Author: Matt Lamers

[ad_1] Sales of Canadian recreational cannabis jumped to 426.6 million Canadian dollars in June ($316.7 million), a year-over-year increase of 12%. It’s also the fourth straight month that Canada’s sales exceeded CA$400 million, according to the latest retail sales data by Statistics Canada. Through the first six months of 2023, CA$2.4 billion worth of cannabis has been sold in Canada, which is 9% higher than the first half of 2022. Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta continued to power most of the sector’s growth, while the province of Quebec had the slowest growth in the country. Ontario’s sales in June 2023…

[ad_1] Fees charged to cannabis businesses by the Canadian government are contributing to challenges in achieving profitability and positive cash flow, according to a “cost recovery” analysis published by the federal regulator, and some of the fees disproportionally affect smaller businesses. The report is intended to help inform Health Canada’s ongoing “independent” legislative review of the Cannabis Act. The Health Canada report on fees shows that the government spent 430 million Canadian dollars ($317 million) on cannabis regulation between 2018-19 and 2021-22. The federal government’s fiscal year concludes at the end of March. To transfer some of the costs related…

[ad_1] More Canadian cannabis operators than ever are lodging complaints against rival businesses over alleged transgressions or other concerns, a phenomenon being driven by intense competition and desperate companies looking for any edge they can get, according to experts. Last year, there were 706 such complaints from regulated cannabis businesses about other regulated operators, Canada’s federal cannabis regulator told MJBizDaily. That’s a substantial increase from 2021, when 214 complaints were filed, and 2020, in which there were 182 complaints, according to the Health Canada data. Health Canada notes that Canadians may report concerns through an online form that the regulator…

[ad_1] Canadian licensed producer Organigram Holdings has struck a supply agreement with 4C Labs to provide dried medical cannabis flower for the United Kingdom market. The deal’s value was not disclosed. According to a news release, Toronto-based Organigram expects to supply about 600 kilograms (1,323 pounds) of dried flower within the first year of the deal to 4C Labs, a vertically integrated medical cannabis cultivator and digital health care provider based in Britain. Organigram also is granting 4C Labs strain exclusivity within the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands. The exclusivity clause is active for as long as minimum purchase commitments…

[ad_1] A significant jump in plant-propagation sales and medical marijuana exports helped Canadian licensed producer Aurora Cannabis narrow its loss in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 to 28.3 million Canadian dollars ($20 million). That’s a significant improvement over the previous year’s quarter, when the Edmonton, Alberta-based company reported a CA$618.8 million loss. Meanwhile, Aurora is winding down Reliva, its American CBD business, citing potential CBD-regulation pathways and timeline announcements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Aurora’s reported positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of CA$2.2 million for the three months ended June 30,…

[ad_1] A Canopy Growth Corp. flagship facility that was once emblematic of the prospective wealth and new beginnings of the country’s legal cannabis industry is being sold back to its original owner, chocolate maker Hershey Canada. The sale of the Smith Falls, Ontario, facility – for 53 million Canadian dollars ($39 million) – is part of Canopy’s drive to shed costs and transition to an “asset-light” model, the struggling company said in a news release. But it’s also symbolic of Canada’s faltering marijuana industry, which has sustained more than $20 billion in losses. Canopy – which has yet to record…

[ad_1] Insurance reimbursements for medical cannabinoid products in Germany continued to grow in the first quarter of 2023, showing that Europe’s largest economy continues to see a gradual expansion of its cannabis industry – now one of the largest in the world. Reimbursements reached roughly 50.9 million euros ($55.6 million) in the January-March quarter, according to the latest data from the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband). That marks a 6.5% increase compared to the same period last year, but it’s a small decline compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Almost 99,000 prescriptions were filled in…

[ad_1] Health Canada breached its duty of procedural fairness when it decided that licensed producer Organigram Holdings’ lozenges should be classified as “edible” cannabis rather than extracts, a federal justice said in granting the company’s application for judicial review. Justice Cecily Strickland kicked the decision back to Canada’s health department to review its initial decision and make a new determination involving the lozenges, known as Jolts. Millions of dollars could be at stake in the outcome of the legal dispute, given that cannabis extracts are potentially a much more lucrative product than edibles under Health Canada’s classification system for ingestibles.…

[ad_1] Europe’s largest economy inched closer to ending marijuana prohibition after the German federal cabinet gave the green light to a watered-down bill to legalize some recreational cannabis use. The cabinet’s approval this week is an important step from Germany’s three-party governing coalition and marks a milestone for the cannabis industry in Europe. The draft law now heads to the Bundestag – Germany’s Parliament – which is expected to make changes to the law. “The Cannabis Act marks a turning point in what has unfortunately been a failed cannabis drug policy. The aim is to push back the (illicit) market…