But the big landmark for medical cannabis patients in this country was R v Smith. Basically, they were then allowed to grow their own or designate a grower to grow on their behalf. But there was no commercial system; there had to be a direct relationship between grower and consumer where the grower had to be compensated for their overhead – and you know how that could work. Through the courts, these growers were given permission to grow for up-to four people and the plant counts were pretty massive for pre- scriptions, as much as 150 grams a day. That equated to something like 30 grams per plant, I believe. The point is, that program grew exponentially. Unfortunately, in some cases, much of the product wasn’t going to the designat- ed patient and it was flooding the black market and illegal dispensaries, the illegal market – the gray market we’ll call it because it was being cultivated under a legal guise but then distributed illegally. Law enforcement has been shutting down these dispensaries. What’s interesting is that there are now cases in front of the court in respect to “medical” dispensaries. The federal government is still being taken to task on its responses to the court’s rulings in respect to distribution, access, and product availability. How does this fence sitting impact your long-term planning? MZ: At Emblem we have three main verticals and I think each of them is well-poised to meet the market demand that’s coming, even though that’s evolving all the time. On the one hand we have our pharmaceutical division that’s run by John Stewart who is the former president and CEO of Purdue Pharma in both Canada and the US. He’s looking at dosages and cannabis medicines that aren’t dried flower. For example, we have a patent pending for a slow release tablet. In respect to those more advanced formulations and drug-like medications, they’re far better choices in many circumstances to opiates and other prescription drugs out there. It will take a little bit of time for regulatory approval after clinical observations and trials, but it is one side of this medical market that the black market will have a hard time infiltrating. In the long term that side of our business looks really promising. It’s not something we’ll have to adjust based on uncertainty with the illegal market. “My past experience also really helped with Health Canada. Navigating through the levels of government officials was something I knew how to deal with.”
application was for a different site and we changed course because we couldn’t get the proper electricity for that site and Health Canada wanted to drop our application. That would normally mean starting again from the back of the line but I was able to argue that our licensing process should proceed with the new site – and I won that argument. There are definitely times where I was in a good position to manoeuvre around the administrative hurdles that can get in the way for any entrepreneur. “I’ve always been familiar with it on that level and I’ve never seen it as a social ill, I’ve never been quite able to understand the stigma attached to it.” What was the state of the medical cannabis industry prior to the regulatory changes in 2012 and how has the industry changed since becoming a more open market? MZ: Medical cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2001.
Another part of our business is growing high quality premium flower. The evolving recreational market is some-
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JANUARY 2018
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