The only licensed marijuana producer in New Brunswick says the number of legal growing operations in the country will need to increase before they can haldne the demand expected from recreational users legally purchasing pot.
Denis Arsenault of Moncton’s OrganiGram, the first licensed marijuana grower in Atlantic Canada, believes federal legislation allowing widespread sale could come before the end of 2017, but the just over two dozen legal producers country-wide would have trouble providing enough of the plant to go around.
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“The current 28 licensed producers — we couldn’t possibly supply a recreational marketplace currently,” Arsenault said.
“So obviously we’re all expanding to prepare ourselves, but we would anticipate the federal government to give out more licenses.”
Recently Canada’s Island Garden Inc. became the first licensed producer from PEI and only the second in Atlantic Canada. Arsenault thinks that number will change as more producers apply for legal licenses in the near future.
“I would anticipate a province like Nova Scotia or Newfoundland to have a licensed producer,” he said.
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Arsenault says his dealings with the federal government give him reason to believe the legalization of recreational marijuana use is coming in the near future, and after the house sits next spring, the earliest the law could be changed would be the fall of 2017.