The licensing process is time-consuming and complicated. (Submitted photo/Paradise Valley Botanics)

By Jennifer Olson

federal restrictions

Cannabis production licensing has not improved since 2018 legalisation

Apr 3, 2024 | 2:08 PM

The consensus from cannabis producers previously interviewed by Western Buzz is that Health Canada’s cannabis production licensing process remains lengthy and complicated, and the costs are exorbitant.

This is despite the fact that recreational cannabis has been legal for more than four years, allowing Health Canada ample time to improve and expedite production licensing.

Adam Mint is the founder of Paradise Valley Botanics (PVB), a multiple award-winning craft cannabis company based out of the Kootenays, B.C. PVB has recently transitioned from ACMPR to recreational production. Mint shared what he observed and experienced to be some significant flaws in the licensing process.

“The most frustrating thing that I found about the entire process was that there’s no phone number to call to have a conversation with somebody until you get to the point where they assign a caseworker, which is so far down the line,” Mint recounted.

“For the first eight months of the entire process, the only way to contact Health Canada was by email. I would send them an email, and immediately get an email back saying that they received my email and they would respond within 10 days. Sometimes it would take days to get a response. Imagine sitting in your office and you’re working on the application and then you come across something that you are stuck on. You ask Health Canada a question and it’s days before you get an answer. That initial stage until they assign a caseworker is very disorganised — all they need is to provide a phone number. Once I got a caseworker, things moved pretty quickly.”

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The B.C. Craft Farmers Co-op recently shared that over twenty of their co-op members have forfeited their application attempts due to high costs in meeting stringent facility requirements, as well as high licensing fees and taxes.

“In the beginning there’s an $1,800 application fee, and then moving forward it’s annual payments of $2,500 to maintain the licence,” Mint recounts.

“Then there’s $5,000 that goes towards the CRA as collateral, in case you don’t pay your annual licensing fee. These fees are just a drop in the bucket overall — everything that is required for licensing costs a huge amount of money.”

The licensing process is time-consuming and complicated. Additionally, construction of the production facility must be completed before the application is even submitted. This inhibits the majority of small-scale cannabis producers from proceeding, as most don’t have the resources or time to dedicate towards obtaining a licence.

The whole thing literally took me almost an entire year from start to finish, which is a really long time,” Mint stated.

“Applicants have to be completely built out before applying. You have to send in your evidence packages via video, and Health Canada comes back at you with all these things that they see are wrong, and you just keep going back and forth. Throughout the whole process, you never know what’s going to happen. You are constantly wondering if you are going to get security clearance or if your licence is going to be accepted. It’s just such a gamble. I can see how it’s going to limit 99 per cent of the people trying to get into this industry.”

It’s evident that the current framework hinders participation from experienced small-scale cannabis producers, and remains more accessible to corporate companies that have greater access to capital. This limits innovation and representation from the very people that gave craft cannabis (specifically from B.C.) its global reputation for quality.

Individual stakeholders and non-profit organisations like the B.C. Craft Farmers Co-op continue to advocate for a fair playing ground between corporations and small farmers, so that B.C. can maintain its worldwide reputation for producing exceptional small-batch cannabis.

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