US: Bud business is booming in Alberta. How medical marijuana is bringing relief to a struggling economy

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Hazel Floyd

Lift

Tuesday 05 Jul 2016

It’s totally unexpected. Alberta’s struggling economy is about to be lifted up by marijuana. For years, medical marijuana in Canada has been a dicey issue, with recreational use outlawed and medical use closely monitored. But, Alberta’s only industrial-scale grower of medical marijuana, Aurora Cannabis, has just gotten the green light. And, it’s noticed business is booming. The company has over 2,000 customers.

Before that, Aurora waited for the issuance of a sales license from Health Canada. It wasn’t forthcoming until its crops had undergone extensive lab testing for quality control. It had to be done by independent, licensed, third parties.

A spokesperson and senior executive for the company, Neil Belot, admits the 2,000-patients milestone isn’t a large client base. But, it proves a fast-growing business. This, considering it took three months to get the first 1,000 clients.

Belot attributes this ramp-up in sales to the impact of word-of-mouth advertising from satisfied customers. To date, the company has clients in every jurisdiction of the country, save Nunavut and the Yukon.

Alberta is second only to Ontario in medical marijuana shipments.

The popularity of the company shows a paradigm shift in public sentiment, especially in Alberta. People see that the company is doing good and helping people, and non-users seem more appreciative of that. The government is also allowing the company to continue operations, which is a good sign.

According to Belot, “Albertans are merely validating the emergence of a technology-driven, home-grown agricultural business. After all, this province has always embraced a pioneering spirit. This validation is helping us to become what we believe may be the fastest-growing, large-scale licensed producer of medical cannabis in Canada.”

Corporate Cannabis

It seems almost antithetical to the culture of marijuana. But, Aurora’s purpose-built 55,200 square-foot facility has but one purpose — to make weed. It cost upwards of $12 million US to construct. 50,000 plants are being cultivated at any given time in a sanitized, lab-like environment. The government watches the operation closely to ensure quality and uniform standards.

And, it all takes place in an unassuming, unobtrusive, warehouse building sitting on 176 acres of land near Cremona, north of Calgary. The high-tech facility is supposed to represent the future of industrial-scale, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis.

Alberta is second only to Ontario in medical marijuana shipments.

Large, brightly lit rooms pulse with fans and 1,000-watt lights. An HVAC ventilation system with fans, irrigation systems, and other apparatus ensures optimal growing conditions.

The company has a license to produce more than 7,000 kilograms of cannabis per year, which is enough for 14 million 0.5-gram cannabis “joints.” However, patients can use any number of methods for ingestion, including ointment, oil, and vaporizing.

Aurora is also known as an innovator of new strains. Its biggest breakthrough is “Temple.” It has a THC content of less than 0.5 per cent but a CBD content of around 24%, making it the world’s strongest non-psychoactive strain of medical cannabis.

https://news.liftcannabis.ca/2016/07/05/bud-business-booming-alberta-medical-marijuana/

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