(Panelists discuss Legalization 2.0 at the 2020 Lift & Co Conference | Image via Lift & Co)
The room was focused and full to capacity at last week’s Legalization 2.0 panel at the Lift & Co Business Conference.
The premise of the panel was simple. The rollout of Canadian cannabis hasn’t exactly been smooth, but with new products starting to hit shelves, where are we now, and what does the industry need to do? Understandably, the expo hall at the Vancouver Convention Centre hosting
Lift & Co Corp. (
TSX-V:LIFT,
Forum)’s 2020 Vancouver conference had a full house, with cannabis company executives and investors alike eager for signs of positivity.
What they got instead is what the cannabis industry needs: an optimistic yet realistic wake-up call. There’s definitely been some good news and signs of momentum heading into the new decade, but sitting still and hoping the bad news won’t affect you is no longer going to cut it.
The panel, moderated by Fern Glowinsky of cannabis e-commerce provider
Merrco Payments, was a healthy mix of differing opinions. LP’s were represented on the panel by Annaliese Kibler, Director of Regulatory Affairs at
Aurora Cannabis Inc. (
TSX:ACB,
Forum) and Allan Rewak, VP Institutional Relations at
Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (
TSX-V:EMH,
Forum). They were joined by two veterans of dealing with industry and government alike, Peter Guo, the BC Leader of Cannabis Services for accounting firm
MNP, and Dan Demers, VP of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs at the
Canadian Health Food Association, the country’s largest trade association for natural health and organic products.
First, the good. The rollout of retail stores in Canada was painfully slow in major provinces, but 2020 looks to be on-track, especially for the all-important Ontario market. Also noted were how quickly international markets are starting to pivot on cannabis and hemp products, and the growth of the wellness-focused consumer group in the market.
Where there was difference, however, was on the bad, and specifically in working with the Canadian government. One of the biggest things major LP’s took away from the difficulties in getting products regulated and out to market was an understanding of the clash between what the legalization of cannabis meant for industry and what it meant for government. The biggest goal for the government, in Rewak’s eyes, was harm reduction, and everyone on the panel agreed that education on cannabis and consumption needed to be front and centre.
(Panelists discuss Legalization 2.0 at the Vancouver 2020 Lift & Co Conference)
For Guo and Demers, however, that didn’t mean cannabis companies should sit still. Instead, they iterated that the cannabis industry needs to be more proactive in pushing for education campaigns and science to support health claims (which the government loves and lacks), and even more importantly, developing a strong voice to work with the government and pick up the slack.
“It’s incumbent upon industry to do some of that bridge building,” said Demers. “Talk to Agriculture, talk to Health Canada, talk to Global Affairs, and build bridges between them. If you wait for the government to do it themselves, you’re going to be waiting a long time.”
“Somebody got a grant to do research into cannabis, got the money approved by the CIHR, but they didn’t get approved by health Canada… Is that the government’s fault? Absolutely. Do you want to live with the problem or solve it? You solve it by building bridges.”
Overall, everyone agreed that the industry roadblocks weren’t going to disappear overnight, and that cannabis needed to think long-term but act in the short-term.
But looking forward, the panelists still had plenty to be optimistic about. On the international front was that Canada, despite struggling in terms of investment and regulations, was still way ahead of the game, and Demers saw that international consumers have really positive associations of Canadian products with health and wellness.
Another angle was that research is still developing and showing what cannabis can do. Kibler pointed out ongoing studies into additional cannabinoids other than THC and CBD, and that consumers might soon start seeking out products containing other cannabinoids like CBN.
Will Legalization 2.0 push the cannabis industry forward? Absolutely. But it won’t be an overnight fix, and sitting around and waiting for all of the heavy lifting to get done isn’t the answer. Long-term, the Canadian cannabis industry will still end up being the multi-billion-dollar market it is meant to be. It just needs some proactivity to get there.
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