CannTrust, ‘leading’ medical cannabis provider, halts sales amid Health Canada probe

CannTrust, which describes itself as a “leading” provider of medical cannabis, has voluntarily halted all sales and shipments of its product after Health Canada found that it was growing cannabis in five unlicensed rooms and after the ministry received inaccurate information.

The company has also set up a special committee to investigate the matter.

CannTrust is doing this as a “precaution” as Health Canada investigates the company’s facility in Vaughan, Ont., a company release said Thursday.

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“CannTrust is working closely with the regulator through the review process and expects to provide further detail of the duration of the hold and other development as they become available,” the release added.

The moves come after the company said it had placed a hold on over 5,000 kg of dried cannabis that had been grown in unlicensed rooms at a facility in Pelham, Ont. between October 2018 and March 2019.

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The company had applications for the rooms pending with Health Canada at the time.

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CannTrust announced on Monday that it had placed a hold on approximately 7,500 kg of dried cannabis equivalent at its facility in Vaughan.

That product had been produced in the unlicensed rooms in Pelham, CannTrust said.

The Ontario Cannabis Store announced Wednesday that it was pulling some of the company’s products from online sales, and from being shipped to brick-and-mortar stores, as Health Canada investigated.

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Any customers who had ordered CannTrust product were eligible for refunds if the products were returned unopened within two weeks of delivery.

The Ontario Cannabis Store did not say which products had been pulled.

CannTrust serves over 72,000 medical patients with dried, extract and capsule products, it said in the release.

The company operates a harvest facility in Pelham and a manufacturing facility in Vaughan.

• With files from The Canadian Press