It’s official. MuskokaPharma Inc., which is proposing Muskoka’s first and only legal medical marijuana growing operation, finalized the deal on the purchase of Tembec’s former flooring plant May 31, 2016.
The 40,000 sq. foot building now sits on 10 acres of land and company principals are planning to add an additional 25,000 sq. feet to the building, once their final approvals are in place.
President of MuskokaPharma Ltd. Allan Holman said if all goes according to schedule, the company is hoping to produce its first test crop for Health Canada late next year. He said part of the company’s management team is in place and they’ve also hired a pharmacist and master grower. Security checks are currently being conducted and the next stage, before building approvals are sought and construction begins, is Health Canada’s final review.
“Final review is not a really difficult stage because we’ve been through the main hurdles with Health Canada,” explained Holman. He said hiring will take place in stages and the company is projecting the creation of roughly one hundred jobs in year three of its operation.
We want to hire locally of course. The pharmacist is from this area, the grower is from this area. Most of the management and the people who are going to be operating the business are from this area, and we like that. There’s an amazing talent pool in the region.MuskokaPharma Ltd. President Allan Holman
Whether related businesses will set up shop in the area is hard to say. Holman thinks that depends on what Ottawa’s legislative plan looks like when it comes to legalizing marijuana. “That’s coming next spring we’re told and right now dispensaries are illegal. They’re just not allowed because the drug is illegal.”
Currently marijuana can only be legally sold by a licensed producer. The way it would work said Holman is medical doctors would have to issue prescriptions to their patients, who would in turn fill their prescriptions online. “We would take the order over the Internet and then ship to them through Canada Post or by courier. It’s a federally controlled program so we can sell anywhere in Canada.”
He said the reception has been warm so far, in fact he has yet to hear any negative comments about the proposed operation. In terms of the politics surrounding the growing of marijuana, Holman suspects the heat will be turned up as the Liberals push to legalize it. “I assume it’s going to go through at some point and I think that’s what the majority of Canadians want,” he said, citing recent polls on its legalization.
Asked how the legalization of marijuana might impact his company, Holman predicted MuskokaPharma Inc. would become more of a wholesaler, selling to places like the LCBO or pharmacy chains, depending on the delivery model Ottawa pushes through. He said the number of customers would increase very quickly “so that means more good reliable product will be necessary.” He said marijuana produced by a licensed producer is controlled and tested. “You know exactly what you’re getting and you can keep ordering that same product month in, month out and it’ll always be the same,” said Holman, adding that consistency is important to medicinal users of cannabis.
Clients will include those with a host of ailments such as arthritis, rheumatism, chronic pain, and cancer, people with back injury, and those with addictions to opiates who want to get off those drugs as a means of controlling pain, explained Holman. “Opiates are addictive and they’re harming a lot of people in very, very serious ways.”
MuskokaPharma Ltd.’s plan is to first produce six different strains of marijuana and eventually move to the production of 12. Holman said there is a company out West that produces 48 strains. “We think that’s pretty ridiculous and not necessary. I think it’s a marketing ploy. We’re focusing on the medical side of the business and we feel at the beginning our six strains and then going to 12 will be sufficient.” Their pharmacist on staff is legally allowed to give advice about the various strains and their effect, said Holman.
So you can call in to a medical marijuana producer and discuss your ailment with a pharmacist and they are, by law, allowed to discuss that with you and then we can make a recommendation as to what you should try. Holman
Holman said doctors are also becoming much more aware of marijuana’s medical benefits. “There are producers out there right now that are actually calling on doctors and they are educating doctors as to the effects of marijuana and where it can be used, what type of illnesses it helps. I think every day doctors are growing more aware of the positive aspects of marijuana.”
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I am thrilled to see the medicinal marijuana portion of this grow op proceeding so expeditiously. It will mean so much to so many to be able to obtain a consistent standard of marijuana at a fair price.
The recreational marijuana side of the equation, though equally welcome in my eyes, does come with one attendant problem. Whereas bartenders are the responsible gatekeepers of alcohol consumption vis-à-vis dangerous driving, no such gatekeeper will exist for marijuana consumption. Perhaps the best, though inadequate solution, would be to label each strain with the amount which should not be combined with driving.