They REALLLY DONT GET IT but ah well let em try..
its gonna be funnier than shit that day.............and every day moving forward!
With a year to go and amid predictions of a looming supply shortage, Health Canada is scrambling to add capacity once the legalization floodgates swing open......
The rooms look familiar LMAOROTFF
Bill Panagiotakopoulos was surveying construction on his gated property outside Hamilton when he got the call he had been dreaming about for years: his company, Beleave Inc., was officially Canada’s 44th licensed marijuana producer.
The entrepreneur debated whether to answer the call from an unknown number that fateful mid-May afternoon, but as soon as he heard he was on a conference call with Health Canada representatives, he broke into a run, frantically searching for a quiet place to talk.
Panagiotakopoulos jumped into his truck just in time to hear the news: Beleave had the green light to grow pot.
With a year to go and amid predictions of a looming supply shortage, Health Canada is scrambling to add capacity, partly through recent regulatory changes designed to quickly increase the number of licensed producers and dedicated growing spaces.
Beleave was one of the last licensed producers admitted under the onerous process developed for the Conservative government’s commercial-scale medical marijuana market in 2014. Back then, it quickly became clear Health Canada preferred to deal with a small number of large, highly regulated producers.
Even though that is changing, Panagiotakopoulos, Beleave’s co-founder and chief operating officer, was stunned by the licensing news.
After years of hardship — from forgoing salaries to remortgaging homes to keep the company solvent — he and his friends are among the elite few to successfully navigate Health Canada’s highly regulated medical marijuana application process.
“Everything stops, everything that was on your mind goes, because this is something we’ve been building for almost four years with a lot of sacrifice,” Panagiotakopoulos said. “It’s always been a hard fight, so the people who say, ‘Big companies are taking this over, it’s only people in the know,’ well, it’s not.”
The founders of Beleave liken themselves to scrappy underdogs who persevered to become members of one of Canada’s most exclusive clubs.
This is something we have been building for almost four years with a lot of sacrifice
Bill Panagiotakopoulos, COO of Beleave
But the men have yet to celebrate since they are focused on how much work there is still to do. Everything they planned has to be put into practice: from security clearances and health and safety protocols to hiring employees and arranging their first shipment of plants.
The countdown is on at Health Canada, too.
The department initially approved two per cent of applicants at a pace of just one or two per quarter, but as of June 21 had approved more than five new producers since Beleave secured a licence in May. Three of those were doled out on a single day in June.
One reason for the increased pace of approvals is that many industry watchers have raised concerns about the ability of licensed producers to supply enough product in the early days of a legal market.
Some of Canada’s 150,000 medical marijuana patients are already complaining of product shortages and the medical market alone is expected to increase to 500,000 patients by 2021, a projected demand of 150,000 kilograms resulting in sales of $1.8 billion, according to Canaccord Genuity.
Meanwhile, the firm estimates there will be some 3.8 million additional recreational users, consuming an estimated 420,000 kilograms worth $6 billion by 2021.
Principals and founders of Beleave, Canadaâs latest licensed cannabis operation pose in the clone room of their Hamilton, Ont. facility. From left to right, Roger Ferreira CEO, COO Bill Panagiotakopoulos, CFO, Bojan Krasic, director, Gordon Harvey and master grower Shane Stubbs. Glenn Lowson for National Post
its gonna be funnier than shit that day.............and every day moving forward!
With a year to go and amid predictions of a looming supply shortage, Health Canada is scrambling to add capacity once the legalization floodgates swing open......
The rooms look familiar LMAOROTFF
Bill Panagiotakopoulos was surveying construction on his gated property outside Hamilton when he got the call he had been dreaming about for years: his company, Beleave Inc., was officially Canada’s 44th licensed marijuana producer.
The entrepreneur debated whether to answer the call from an unknown number that fateful mid-May afternoon, but as soon as he heard he was on a conference call with Health Canada representatives, he broke into a run, frantically searching for a quiet place to talk.
Panagiotakopoulos jumped into his truck just in time to hear the news: Beleave had the green light to grow pot.
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With a year to go and amid predictions of a looming supply shortage, Health Canada is scrambling to add capacity, partly through recent regulatory changes designed to quickly increase the number of licensed producers and dedicated growing spaces.
Beleave was one of the last licensed producers admitted under the onerous process developed for the Conservative government’s commercial-scale medical marijuana market in 2014. Back then, it quickly became clear Health Canada preferred to deal with a small number of large, highly regulated producers.
Even though that is changing, Panagiotakopoulos, Beleave’s co-founder and chief operating officer, was stunned by the licensing news.
After years of hardship — from forgoing salaries to remortgaging homes to keep the company solvent — he and his friends are among the elite few to successfully navigate Health Canada’s highly regulated medical marijuana application process.
“Everything stops, everything that was on your mind goes, because this is something we’ve been building for almost four years with a lot of sacrifice,” Panagiotakopoulos said. “It’s always been a hard fight, so the people who say, ‘Big companies are taking this over, it’s only people in the know,’ well, it’s not.”
The founders of Beleave liken themselves to scrappy underdogs who persevered to become members of one of Canada’s most exclusive clubs.
This is something we have been building for almost four years with a lot of sacrifice
Bill Panagiotakopoulos, COO of Beleave
But the men have yet to celebrate since they are focused on how much work there is still to do. Everything they planned has to be put into practice: from security clearances and health and safety protocols to hiring employees and arranging their first shipment of plants.
The countdown is on at Health Canada, too.
The department initially approved two per cent of applicants at a pace of just one or two per quarter, but as of June 21 had approved more than five new producers since Beleave secured a licence in May. Three of those were doled out on a single day in June.
One reason for the increased pace of approvals is that many industry watchers have raised concerns about the ability of licensed producers to supply enough product in the early days of a legal market.
Some of Canada’s 150,000 medical marijuana patients are already complaining of product shortages and the medical market alone is expected to increase to 500,000 patients by 2021, a projected demand of 150,000 kilograms resulting in sales of $1.8 billion, according to Canaccord Genuity.
Meanwhile, the firm estimates there will be some 3.8 million additional recreational users, consuming an estimated 420,000 kilograms worth $6 billion by 2021.
Principals and founders of Beleave, Canadaâs latest licensed cannabis operation pose in the clone room of their Hamilton, Ont. facility. From left to right, Roger Ferreira CEO, COO Bill Panagiotakopoulos, CFO, Bojan Krasic, director, Gordon Harvey and master grower Shane Stubbs. Glenn Lowson for National Post