Justin Trudeau and the cannabis factory
Converting a medical-marijuana industry into a recreational one will not be easy
AT A former Hershey’s chocolate factory just outside Ottawa a company called Tweed now produces a rather different confection: marijuana for Canada’s tightly regulated medical market. Under the gaze of surveillance cameras, scientists in lab coats concoct new cannabis-based blends in near-sterile conditions. A repurposed candy mixer does the blending. Only in the growing rooms does the spirit of Cheech and Chong, a stoned comedy duo, seem to preside: the plants have names like Black Widow, Deep Purple, Chem Dawg and Bubba Kush.
The market, though growing fast, is still tiny: just 30,000 registered patients buy their supplies from licensed firms like Tweed (short for therapeutic weed). Its parent company had sales of C$4.2m ($3.1m) in the six months that ended on September 30th. But the promise by Justin Trudeau, Canada’s new prime minister, to legalise marijuana could widen the customer base to well beyond the 3m Canadians thought to consume it now. The government’s first “speech from the throne” on December 4th named legalisation as one of its priorities.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Justin Trudeau and the cannabis factory"
The Americas December 19th 2015
More from The Americas
Years of growth forged prosaic politics. Now Panamanians are fed up
They will elect a new president on May 5th
Latin America’s farmers are cashing in on hot hot cocoa prices
They aim to spend the windfall improving their technology to expand production
Andrés Manuel López Obrador will haunt his successor
Mexico’s next president will struggle against gangs, poverty and migration