A former Surrey B.C. city councillor is heading a new co-op venture to bring people licensed to grow their own medical marijuana into a co-op to supply the legal cannabis market.
Barinder Rasode is CEO of the venture, a partnership with and in Vancouver. With supply shortages across the country since Canada legalized recreational cannabis last fall, the company hopes to step up to the national and international markets.
The B.C. Small Cannabis Producer and Processor Co-op is planning to incorporate under provincial co-operative legislation to B次元官网网址渉elp maintain the provinceB次元官网网址檚 historic position as a global cannabis leader,B次元官网网址� the company announced Tuesday.
B次元官网网址淏.C. has a lot to gain by ensuring thousands of existing Health Canada registered growers are active participants in CanadaB次元官网网址檚 cannabis economy,B次元官网网址� Rasode said. B次元官网网址淲ith their combined capacity, these small B.C. producers and processors could become one of the largest cannabis enterprises in Canada.B次元官网网址�
The company is in discussions with some of those growers about the difficulties of moving from personal cultivation to federally and provincially controlled recreational sales to the public.
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B次元官网网址淚 assume that there are individual growers who have looked at the micro-cultivation licence and applied,B次元官网网址� Rasode said in an interview with Black Press. B次元官网网址淲hat we realized is that meeting the standards of a regulated process is quite different than how work was done in the pre-legalization era. So thatB次元官网网址檚 where the concept of accelerating these growers came, and it was especially heightened for us when we read the headlines around supply shortages. Provinces have had to pivot.B次元官网网址�
After leaving local politics, Rasode founded , the National Institute for Cannabis Health and Education, as the Justin Trudeau government moved to enact its 2015 election promise to legalize recreational sales across Canada. She remains on the board, working with local governments who are now coping with the transition from unregulated sales to provincially licensed stores.
B次元官网网址淯.S. states that legalized did it by referendum, so the pro and con sides spent a lot of money debating the issue,B次元官网网址� Rasode said. B次元官网网址淚n Canada, we missed that step so thereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of people in decision-making roles that are still uncertain about legalization.B次元官网网址�
The company is inviting licensed growers to contact the venture by email at david@bcscpp.com to get more information on the co-op development phase.
B次元官网网址淲e are excited to see micro-growers participate in this co-operative,B次元官网网址� said Shafin Diamond, co-founder CEO of Victory Square Technologies.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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