In an interview with the CBC, the executive vice-president of Aurora Cannabis, a licensed producer in the Great White North, is confident current operators will be able to serve Canada’s recreational cannabis market but the companies need to ramp up production in preparation.
“We need to expand our capacity right away simply to meet the demands of the rapidly growing medical cannabis system,” said Cam Battley. “When the demand of the adult consumer system is layered on top of that, it’s a rush to build as much capacity as possible.”
Aurora is doing their part – currently constructing their second facility known as Aurora Sky, an 800,000-square-foot facility at Edmonton International Airport.
Jordan Sinclair, communications director for licensed producer Canopy Growth, said that the demand for medical cannabis in Canada “doesn’t seem to be slowing down…and then with recreation, obviously that’s a massive market opportunity.”
Both companies have found great success in the nation’s medical cannabis industry as both are traded on Canada’s flagship stock exchange, the TSX. Aurora graduated to the big exchange last week, and senior management, directors, key stakeholders, and company supporters rang the opening bell on Monday. Canopy began trading on the TSX in July 2016.
“This is a coming of age, not just for Aurora, but for the cannabis sector and what we’re seeing now is that Canada has established itself as the world leader in a brand new emerging industry that we are literally inventing in real time,” Battley said in the report.
There are more than 60 medical cannabis producers licensed by Health Canada.
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