service stopped their vehicle late on Dec. 3 and a subsequent search revealed 96 kilograms of cannabis products estimated to be worth $600,000.

The unidentified men, both Ontario residents, have been charged with possession for the purpose of transporting cannabis with the purpose of sale, and possession of currency obtained by crime, notes a police Facebook statement posted Tuesday. The men, who will appear in Cornwall Provincial Court at a later date, were subsequently released.

The recent surge in marijuana stock prices has brought a major relief to cannabis investors. Industry stocks had suffered a severe beating since signs of oversupply emerged in 2019 and companies went on painful restructuring exercises. The relief hasn’t been confined to the investor community alone. Even some management teams at badly hit cannabis companies have taken a welcome and refreshing breather too.

More than two years after the legalization of cannabis in Canada, the majority of Ontarians consuming pot still buy it from the illegal market because they find it offers better quality, according to Ontario's auditor general.

Bonnie Lysyk's annual report found that the underground market represent about 80 per cent of cannabis sales in Ontario during 2019 and 2020. 

Investigators for the auditor discovered that quality, not price, was the primary reason why cannabis consumers chose the illegal market over the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), or private pot shops operating with a provincial license. 

Cannabis has been legal in Canada for two years, but several police raids on illegal grow-ops show the illicit market continues to thrive.

The OPP said it seized more than 122,000 illegally grown plants, valued at about $143 million on the street, following 52 raids across the province since July 1.

“There is still a huge demand for illegal cannabis here in Ontario and in Canada,” Det.-Inspt. Jim Walker told Simcoe.com. “A great deal of the illegal cannabis we are seeing is being exported into the United States and it’s coming back in the form of U.S. currency, but also in harder drugs like cocaine, meth, fentanyl and in some cases firearms.”

CannTrust Holdings Inc. is staging a comeback more than a year after its licences were suspended for illegally growing thousands of kilograms of dried cannabis in unlicensed rooms.

The Vaughan, Ont. cannabis firm announced Dec. 2 that it will reintroduce two recreational brands, Liiv and Synr.g, to the Canadian market this month.

“We’re confident that when the customers come back and try our products again, then they’ll remember how good and how consistent and high quality they are,” CEO Greg Guyatt said in an interview.

“We think we will win them back.”

That task may not be easy.

CannTrust remains under Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act protection as it deals with multiple class action lawsuits and other litigation.

While Ontario’s longest patio season is serving its last calls under well-used heat lamps, industry groups representing the hard-hit restaurant, tourism, and live events sectors are calling on the province to advance talks on selling and consuming cannabis inside public venues. Beth Potter, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO), wants new pot regulations for lounges, cafes, festivals and concerts established by the spring.

(image: Outside of the Bay of Quinte Skills Centre at Loyalist College. Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)

Loyalist College has inked another partnership that will help students in its Applied Research Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis.

The college has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bioenterprise, which helps to connect, innovate and grow small and medium-sized businesses in Canada’s agri-tech and food industry.

Students will work with Biotech clients with product development, extraction and analytical testing, to ensure that their cannabis-based food and beverage products are safe and effective.