Pot profiteer
Medical marijuana business nearing lift-off in Truro

EVAN PRICE is getting close to the finish line in his race to open Nova Scotia’s first medical marijuana business.

The president of Truro Herbal Co. learned late in 2015 that the company received what’s known as “Stage 3” approval from Health Canada under federal medical marijuana production regulations. The company has since submitted a security system plan to Health Canada that must be approved. If it gets that, Price is shooting for construction of a 17,000 square foot production facility to start by the spring of 2016. Price says the facility is licensed to produce between three and 15 million grams of saleable medical marijuana annually.

If that happens, Price will be making history. Truro Herbal Co. will be Nova Scotia’s first licensed medical marijuana producer, and only the second in Atlantic Canada. As patients are now able to use cannabis to alleviate symptoms of terminal or chronic conditions, entrepreneurs like Price have started businesses across Canada to supply them with their medicine of choice. “Our market initially is Atlantic Canada, where patients have been greatly underserved,” says Price.

However, Atlantic Canada isn’t the only region where patients looking for pot to deal with illness are being shortchanged. Licensed medical marijuana businesses are rare in most parts of Canada.