TORONTO – The small town of Smiths Falls, Ont. is looking to make some money off of marijuana.
While many residents are excited about possible job creation, not all the residents are convinced that turning part of an old Hershey’s chocolate factory into a commercial marijuana plant is the right move.
Chuck Rifici of Tweed Inc. has applied for a licence to produce medical weed in the abandoned factory. He says he’s trying to help a struggling community by providing jobs while giving suffering patients a quality product.
“The world has changed, and this is a legitimate business that (thousands of) Canadians rely on,” Mayor Dennis Staples told the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday. “It’s going to create jobs that we sorely need, and we hope that the remaining space continues to attract other tenants.”
When the Hershey confectionary factory—the largest in Canada—shut its doors in 2008, 500 jobs were lost. The town’s water tower slogan “Chocolate Capital of Ontario” was repainted, and the museum and gift shop would no longer draw thousands of visitors each year.
Smiths Falls resident Sandra Schoenherr Collins has been living in the town for 32 years, working as a photographer. She had many friends who worked at the Hershey plant, and comforted them when it was shuttered.
“When the Hershey factory closed down, it affected so many people,” wrote Collins in a message to Global News. “It brought real sadness to the town and a sense of fear as to what would come next to replace the jobs lost.”
Collins said she’s seen a fairly equal amount of positive and negative feedback to the potential plant: some are concerned with the town’s reputation, a potential smell of weed wafting through, or security. But Collins believes it’s a step forward.
Vieira agrees the plant could be just what the town needs to put it “on the map.”
“When I first got offered a job in Smiths Falls, I said, ‘Where’s that? Never heard of it.’ And I get that reaction from a lot of people,” he said.
“It’s definitely going to produce jobs in the community,” he said. “And I know while the building is being set up, it’s going to bring me revenue, because it’s going to be construction crews from out of town.”
Vieira has been the GM for two years, living between Smiths Falls and Toronto. He describes the town of about 9,000 residents as a friendly, safe place to live on the Rideau Canal. Vieira says many of the staff at the Comfort Inn live in Smiths Falls, and also acknowledges the reaction has been mixed.
Collins said security concerns should be tempered by the fact the plant is located across the street from the town’s police station, and has faith that Health Canada’s regulation will keep things under control.
“There are always going to be people who make fun of the reputation of Smiths Falls, and maybe even more so right now with this in the media. But…the reputation of the town should not be based alone on one plant,” she wrote. “I see in the long run it being nothing but a positive step for the town’s reputation.”
Tweed Inc. proposes to produce at least 20 strains to start, and will reserve 10 per cent of production for compassionate, low-cost prescriptions for impoverished patients, according to Rifici.
With a file from The Canadian Press
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