Aphria Inc., the area’s largest marijuana producer, celebrates new era of legalized cannabis
Leamington-based firm now ready ‘to hit it out of the park,’ founder says
It seemed like there was only one party in Essex County where you couldn’t get weed Wednesday, and one of Canada’s largest marijuana producers was the host. To celebrate the end of a century of marijuana prohibition, Aphria hosted a community barbecue outside Jose’s Bar and Grill in Leamington, with “no smoking ” signs posted along the fence. “There’s no cannabis allowed to be smoked inside the venue, just to respect people that might not necessarily want to consume it or be around it,” said Cory Cacciavillani, operations manager at Aphria Diamond.
Apart from the lack of consumption, the party was a celebration of all things cannabis. There was a display booth to educate people about the subtleties of Aphria’s Solei line of cannabis. Brand reps handed out rolling papers and matches.
People wore masks and ties adorned with marijuana leaves, and T-shirts that read “Puff, Pass, Puff.” Aphria CEO Vic Neufeld was sporting a novelty necklace with a flashing pot plant. “We’re celebrating today,” he said. “This day is going to be in the history books one day, where Canada led the charge. This concept of adult use, recreational, legal in Canada, is momentous. It’s monumental. It’s putting us on the map.” Aphria also hosted two parties in Toronto on Tuesday for investors, shareholders, media, and other influencers. But Cacciavillani, dressed in a green suit covered in marijuana leaves, said Wednesday ’s barbecue was to show appreciation for the community where Aphria is based.
“Aphria is throwing a local appreciation lunch for the town, for people to come out, get educated, learn about the brands that we’re launching,” he said. “Just get it out of the shadows and into the light.” “It’s almost a century of prohibition being ended, Canada kind of taking a stance for the whole world to see, and all the hard work we’ve been doing at Aphria for the last four years kind of coming to fruition.”
Now that legalization has come to fruition, said Neufeld, the pressure is on.
“The world is watching us,” he said. “They’re wanting to see how are we getting it right or wrong, how are we correcting things that need correction. So there’s a lot of spotlight on Canada, on Health Canada, on Aphria, our whole industry. I feel very confident. And it’s an exciting day.”
But Neufeld added that with the pressure comes a lot of opportunity.
“Up until midnight last night, we were strictly a medical platform, and doing quite nicely,” he said. “Profitable. But now this opens up an opportunity where it really shows who can hit it out of the park. Not just cultivation and low-cost producer. Not just brand architecture and getting out there in our case with our five brands. But understanding the consumer. Who are they? Where do they spend their entertainment dollar? What’s the experience they’re expecting from product A, B or C? And ultimately also price points.” Neufeld said he plans to keep price points low with technology, efficiencies, and mass production. By next spring, he expects Aphria will be producing 20,000 kilograms of marijuana every month. “I’ll be kicking ass,” said Neufeld. “I’ll be producing an annualized run rate, by May or June of 2019, of 255,000 kilos or more. I’m going to be driving out a lot of costs with automation that our team has put together. It’s beyond description, the level of sophistication that we have built into our facilities.”