Freeing craft cannabis from 'grey market' worth $3 billion to B.C: report
Licensing just 15 per cent of B.C.'s 6,000 craft cannabis growers could legitimize nearly $3 billion in cannabis sales in two years
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Health Canada rules for micro-cultivation of recreational cannabis have kept most of the pot sold in B.C. — and the expert growers who made B.C. bud a global brand — locked up in the grey market, industry leaders say. Licensing just 15 per cent of B.C.’s 6,000 grey market craft cannabis growers and raising production caps could legitimize nearly $3 billion in cannabis sales in two years, according to an analysis by the cannabis business accelerator Grow Tech Labs. The cost of entering the regulated market, combined with tight limits on capacity, conspire to create a business model that isn’t viable for growers currently working in the unregulated market, said CEO Barinder Rasode, a former Surrey city councillor. (See also: Health Canada 'build first' policy a blow to craft cannabis industry: critics)
