CANNABIS GIANT AURORA TALKS LEGALIZATION AND BEYOND
Cam Battley, 49, chief corporate officer of Vancouver-based Aurora Cannabis Inc., sat down with Postmedia on Thursday ahead of the Lift Cannabis Expo this weekend to talk legalization, expansion and the battle to be No. 1 in the Canadian market.
Q On Jan. 6, Aurora celebrated two years since selling its first gram of cannabis. What has been the company’s biggest achievement in that time?
A We have been the fastest-growing Canadian cannabis company in terms of registered patients, revenues and the generation of shareholder value. We have more than caught up to the companies that were so far ahead of us because we received our licences 18 months behind what are known as the “Blessed 13” first 13 companies to receive their licences from Health Canada. So we’ve more than caught up and we’ve surpassed all but one (Canopy Growth Corp.) — and we have our eyes on that position as well.
Q Aurora sold a record 354 kilograms of cannabis for $3.1 million in November. Will you be able to produce enough to meet demand ahead of legalization in July?
A Aurora is growing our production very, very quickly. We now have four production facilities — two in Alberta, two in Quebec — and we are going to be able to make a major contribution to being ready for consumer legalization in the summer of 2018. Collectively, the industry is putting together new capacity, building new facilities and creating more capacity to sell at a breakneck pace. So will we be ready on Day 1? I’m not sure if that’ll be the case — but very soon after we’re going to have enough capacity to replace the illegal market with legal, regulated (and) hence, safer, cannabis.
Q Legalization is only six months away and some people are worried all levels of government aren’t quite ready for it. What concerns do you have about the system?
A People ask me if I have concerns about the system and I really don’t. In Canada, we’ve established the world’s best, most effective, most well-developed medical cannabis system with more than 80 licensed producers in this country, and we have government officials from around the world coming to visit Canada to see how we made it work so well. We’re going to get consumer legalization right, as well.
Q Which distribution model does Aurora prefer?
A A privatized model or a hybrid model, and there’s a specific reason for that: We’re big enough that we’ll do great no matter what model provinces introduce, but we are also interested in fairness — and why not? We’re at the outset of a system, we’d like to see it done right. And we would particularly like to see the economic benefits ... be as broad and as widely available as possible. We want there to be room for the little guy. We want there to be room for small businesses and entrepreneurs. That’s the way to create an innovative, thriving, dynamic industry.
Q One criticism we hear is that large cannabis growers like Aurora lack variety — genetics — and aren’t able to meet the needs of patients the way small growers can.
A We have a large variety of genetics available to us. In our mother room, we have more than 250 strains represented there, so that’s a big part of our legacy as a company, and we’re always looking for new and interesting and valuable strains that have particularly beneficial effects on the therapeutic side or that would be highly in demand with the consumer system.