Health Canada Suspends CannTrust Cannabis License

Health Canada has suspended the license of CannTrust Holdings Inc. more than two months after the agency found the company had grown and sold cannabis in and from unlicensed rooms, built two rooms at one of its facilities without approval, and didn’t maintain documents in a way that allowed it to complete an audit in a timely manner.

The license suspension prevents the company from selling any products and from propagating new lots or batches of cannabis, but it can complete existing lots and perform other tasks related to those lots like drying, trimming, and milling.

Health Canada will reinstate the license if the firm can show they can produce and ship only product cultivated in licensed facilities and control the movement of its products, attempt to recover cannabis grown in the unlicensed greenhouses, show that key personnel understand the law, and improve their record-keeping practices.

“Over the past two months, the Company has moved swiftly to assess and address Health Canada’s concerns, including areas of operational non-compliance. The Company remains committed to being in full regulatory compliance.” – CannTrust, in a Sept. 17 statement

The license suspension is just the latest for the embattled company who was forced to put 12,000 kilograms of cannabis “on hold” in July after Health Canada discovered the unlicensed rooms at the company’s Pelham, Ontario facility. Two days later, Danish company StenoCare quarantined oil derived from the facility.

The following month, the company’s auditor, KPMG, withdrew its financial audits of CannTrust saying they were completed with unreliable information from representatives – namely former Chief Executive Peter Aceto and former President Eric Paul – who were fired after emails were published showing they knew about the illegal grows.