Over a span of 11 years, annual rates of Ontario emergency department visits for cannabis-related traffic injuries surged dramatically, according to a recent study from The Ottawa Hospital.
The study, published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open, looked at cannabis involvement in emergency room visits for traffic injuries between 2010 and 2021 in Ontario. It also examined shifts in cannabis consumption and driving habits following federal legalization in 2018.
Few buildings exemplify a town’s ups and downs as much the sprawling brown-brick factory in Smiths Falls, Ontario, that began life in the 1960s as the home of Hershey Canada.
Twice the town has risen with the fortunes of the building’s successive owners: Hershey, and then a prominent cannabis grower. And twice it has been let down by them. This week, the town received a third shot at economic redemption when Hershey, in a surprising move, said it was returning.
The building’s continuing drama has also meant that Smiths Falls has lured me out repeatedly for various reasons, personal and journalistic, over the years.
Being a parent prompted my first visit; few families in Eastern Ontario escaped at least one trip to the chocolate factory. Our now-adult sons had scant interest in what was its main attraction for me: the self-guided tour that allowed visitors to peer down from elevated windows at pristine white conveyor belts moving battalions of peanut butter cups and chocolate bars.
Maybe Hershey will make Pot infused chocolates!
A major problem underlying the cannabis industry’s continuing financial struggles has been overcapacity. In provinces that allow private retailers, there are too many shops competing for too few customers to cover costs. And nationwide, producers have been making more cannabis than the retailers need.
Four years ago, the industry looked promising. In 2019, Ontario’s first 24 licensed cannabis shops opened with a bang. Those privately-owned retailers initially averaged about $1-million in monthly sales each, thanks to minimal legal competition and average prices above $12 a gram.
I can understand how people in the 70s felt when the country seemed to have become unrecognizable in two decades and the average story now seemed to be coming from another planet or the mind of a satirist.
But here we are in this exciting world whose stories would be implausible and insane by 2001 standards.
Governments still not studying cannabis smoke’s emissions or toxicity nearly five years after legalization
Nearly five years after Canada legalized recreational cannabis, Anne McLellan is still waiting for what she thought would happen after ending prohibition: testing the smoke.
A former federal health minister and deputy prime minister who later chaired the task force that laid the framework for legalization, Ms. McLellan had expected a flurry of analyses on the potential health effects of frequent cannabis consumption, as governments had promised to fund further study. But none of that research has happened, and so Canadians have no greater knowledge about what cannabis does to their bodies.
Cannabis retailers and producers hope an upcoming move by Ontario’s pot distributor to lower its price markups will help an industry still struggling to compete with the illicit market.
Ontario Cannabis Store, the Crown agency that has a monopoly on legal distribution in the province, is changing its pricing structure starting in September. The changes will reduce most wholesale markups that OCS imposes on cannabis products it sells to retailers, lowering its profit margin.
What remains to be seen is the impact the reduction will have on prices consumers pay for pot or on the bottom line of cannabis companies.
Granted the “private sector” can out compete the government system but I wonder if the total demand for pot was over estimated?
According to MJ Biz Daily, despite business failures and consolidation efforts, Canada’s unsold cannabis stockpile grew in the final quarter 2022. This alarming trend indicates that companies may face challenges due to declining prices and margins.
The latest data from Health Canada reveals that the combined inventory of packaged and unpackaged dried cannabis reached a record-breaking 1.47 billion grams (3.2 million pounds) by December 2022. This figure includes unsold stockpiles from licensed producers, wholesalers, and retailers, highlighting the significant amount of cannabis that remains unsold in Canada.
The decline of Canada’s legal marijuana trade has led to two-thirds of marijuana dealers falling behind in their tax payments, according to a federal report.
“The total amount of unpaid cannabis excise duties has continuously been rising since legalization,” said a report by the Competition Bureau released May 26.
Was the size of the market over-estimated or is it a question of competition with the “illegal’ market? Or Both?
As many as 30 percent of schizophrenia cases among young men may be linked to heavy marijuana use, according to a new study of more than six million people in Denmark.
The study, published this month in Psychological Medicine, also found the proportion of new schizophrenia cases linked to cannabis use disorder has risen consistently since the 1970s, likely due to the increasing potency of the drug that many view as harmless.
This is not a lone study, just one of a growing number raising the alarm.
Young men with a serious cannabis addiction are at increased risk of developing schizophrenia, a new study suggests.
Experts estimate that nearly one third of cases of schizophrenia in 21 to 30-year-olds were triggered by cannabis use disorder.
Cannabis use disorder is thought to impact around 1 in 200 people, and relates to problematic cannabis use where people cannot control their intake and suffer withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking the drug.
Marijuana use has exploded across the US since a wave of legalizations kicked off a decade ago, but some parents believe the super-strength strains of today are driving children to suicide.
Figures show found the number of Americans who have marijuana in their system when they try to kill themselves is growing at an alarming 17 percent per year – and the trend is being fueled by a rise in young people.
Sonia Jimenez, from Houston, Texas, lost her son Josh, 22, to suicide in December 2021, which she believes was caused by chronic cannabis use.
Increasing numbers of cannabis retailers in Alberta are getting out of the business, a testament to the many obstacles faced by the fledgling industry, say those involved in it.
Last year, 68 retailers either cancelled their licence or chose not to renew it — far more than the 19 recorded in 2021, according to Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC).
This seems to be the case in every province.
OTTAWA — Onerous taxes and regulatory fees have made Canada’s legal cannabis sector unsustainable, industry representatives said Wednesday as they urged the Liberal government to make changes in the upcoming federal budget.
“Most of our most of our top line goes right to the government and it’s making it uneconomic for businesses to continue,” said Margaret Brodie, acting CEO of Rubicon Organics, at a press conference on Parliament Hill organized by the Cannabis Council of Canada, which represents licensed producers and processors.
Canopy Growth Corp. will lay off 800 workers as part of a transformation plan that will see the company close its hallmark 1 Hershey facility and consolidate some of its cultivation operations.
The Smiths Falls, Ont. cannabis company said Thursday that the layoff will impact 35 per cent of its workforce and take place over the next several months.
From Okies to Smokies?
California lawmakers are calling for a sweeping investigation into corruption in the state’s cannabis industry, legislative hearings on the exploitation of farmworkers and new laws to thwart labor trafficking in response to revelations of rampant abuses and worker deaths in a multibillion-dollar market that has become increasingly unmanageable.
Imagine that, corruption in California.
