Ontario

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Mon
16
Sep

Cannabis sector sees its first fraud case as OSC alleges misuse of investor funds

The Ontario Securities Commission is mounting its first fraud case in Canada’s cannabis sector.

In a statement of allegations made public Friday, the regulator alleges that investor funds raised by Canada Cannabis Corp. were “misused.”

In addition, three individuals involved with the firm are accused of making misleading statements in communications with investors.

None of the allegations against Canada Cannabis, Benjamin Ward, Silvio Serrano and Peter Strang have been proven. An initial hearing is scheduled to take place Sept. 30 in Toronto.

The OSC says Canada Cannabis raised about $3.2 million and US$8.8 million from about 125 investors — about half in Ontario — between 2014 and 2016.

Mon
16
Sep

London firm gets approval to study effects of ingesting pot

A London-based clinical research company is one of the first to get the green light from Health Canada for a human trial of cannabis, research that is expected to help gauge the impacts and safety of weed when eaten.

KGK Science is recruiting dozens of Londoners to test the effects of an American-made cannabis oil produced by a company called New Age Nanotech.

It’s good timing, as edibles – candies and other food infused with marijuana – are set to arrive on the legal market in Canada in the coming months, what KGK Science’s marketing directly Lauren Redman called “legalization 2.0.”

“The trial will look at the absorption rates of THC and CBD in participants,” Redman said of the marijuana components to be tested in the oral product.

Mon
16
Sep

Ontario’s cannabis business posts $42-million loss in last fiscal year

Ontario said its government-owned cannabis business lost $42 million in the last fiscal year, while the province collected barely half the amount of excise taxes it estimated it would generate, in the latest symptoms of a shaky start to legalizing recreational pot in Canada’s most populous province.

The Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation, a crown corporation that operates the Ontario Cannabis Store’s online retail business and sells wholesale cannabis to the province's private retail stores, generated $64 million in the fiscal 2018-2019 year, according to public accounts released on Friday.

Fri
13
Sep

New Ontario pot shop licences delayed until judge rules on disqualified applicants

The launch of the next wave of cannabis stores set to open in Ontario this October will be delayed after a provincial judge suspended the province’s regulator from issuing any new pot shop licences for two weeks.

Justice David Corbett said he will rule on Sept. 25 whether 11 disqualified cannabis retail lottery winners should resume the application process for a coveted pot shop licence in Ontario or let people on a waiting list take their place.

In an effort to avoid complicating the tangled nature of the lottery winner and waiting list process, all licences will be on hold until he can make a final ruling, the judge ruled. 

Fri
13
Sep

What CannTrust's new allegations of wrongdoing could mean for the industry

The CannTrust Holdings (NYSE:CTST) scandal just keeps on getting bigger.

Fri
13
Sep

Five pot shops within walking distance in downtown Toronto. What sets them apart?

If two’s a company and three’s a crowd, what does five make? When it comes to legal cannabis stores in Toronto’s downtown, that can only mean one thing: being spoilt for choice.

From the iPad-wielding budtenders to the mandatory “you shall not pass” ID checks, these five stores are located centrally downtown and within walking distance or accessible by transit.

Disguised as a potential first-time customer, a TGO team member went on a tour and was accompanied by Sandra Castillo, an account executive for Toronto-based PR and marketing company DECK Agency, which has no affiliation with any of the stores.

Canna Cabana

435 B Yonge St.

Thu
12
Sep

'Procedurally unfair': Disqualified cannabis lottery winners file legal challenge against AGCO

Eleven Ontario cannabis retail lottery winners have filed a legal challenge against the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for disqualifying them from the lottery process, arguing the AGCO’s decision was “fundamentally wrong” and reached by a “procedurally unfair process.”

Seven of those eleven lottery winners — chosen on Aug. 20 — used addresses linked to legal cannabis retailer HighLife Cannabis Co. on their applications.

A Financial Post investigation days after the lottery draw found that over 100 different individuals used 14 HighLife-linked addresses to submit more than 650 applications to the AGCO, emerging with seven out of 42 lottery wins.

Tue
10
Sep

Five things I learned about CBD at the recent MJBiz Conference in Toronto

CBD is all the rage these days. But despite the high interest just about everywhere, the market is still rather hazy in Canada compared with the United States, for example.

Kay Tamillow, director of research for the Brightfield Group, attempted to lift the fog on the much-ballayhooed cannabinoid during a recent session at the MJBiz International conference in Toronto.

CBD from cannabis is legal in Canada

In Canada, “we have this broad legalization of cannabis, which includes CBD,” Tamillow told attendees of the session, CBD Deep Dive: A World of Regulations and Where to Start.

Mon
09
Sep

Black market pot entered CannTrust facility, flowed into legal market last year: Sources

Senior operating staff working at CannTrust Holdings Inc.’s Pelham, Ont. facility late last year brought cannabis seeds from the black market into production rooms, leading to some illicitly-grown pot flowing into the legal market, according to internal company documents obtained by BNN Bloomberg and four sources directly familiar with the matter.

The documents suggest that, in an apparent effort to conceal the black market cannabis seeds from regulatory inspections and other staff members, some CannTrust employees changed the names of as many as 20 strains to those which the company was licensed to sell in the legal medical and recreational markets.

Mon
09
Sep

Ontario Cannabis Store announces resignation of CEO

Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) CEO Patrick Ford is stepping down from the position, the agency announced on Thursday.

Ford has opted to resign after having spent approximately a year as the top brass at the provincial retail supplier and online cannabis store. He previously spent a long career in senior management with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

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