The adult-use cannabis market is about to open up in Canada. On Oct. 17, the country will become arguably the most cannabis-friendly nation in the world and is likely to shake up global perceptions of cannabis.<\/p>\n
Entrepreneur and activist Justin Cooper is both a leader in Canada\u2019s legal cannabis industry and a vocal advocate whose efforts helped win the right of medical users to home cultivation \u2014 an important prelude to general legalization. His company, Green Planet, supplies equipment to all of Canada\u2019s Licensed Producers of cannabis and is producing its own line of fertilizers. With \u201crecreational\u201d cannabis about to go legal in Canada, he shared his thoughts on how we got to this point, and the road ahead.<\/b><\/p>\n
Prelude: The Medicinal Struggle<\/b><\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s path to cannabis legalization really\u00a0began with the medical marijuana program<\/a>, which came online in 2001 following litigation from patients. But it has been a struggle to preserve the rights established by that medicinal program, which was initially called the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR). In 2013, a new system came in, the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), which mandated that patients purchase mail-order dried cannabis cultivated by Licensed Producers. Cooper, whose own business was providing to the LPs, nonetheless came forward to assist the fight for the right to home cultivation.<\/p>\n \u201cMMAR allowed patients to grow medically in Canada,\u201d Cooper recalls. \u201cOnce the federal government started to put their heads around how to get rid of the medical growers, one of my customers came to me and said he wanted to take on the government\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n That was Jason Wilcox, co-founder of the\u00a0Cannabis In Canada Society<\/a>, who teamed up with attorney John Conroy to launch the litigation that ultimately won back the right to home cultivation. \u201cGreen Planet gave the initial seed money to get the case started,\u201d Cooper says.<\/p>\n Cooper acknowledges that many of the 45,000 licensed home-growers under the MMAR were customers of\u00a0Pacific Northwest Garden Supply<\/a>, a chain he co-owns that has several outlets in British Columbia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t in good faith stand by and watch them lose their ability cultivate medical marijuana,\u201d he says. \u201cSeeing people come in wheelchairs with the loss on their faces, knowing they had to shut down their gardens\u2026 it was a really difficult time. So when we have the opportunity to do something about it, we had no choice but to act.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper also admits that at first, \u201cI felt we were throwing our money away. How often can you fight the federal government and win?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But it became a vigorous effort \u2014 with the legal effort backed up by a public campaign to raise awareness and funds, under the rubric of the Coalition Against Repeal. And in the end, it was successful.<\/p>\n The 2013 injunction in\u00a0Allard v. Her Majesty the Queen<\/i><\/a>\u00a0only impacted the 45,000 patients under the former MMAR system \u2014 allowing them to keep growing their own. But in 2016, a final decision in favor of the plaintiffs prompted Health Canada to implement yet a third system, the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR<\/a>). This restored a right to home cultivation even for new patients entering the system. Canada now has\u00a0some 200,000 registered users<\/a>.<\/p>\n And come Oct. 17, all Canadians over the age of 18 (or 19 in some provinces) will be able to cultivate four plants for personal \u201crecreational\u201d use. Cooper is developing the website\u00a0GrowYourFour.ca<\/a>\u00a0to encourage his compatriots to get started. \u201cWe want to take away the stigma, educate and inspire Canadians to learn more and understand how to grow your four plants at home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a really big deal,\u201d Cooper enthuses about the present moment. \u201cWe\u2019re the second country to legalize after Uruguay, and the\u00a0first member of Commonwealth. So this sets a precedent for all the other Commonwealth countries. We also have the longest border in the world with the country that views cannabis as having no medical benefit, even when 31 of its own states have some kind of medical program.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing his comments to the United States, he adds: \u201cIt\u2019s a pivotal moment globally. There are 120 LPs in Canada that are able to cultivate and export cannabis globally, and trade on the Canadian stock exchanges. So U.S. citizens can invest in cannabis on the Canadian stock exchange\u2014 \u00a0even though it\u2019s still technically illegal in your country.\u201d<\/p>\n A big, scientifically sophisticated industry will pose an increasing challenge to the global prohibition regime, in Cooper\u2019s view.<\/p>\n However, Cooper does think that Canada needs to make room beside the massive Licensed Producer cultivators for smaller cannabis growers. Reminded that the phenomenon of \u201ccorporate cannabis\u201d or \u201cbig bud\u201d is sparking a backlash, and a great deal of skepticism from small cultivators and consumers, Cooper is quick to point out that there is a place for \u201cgrassroots\u201d operators in the emerging system.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people want sun-grown boutique or craft cannabis, and I\u2019m a believer in this artisanal component to the industry.\u201d He points to a new LP,\u00a0BC Craft Supply<\/a>, which has emerged to service this specialty market. It will not actually cultivate, but will purchase from what Cooper calls \u201ccraft producers.\u201d<\/p>\n These small\u00a0\u201ccraft\u201d manufacturers will only be able to sell to an LP \u2014 not to the end-user.<\/p>\n \u201cMicro-cultivation licenses<\/a>\u201d for such producers will be coming online soon through Health Canada, limited to 200 square meters (2,152 square feet) of canopy per licensed unit.<\/p>\n Cooper also notes that pesticide use across the industry is\u00a0tightly regulated by Health Canada<\/a>. \u201cThe stronger commercial pesticides are barred, with just a few of the more benign ones approved.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper relates something of his personal vision, as a founder and co-owner of\u00a0Green Planet<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which is actually two companies, a wholesale distributor of cultivation equipment and a nutrient producer. Green Planet Wholesale now supplies all of Canada\u2019s LPs, while Green Planet Nutrients sells to cultivators in several countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Chile and Australia. Pacific Northwest Garden Supply is meanwhile the largest private retail chain in Canada\u2019s hydroponic industry.<\/p>\n \u201cI endorse growing your own, whether that\u2019s food or cannabis,\u201d Cooper says. \u201cGreen Planet Nutrients is a blend specialized with the correct ratios of micro, secondary and macronutrients that cannabis loves.\u201d He says 25 years of experience has produced his\u00a0balanced combination of synthetic salts and organic ingredients.<\/p>\n Green Planet Wholesale is now the Canadian distributor for products such as\u00a0Gorilla Grow Tent<\/a>, designed for indoor hydroponic cultivation, and\u00a0Method Seven<\/a>\u00a0protective eyewear, which allows cultivators to work under high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting for long hours without retinal damage. Another is the\u00a0AutoPot<\/a>\u00a0gravity-fed hydroponic system.<\/p>\n Cooper launched Green Planet in 1993 in Surrey, the working-class Vancouver suburb where he grew up. \u201cWe\u2019ve built this company through hard work, effort and a dream,\u201d he says. \u201cMy parents were hippies and I knew cannabis wasn\u2019t as dangerous as we were told it was, and every day that I\u2019ve been working here it\u2019s become better and better for you. The more we learn, the more you realize we\u2019ve been fed a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper reflects on how consciousness about the plant has evolved since he started his business.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, everyone was trying to breed as much THC as possible. With new techniques, we\u2019ve come to an understanding of how terpenes work synergistically with different cannabinoids for a whole-plant experience and an entourage effect,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not all about THC anymore. Pheno-hunters are germinating seeds every day to access new varieties and hybrids that were never before available, to meet different needs. \u2018Different strains for different pains,\u2019 as we say. And what works for your endocannabinoid system may not work for mine.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper also sees cannabis legalization as having positive implications for the global climate crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen the tip of the iceberg of how cannabis is going to change the planet. Hemp absorbs carbon from the atmosphere at a very fast rate, and removes nutrients from fields at a very slow rate,\u201d Cooper says. \u201cIt can be used to make a renewable building material: hempcrete. The seeds are full of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that help cognitive function. CBD has major medical benefits. At a time when global food security is an issue, and pharmaceutical companies pushing opioids is an issue, cannabis is a great alternative, a potential natural remedy for many of our problems.\u201d<\/p>\n He points to the use of hemp crops to decontaminate the soil near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, in a process known as\u00a0phytoremediation<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much happening in the cannabis field right now, and every Canadian is going to be able to have their piece of it,\u201d Cooper concludes. \u201cAnd that to me is exciting.\u00a0The moment the government says it\u2019s legal, the stigma factor shifts. People who have stayed away from cannabis, even to deal with pain, because of the stigma of using an illegal drug may now see it as a viable al medication or just as a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/b>\u00a0are you excited about Canada\u2019s impending legal cannabis market?<\/p>\n The post Green Planet CEO on Canadian Legalization: \u2018We Haven\u2019t Seen the Tip of the Iceberg\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The adult-use cannabis market is about to open up in Canada. On Oct. 17, the country will become arguably the most cannabis-friendly nation in the world and is likely to shake up global perceptions of cannabis. Entrepreneur and activist Justin Cooper is both a leader in Canada\u2019s legal cannabis industryContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6166,34,50,6167,170,6168,687,6169,4318,6172,6173,4050],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29944,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29943\/revisions\/29944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Canada in the Global Vanguard<\/h4>\n
Room for \u2018Craft Cannabis\u2019<\/h4>\n
The Green Planet Story<\/h4>\n
Cannabis and Planetary Survival<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Green Planet CEO on Canadian Legalization: \u2018We Haven\u2019t Seen the Tip of the Iceberg\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"