Cannabis companies in Canada, including many in Southwestern Ontario, are salivating at the chance to sell edibles, concentrates and ointments and creams. Those products were legalized Oct. 17, but aren’t expected to be available for sale until January at the earliest because of federal health regulations and delays getting the supply chain up and going.
The timing could not be more critical for an industry that took a pounding in the first year of legalized marijuana sales, building out far more capacity to grow pot than could be sold in the limited number of legal stores. Shares in what were then Canada’s 10 largest pot producers by market capitalization lost an average of more than half their value, stinging many investors.
The growing pains were especially acute in Ontario, the nation’s largest market, where the government has so far approved only 25 pot stores, a fraction of the number operating in some other provinces.
In the fallout, the industry has shelved expansion plans, laid off workers and had trouble securing credit, increasing the heat on edibles to help the bottom line.
Read the full article at lfpress.com