• “The harm seems to greatly exceed any potential benefits,” Simpson said. “There is this huge popular misconception about cannabis, driven by social media and the cannabis industry, that it is a medicine or it is harmless.”
• Simpson, former president of the Canadian Medical Association, claimed smoking a joint raises the risk of heart attack within an hour as much as shovelling snow would.
  Ottawa Citizen
• Responding to criticisms on Twitter of his comments, Simpson said, “There is a lot of promise for CBD, but THC-rich products (particularly combusted) probably do more harm than good.”
  Twitter—Dr. Chris Simpson

Quick Hits

1. Want to buy the one REC retail store in Whitehorse? Do you have $87,000?
   Yukon Tender Management System
2. Impaired driving hasn’t increased in Saskatchewan since legalization.
   Discover Estevan

• Three quarters polled by Ipsos said legalization hasn’t affected workplace health and safety while 70% say there’s been no effect on quality of work.
  Canadian HR Reporter
• Nearly three quarters of those said legalization has had no impact on workplace productivity, and 71% said it hasn’t increased absenteeism.
  CBC Business
• Meanwhile, ten percent of employers allow cannabis on the job. Far out!
  CTV News

Quick Hits

1. How has legal REC and MED affected Atlantic Canada? There are long waits for MED, doctors warn against youth using REC, and employers remain nonsensically afraid legalization will mean employees are “too wasted to work.”
   Telegram
2. Trina Fraser thumbed through the Quebec Superior Court decision quashing the provincial home-grow ban. The Court noted Quebec has the right to limit home growing to fewer than four plants, but not to ban growing outright.
   Twitter—Trina Fraser

• The question of Indigenous jurisdiction was ignored during the drafting of the Cannabis Act, which does not contain the words “First Nations,” “Indigenous,” or “Indian.”
• Leaders warned this is a recipe for jurisdictional conflict.
• Giving First Nations jurisdiction over cannabis in their territories would prevent every case like the recent Anishinabek Police Service/OPP raids in Wahnapitae First Nation from potentially becoming a costly and endless constitutional/treaty-rights challenge. If we can avoid that, everybody wins.
  Dispensing Freedom

Quick Hits

1. Tyendinaga Legacy 420 dispensary worker/journalist Jordan Brant spent August buying only legal cannabis and documented spending and product quality. The amount of cannabis he consumes in a month cost $642.82 from the Ontario Cannabis Store—and $360 from his dispensary in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
   Twitter—Jordan Brant
2. Pot-stocks pugilist Betting Bruiser reported the Ontario Cannabis Store is offering product procurement for Cannabis beverages at rates of “$2.50 335ml can, $2.75 473ml tall can, $8.15 750ml bottle—Effectively making it 2x-3x more expensive then Beer.”
   Twitter—Betting Bruiser

• Constellations Brands CEO Bill Newlands said the company was “pleased” with Canopy, even as the LP’s losses cost Constellation $484.4M this quarter.
  Globe and Mail
• 48North purchased US vaporizer company Quill/Rare Industries this summer, indicating the TSX Venture Exchange (on which 48North trades) is relaxing its stance on cannabis firms buying US companies.
  MJ Biz Daily

Quick Hits

1. Canadiana nerds will be stoked both the name and logo of REC retail buyers’ co-op the Saskatchewan Weed Pool refer to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, formed in 1923 to get farmers fair prices for grain.
   CBC Saskatoon
2. Organigram shut down and cleaned two of the cooling towers at its Moncton production facility after finding “elevated bacteria counts”—seemingly synonymous with a New Brunswick report identifying western-Moncton cooling towers as the source of a legionnaire’s disease outbreak.
   CBC New Brunswick

• The owner of Calgary chocolatier Choklat—49% of which Namaste Technologies acquired in March—warned Health Canada bureaucracy and delays mean edibles will likely come to market months later than originally predicted.
• Choklat applied for its license to make infused food in July and has not yet received it. It now predicts its products won’t reach market before March.

Quick Hits

1. If your grandparents are a lot more eager than you expect to try MED, just go with it. If not, mention MED could reduce the number of pills they take.
   Leafly
2. During an episode of Cannabis Update Podcast, investor “Ethical Grasshopper” noted between REC and MED, “We’re kicking out 3-5 million units of virgin plastic as an industry every month across the country.”
   Twitter—Cannabis Update Podcast

• Responding to the moderator’s question, “Do families have reason to worry about the legalization of edible cannabis?” Scheer said, “Mr. Trudeau passed this bill [hastily]. He ignored the worries of premiers, of the provinces, of health experts, and families.”
• Scheer argued Trudeau promised to get cannabis out of criminals’ hands and reduce youth consumption, “and those two things there, they continue to exist. The justification doesn’t match the results.” He said his party would “invest in research” to make certain “medical professionals know the consequences of consuming cannabis. […] We will focus on eliminating dependence [on drugs].” TVA Nouvelles—Video in French, My Translation

Quick Hits

1. Banks haven’t recovered from the CannTrust meltdown: not only are they less eager to make investments, but some won’t even let legal REC/MED businesses open accounts.
   Financial Post, Business in Vancouver
2. Hopefully striking a mortal blow against the Indica-Sativa divide, Leafly debuted a new graphic system of visual classification for cultivars (many of which are hybrids) indicating THC and CBD content (with shapes) and terpene content (with colours), as well as general potency.
   The Star, GeekWire

• A second Canadian case of VAPI (vaping-associated pulmonary illness) appeared in Quebec. This is the first “confirmed” Canadian VAPI case (the other, in London, is “suspected”). Both cases were related to nicotine products.
  Ici Radio-Canada—In French
• Health Canada warned Canadians who use vaping devices to “monitor themselves for symptoms of pulmonary illness.”
  NewsWire

• Alberta plans to review its tobacco and smoking laws to introduce measures to restrict vaping. BC is tightening rules on who may be licensed to sell e-cigarettes and vaping products.
  The Star, Vancouver Sun
• Lawyer Trina Fraser noted Canadian legal REC vape products will be subject to strict Health Canada regulation with mandatory testing for contaminants like those suspected of causing VAPI.
  Twitter—Trina Fraser

• Data analysts Headset (who have advertised on WeedWeek) found US legal sales of vape-pens has declined since the beginning of the scandal, but suggested that because most illness has been associated with illicit products, sales may rebound as customers switch from bootleg vape carts to the legal market.

• Cannabis HR expert Erin Gratton argued, “To market this product to employers in this fashion is dangerous. It puts Canadians’ workplace rights and protections at risk.”
• She accused the company of fostering fear and stigma in a video where its co-president falsely said, “Use of marijuana is as high as alcohol in our society.”
  Twitter—Erin Gratton

• However, short of actual drug testing, employers do have the right to set strict limits related to cannabis, including banning even the possession of cannabis in the workplace.
  Globe and Mail
• As they did prior to dry-flower legalization, employers are nervous edibles legalization will cause workplace inebriation.
  Canadian HR Reporter

Quick Hits

1. Newfoundland paper the Telegram profiled Atlantic Canada’s responses to a year of legalization. In Nova Scotia, one in four has bought legal REC, though many continue to buy on the illicit market.
2. BC’s municipalities still haven’t gotten their share of cannabis excise taxes, though on the upside apparently Vancouverites who live in RVs are now growing weed in them. Good for them.
   Globe and Mail, Vancouver is Awesome

• The report finds the top five symptoms treated with MED were muscle pain, anxiety, depression, joint pain, and insomnia.
  Regina Leader-Post
• REC legalization changed little about how MED patients treat their illnesses.

Quick Hits

1. Pure Global Cannabis signed an agreement to grow 17,000 acres of hemp in China’s Yunnan province. Hemp Industry Daily
2. BC Business discussed the potential for cannabis beverages with two retail CEOs and Tantalus CEO Dan Sutton.
   BC Business