• The Anishinabek Police serves 15 of 40 communities in the Union of Ontario Indians—meaning officers do not report to a local authority or Chief and Council.
• Anishinabek Police arrested Creator’s Choice and First Nation Medicinal owner Derek Roque. Roque intends to argue selling MED on a First Nation is a treaty right protected by the constitution.
  Dispensing Freedom
• Protestors—including Band Councillor Ted Roque (related to Derek Roque) rallied outside the Sudbury courthouse to protest Roque’s arrest, arguing Ontario does not have jurisdiction on Wahnapitae land and police should have respected the community’s own process toward a cannabis law.
  CTV News, Sudbury

Quick Hits

1. Before legalization, dispensary workers used to be able to expect many judges would just drop charges. That may be changing. In London, ON, nine defendants arrested in dispensary raids immediately before and after legalization pled guilty to trafficking cannabis.
   London Free Press
2. As flowering season is upon us, so apparently begins the season of people stealing whole plants out of neighbours’ yards and sheds.
   Stratford Beacon Herald, St Catherine’s Standard

Quick Hits

1. Symbolic of investor enthusiasm for the sector, Tilray has lost 90% of its stock value (worth $17B) since last fall.
   Bloomberg
2. Short-sellers have done well as LPs across the sector have reported losses.
   Bloomberg

• Linton said he believes psychedelics are about to become important medicine. “There’s probably untapped value, which will only go to the people who are at the beginning and bold.”
  Ottawa Business Journal
• Canopy hopes to find a full-time CEO by the end of 2019 to replace both Linton and present acting CEO Mark Zekulin.
  Financial Post

Quick Hits

1. Quebec convenience store giant Couche Tard hopes to become a “key player” in the cannabis sector, and hopes to enter the US legal-REC market through its Circle K stores.
   Global News
2. Seattle cannabis media portal Wikileaf will go public in Canada via reverse takeover, which we haven’t seen much of this year but was the shortest route to a public offering in the sector last year.
   GeekWire

• Medical officials gathered information about the e-cigarette brands the student used and have passed it on to the federal chief medical officer of health, who is gathering information about vaping devices.
• The case is fuelling public anger and suspicion about increased rates of teen vaping.
  CBC London
• A spokesperson for Ontario’s Health Ministry said two possible cases of vaping-related illness were under investigation.

• Elliott discussed the possibility of bans on flavoured vape products to dissuade teen users.

Quick Hits

1. The BC government has banned cannabis advertising anywhere alcohol is licensed as an effort to discourage mixing the two products.
   The Straight
2. Pelham—the Ontario town where CannTrust’s grew illicit cannabis—acknowledged public pressure and placed a moratorium on new cannabis facilities, but a cannabis producer is suing to quash the moratorium.
   Niagara This Week, Welland Tribune

• To date 105 applications have been rejected, largely for proximity to schools and daycares.
• This week, Calgary has one REC store per 6,392 residents. Toronto has one REC store per 586,000.

• Chris James, owner of dispensary Cannabis and Coffee, gave out $200,000 in $100 vouchers for cannabis delivery service Weedora, which he also owns. He told the CBC he’s afraid if the Ford government continues its REC rollout in the same manner, he’ll miss his chance to participate in the new REC marketplace.
  CBC Toronto
• Longtime scofflaw dispensary CAFE reopened, removing concrete blocks from its St. Clair Ave. storefront.
  The Star
• CAFE lawyer Selwyn “Mr. Toronto Lawyer” Pieters noted Thursday that police raided the St. Clair storefront and two other former CAFE locations.
  Twitter—Mr. Toronto Lawyer

Quick Hits

1. Here’s a survey of federal leaders’ cannabis policies, as well as their individual cannabis-consumption history.
   Montreal Gazette
2. LPs offer surprisingly little for home-growers, while most provinces don’t carry clones and few even carry seeds. Home growers hope that changes soon. Global News

• Though the SQDC has opened fewer than 20 stores, Quebec consumers spend far more in stores ($39.5M) than they do on the SQDC website ($5.6M).
• The SQDC’s principal spending was on employee salaries.
  La Presse—In French

• The Financial Post broke the $42M loss down in greater detail.
  Financial Post
• Ontario’s loss is confusing: though it had no physical stores in which to sell product, it also had none of the expenses associated with physical stores. Arguing again for greater transparency of the OCS, Brock business professor Michael J. Armstrong concluded, “just running the place consumed 60% of its regular spending. That’s a lot for a warehouse and a website.” (Quebec only spent 24% on operations while it was running 12 stores, and does not rely on a central warehouse.)
  Globe and Mail

• Abi Roach, owner of Toronto’s Hotbox Café and Lounge, launched a petition against the Ontario REC lottery, saying “Cannabis is legal now. Why can I not apply for a regular license?”
  BlogTO

• Ward, Peter Strang, and Silvio Serrano are accused of issuing misleading statements while raising capital for company called Canadian Cannabis Corp. Ward was CEO and director of the company, while Strang and Serrano were vice-presidents.
• Among other things, the OSC alleges the three siphoned “more than $3M” off 125 CCC investors, roughly half of them in Ontario. Full allegations are listed here.
  Financial Post, Deep Dive
• An initial hearing will occur on September 30.

• Wayland—itself subject of a proposed securities class action for unrelated issues—is not affected by the allegation. That company is currently making a puzzling jump from cannabis to crypto.
  NewsWire, Globe and Mail

Quick Hits

1. REC retail prices are down 2.3% since January, and declined 0.7% in August.
   Twitter—David George-Cosh
2. The Star profiled Pasha Brands and associated legacy-market companies entering the legal game.
   Star

• During an unannounced April 29 inspection, Health Canada found infractions of good manufacturing practice, record keeping, inventory keeping, and license control.
• A Health Canada spokesperson said the suspension protected public health and safety, “including preventing cannabis from being diverted to the illegal market.”
• In July, a BC Supreme Court judge ordered the company vacate a property on which it had failed to pay rent.
  Victoria News
• Health Canada reported Evergreen responded to its suspension on September 9 and “is working on corrective actions.”
  Bloomberg

Quick Hits

1. Broken Coast has recovered enough from the fire at its production facility to begin accepting and shipping orders again.
   Twitter—Unity Marguerite
2. Shopify is expanding into U.S. cannabis e-commerce by offering new features for hemp and CBD retailers.
   Twitter—Harley Finkelstein, Bloomberg

• Health Canada partially suspended CannTrust’s standard cultivation licenses, and fully suspended CannTrust’s licenses for processing, medical sales, and cannabis-drugs-and-research.
• The company has to stop all planting immediately, but is allowed to cultivate and harvest existing lots, and to dry, trim, and mill that product.
  Globe and Mail
• CannTrust has 10 business days as of Tuesday to respond to the action—meaning to argue the suspension is without merit, or to add new information.
  MJ Biz Daily, Twitter—Matt Lamers

• Interim CEO Robert Marcovitch said of the suspension, “CannTrust’s paramount and urgent priority is to satisfy regulators.”

• Whistleblower Nick Lalonde, who worked at CannTrust from July 2017 to May, feels responsible for the impact of his actions and the ensuing scandal on CannTrust employees.
  Bloomberg
• “I was hoping Health Canada would investigate those directly involved with the wrongdoing and that they would be reprimanded, but there are innocent people at CannTrust who weren’t involved and are likely to lose their jobs. It’s just not fair to them,” he told Bloomberg

• The Toronto Stock Exchange removed CannTrust from its S&P/TSX Composite Exchange
  Globe and Mail

• New rules demand a promotional “brand element” be equal to or smaller than 300cm2, roughly equivalent to the surface area of a shoebox lid.
• Though Health Canada said storefront signs are not considered promotional in nature, they would not specify what other things to which this new restriction applies.
• Retailers say they’ve received no clarification or guidance from Health Canada, whom they say has not communicated with them about the changes.

Quick Hits

1. Tim Hortons blocked wifi access to legal REC websites, but allowed access to some illicit Mail Order Marijuana sites.
   Leafly