O CANNABIS
Legalization has B.C. Bud producers wary
Hidden in the shadows of snow-capped mountains, scattered along the grassy banks of glassy rivers, a billiondollar black market quietly keeps Canadians stoned.
Since the early 1970s, southeast B.C.’s Kootenay Rockies region has been a key player in the nation’s cannabis industry.
Some 150,000 people live here, many of them farmers who have set aside patches of land and corners of chicken coops to cultivate small crops of lush indicas and sativas — the infamous B.C. Bud. Police and industry insiders believe each year, thousands of them contribute to this aromatic cash crop worth an estimated $2 billion to $7 billion provincewide.
“Phil,” a medium- to largescale cannabis producer, invited Postmedia News to visit his facility in the Kootenays on the condition his identity and location would be carefully protected.
On a sunny morning in June, a short cruise down a potholed driveway brought this reporter and a videographer into Phil’s mysterious world — a hulking production facility nestled in the woods, hidden from the eyes of law enforcement and thieves.
Phil stands outside in a black T-shirt, a warm smile on his slender face. His dog slinks into the facility while we unload gear from the rental car.
Phil is kind, but cautious. He gently reminds us about the agreement to protect his identity, made for the sake of his wife and children, his employees, his crop and his industry colleagues. Despite his concerns of “prosecution and persecution,” Phil wanted to speak about widespread fears that legalization will destroy his industry. He brings us inside. The facility has rooms for mothering and trimming, propagation, growing and budding.
In the trimming room, Phil’s dog lazes in the shade. Across the room, dozens of potted cannabis plants grow shoulder high. Motorized lights slide back and forth. Fans hum.
In 2011, Phil began to acquire Designated Person Production Licences under Canada’s nowdefunct Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR), which continue to allow him to grow 294 cannabis plants. From these, he is permitted to legally supply 60 grams of dried cannabis each day to a trio of patients he met through a trade organization.
Sometimes, producers like Phil grow more than their patients buy. They are required to destroy the excess, but don’t. It winds up in dispensaries across the country.
The federal government maintains the only legal commercial sources are the 35 Licensed Producers (LPs) licensed by Health Canada, which operate with licences issued by Health Canada under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR). Illegally-supplied dispensaries and compassion clubs are not authorized to sell cannabis for any reason.
Phil sells some of his crop to a trio of dispensaries. He wouldn’t divulge details, but said many producers do this because growing for sick patients on tight budgets can end up costing producers faced with the cost of building facilities, buying supplies and paying wages.
They fear such cosy arrangements will fall apart if LPs seek to have their black-market competitors shuttered.
Sgt. Mike Wicentowich of the RCMP’s provincial general-investigation section has been involved with enforcement at hundreds of cannabis facilities in the Kootenays since 2000.
“If you’re growing it illegally, we still treat it like a crime — that’s the directive,” he said. “But the legal ones, it’s actually refreshing. We’ve taken a lot of work off our plates as police so we can focus on other things, and we’re focusing on the harder drugs, which I do believe are way more destructive.”
With cannabis, he said, police are primarily concerned about organized criminals, the proximity to schools and residential neighbourhoods and the violence that can occur when valuable crops are stolen.
Kootenay police are aware of the flow of cannabis from mostly mom-and-pop producers to dispensaries. As long as a dispensary is a “well-run place that is respectable, that is open to the police, that allows inspection, that doesn’t sell to kids, that monitors and regulates,” officers won’t be in a rush to shut it down, he said.
“The fact that we have these things is going to pull it out of the darkness, bring it into the light, make people feel safe and probably reduce any kinds of violent crimes or robberies associated with marijuana trafficking.”
Det. Const. Nathaniel Holt of the Nelson Police Department said most complaints about cannabis producers come from neighbours irked by the smell.
Holt’s first call is to Health Canada to confirm the producer has a licence. If the producer has that paperwork, police aren’t authorized to stop them. The vast majority cause no problems, Holt said.
“Really, a lot of these people don’t want to be known. They’re running a legitimate business that there is inherent risk involved in and they don’t want to attract attention to themselves.”
Phil said in his five years as a grower, he’s never rubbed elbows with organized criminals. He believes they have turned to more lucrative drugs, such as fentanyl and amphetamines.
“Most gangs aren’t actually interested in growing marijuana because it is very costly, it takes a long time to produce, it is risky.”
In Phil’s facility, a trio of trimmers — two women in their 40s and a man in his 20s — sit around a long table piled with clear Tupperware bins labelled with the names of his proprietary strains. They wear blue nitrile gloves and use scissors — lubricated with organic olive oil — to snip leaves from pungent buds the size of hotdog buns.
Employees are cherished for their discretion. If a thief were to get wind of a producer’s grow cycle, it would put the crop at great risk. Trust is key.
Phil has three regular employees, with at least a dozen on call for trimming days. They earn $20 to $30 an hour, based on experience.
He believes more than half of Kootenays residents are connected to the cannabis industry, while
‘WE’VE TAKEN A LOT OF WORK OFF OUR PLATES AS POLICE SO WE CAN FOCUS ON OTHER THINGS, AND WE’RE FOCUSING ON THE HARDER DRUGS, WHICH I DO BELIEVE ARE WAY MORE DESTRUCTIVE.’ RCMP SGT. MIKE WICENTOWICH ‘THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY IS A BIG PART OF OUR ECONOMY HERE, ... ACKNOWLEDGED OR NOT.’ CHRIS CAMPBELL, OWNER, THE NELSON POTORIUM
most others are tied to service, logging, mining and manufacturing.
They’re part of a tightlyknit community that helps members through hard times caused by insects, heat or humidity. Many depend on the cannabis industry to fund other business ventures and top up meagre wages.
“A lot of them are very quiet about it,” Phil said. “They don’t want to make a lot of noise about it, but it’s what puts winter tires on their car, pays their property tax, helps them through the winter and fills their freezers with food.”
Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall doesn’t deny the role cannabis plays in her riding.
“The type of industry that’s grown under the black market is very much a craft industry, so if we lose that craft industry, the big question for us is, ‘What will be the outcome on our local economy?’ Everyone predicts that it will be negative.”
Mungall draws similarities between the cannabis and brewing industries, with room and demand for largescale brewers such as Molson, but space for smaller local brewers and micro-brewers.
“All of these (brewers) have a particular market and are doing quite well. They generate revenue for government, they generate jobs, they contribute to a local economy and there should be no reason why marijuana is treated any differently.”
We step outside Phil’s facility and go back in through another door that brings us into a small storage room.
Here, he’s posted his three MMAR licences, the patients’ identities blacked out by electrical tape.
He slips on an LED headlamp and opens a second door, taking us into a pitchblack space where a row of plants is in a dark cycle to trigger budding. We stumble to yet another door, which Phil swings open to blinding white light.
We step into a white-panelled room the size of a twocar garage. Inside, a complex network of hoses and pipes feeds nutrients and water to dozens of plants — some two metres tall — basking in the warm glow of lights with parabolic reflectors.
Typically, he has six or seven strains growing, but today there are 13, four of which are high-CBD, one predominately sativa, more hybrids and a couple of indicas — Nuken and Blue Cheese. He tenderly sniffs a bud the size of a Twinkie.
“It’s important for smallscale growers to be a part of the system because we offer much more diversity than bigger companies and corporations,” Phil said. “We’re always changing with the needs of the public and what the patients need.”
In Nelson, Alison VanNest, Chander Nath and Lita Moth run the Kootenay Compassion Collective. Inside are cosy rooms with massage tables and a place where patients can relax on couches.
Nath explained all their products are sourced locally, like a 100-Mile Diet of cannabis. They work with small growers to bring in strains requested by patients and fine-tune their stock to address particular ailments and needs.
“The level of integrity of growing is higher, people are personally involved and there’s a personal connection,” Moth said of the small growers they work with.
The trio was in consensus that there’s fear about how the federal system will play out for the producers who supply them. Moth said the industry plays a vital role in the generation of revenue in the community and the provision of well-paying jobs with flexible hours.
“You’ll see a lot of moms involved in the propagation and harvesting of cannabis,” Moth said. “These dollars that are generated go right back into the economy.”
Chris Campbell, owner of the Nelson Potorium, counts herself among those who may suffer.
“The cannabis industry is a big part of our economy here, whether it’s acknowledged or not,” she said. “It would definitely affect the area if that was taken away.”
Cannabis and extracts sourced from Kootenays growers and tested by Wagon Wheel Labs are displayed prominently inside a glass display case in her dispensary on the city’s downtown strip. These products were meant to be destroyed by MMAR producers, but were “donated” to her store, she said.
“My experience is, certainly in this area, that the smaller producers have a more artisanal feel to their craft. They’re concerned about the quality, especially if it’s medicine for themselves.”
But not all are singing the praises of small-scale blackmarket growers.
The Cannabis Canada Association represents 900 workers and about 60 per cent of the companies regulated by the ACMPR, including major LPs such as Aurora Cannabis Inc., Tweed Marijuana Inc. and Mettrum Health Corp.
Executive director Colette Rivet called the LP system a “gold standard,” recognized globally, but said the existence of the black market puts LPs at a disadvantage.
She said LPs must keep their costs below those in the black market to ensure patients can access affordable cannabis. Operators and investors sink millions of dollars and years of work into establishing facilities capable of producing cannabis that meets stringent federal health standards. They’re required to report to Health Canada on how much they grow, sell and destroy.
With black-market cannabis, there’s no guarantee of quality and safety, she said. “For instance, if you grow cannabis out in the field or a grow-op, there could be enormous amounts of pesticide, fungus, mould. Because they don’t test, you don’t know what you’re ingesting.”
Ian Dawkins, executive director of Cannabis Growers of Canada, which advocates for the inclusion of smalland medium-sized firms in the country’s legal marketplace, said he’s had a positive conversation on the issue with B.C. Premier Christy Clark, but has heard nothing from federal officials.
“I’m suspecting they hope that the problem will magically go away,” Dawkins said.
He believes enforcement against operations like Phil’s would damage B.C.’s economy.
An economist’s report commissioned by the CGC took U.S. census data that tallied 16,000 people licensed to work in the cannabis industry in Colorado. Comparing the state’s population to that of B.C., the report estimated 13,700 people could be working in the province’s cannabis industry.
“These are real people with real full-time employment in the cannabis economy, paying for their families,” Dawkins said. “These are basically seasonal agricultural jobs out here in the rural British Columbian communities. If that suddenly goes away, it’s not going to be replaced by anything. The licensed producers aren’t going to come to Nelson and hire 1,000 cannabis trimmers (and) dispensary staff. So if all these people are unemployed, what’s the plan?”
Outside Phil’s facility, we shoot a video interview in the company of fat mosquitos. Phil tells us he wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to consider how a system based on LPs and mailorder cannabis may not be what all Canadians want.
“I don’t know that legalization will actually bring anything good for small-scale growers,” Phil said.
“I worry that our government is going to do what it has done before with many other industries, which is allow a monopoly to basically steal what began as a momand-pop industry in British Columbia, with a very loosely knit community of growers throughout the province — thousands of growers strong, producing very small amounts on a monthly or tri-monthly basis, but cumulatively adding up to a large economic engine.”
Around noon, we shake hands and thank him for speaking with us. As our rental car rumbles down Phil’s driveway, his secret is swallowed up by the forest.
We serpentine through the mountains, pull over by a river and pop the trunk to grab the video equipment. The pungent, piney aroma of Phil’s crop has clung to the gear and our clothing, and lingers in the humid summer air.
Back in town, no one seems bothered by the smell.
‘THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT, PAYING FOR THEIR FAMILIES ... SO IF ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE UNEMPLOYED, WHAT’S THE PLAN?’ IAN DAWKINS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CANNABIS GROWERS OF CANADA ‘I WORRY THAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO DO WHAT IT HAS DONE BEFORE WITH MANY OTHER INDUSTRIES, WHICH IS ALLOW A MONOPOLY TO BASICALLY STEAL WHAT BEGAN AS A MOM-AND-POP INDUSTRY ... BUT CUMULATIVELY ADDING UP TO A LARGE ECONOMIC ENGINE.’ ‘PHIL,’ CANNABIS PRODUCER IN THE KOOTENAYS IT’S WHAT PUTS WINTER TIRES ON THEIR CAR, PAYS THEIR PROPERTY TAX ... AND FILLS THEIR FREEZERS WITH FOOD.