U.S. rapper B-Real (Cypress Hill, Prophets of Rage) has collaborated with Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewing on a variety of its ‘420’ brand of cannabis-scented beer. (Video screengrab from Sweetwaterbrew.com via YouTube)

Canadian pot producer Aphria to buy U.S. craft brewer

SweetWater's '420' beer would come to Canada

Reuters — Canadian cannabis company Aphria Inc. said on Wednesday it plans to buy craft brewer SweetWater Brewing for US$300 million as it looks to expand into the U.S. while becoming the first major pot producer to enter the alcoholic beverages market. The deal gives Leamington, Ont.-based Aphria a U.S. distribution point at a time […] Read more

Signage on a Tweed retail outlet in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canopy Growth to move U.S. listing to Nasdaq

Canadian cannabis company minding expenses

Reuters — Canadian pot producer Canopy Growth said on Tuesday it would move its U.S. stock listing to the Nasdaq, following rival Aphria in favouring the exchange’s “cost-effectiveness.” Canopy’s U.S. shares, currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, rose over four per cent in extended trading. Years of high expenses and a lack of […] Read more

(Creative-Family/iStock/Getty Images)

Cannabis-infused drinks fizzle on production, distribution challenges

'Actually executing the idea is much more difficult'

Reuters — Investors pinning hopes on cannabis-infused drinks to propel growth of the legal marijuana industry may have to wait a bit longer, as companies struggle to produce and distribute the highly-sought beverages in a profitable way. Nearly 11 months after regulators allowed their sales, very few brands have been able to reach shelves. Canada […] Read more

Cannabis grower Steve Dillon tends to his plants on his farm in Humboldt County, California.

Cannabis boom squeezes farmland across North America

Legalization and decriminalization have led to greater demand for places to produce the drug

Thomson Reuters Foundation – While the coronavirus pandemic has caused the collapse of retail businesses across the globe, there is one thing people have been buying more of during months of lockdown: marijuana. The legal cannabis industry set sales records across the United States and Canada over the past six months, according to cannabis analytics […] Read more

A Meta Cannabis retail store on Yonge Street in Toronto. (CNW Group/Meta Growth)

Canadian cannabis retailers poised to merge

High Tide, Meta Growth to create biggest weed retailer

Two major Canadian cannabis sellers are poised to create the largest pot retailer in the country by revenue. Calgary retailer High Tide Inc., which operates the Canna Cabana chain of stores in three provinces, announced a merger deal Friday to take up Toronto-based Meta Growth Corp., which runs the Meta Cannabis and NewLeaf Cannabis chains. […] Read more


Plants at Delta 9 Cannabis’ indoor production facility in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Cannabis industry readies for M+A after COVID-19 boosts weed demand

Companies betting on U.S. market growth after election

Reuters — After nearly a year of next-to-no dealmaking, cannabis companies are gearing up for mergers and acquisitions (M+A) as realistic stock valuations and the prospect of U.S. legalization attract buyers to a sector that has been decimated by oversupply and other issues, executives and investors say. Profitable cannabis companies want to buy their way […] Read more

Aurora Cannabis in November 2019 opened a flagship retail store at the West Edmonton Mall, describing the 11,000-square foot shop as “both a retail cannabis store and an immersive experiential space.” (CNW Group/Aurora Cannabis Inc.)

Aurora Cannabis to shut five Canadian grows

Closures mean layoffs for 30 per cent of firm's production staff

Edmonton marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis is poised to close five of its grow sites across Canada and lay off almost a third of its production workforce. The company on Tuesday announced next steps in the “business transformation plan” it launched in February to “better align the business financially with the current realities of the cannabis […] Read more

There was a $1.7 billion increase in licensed cannabis producer receipts during the first full year of legalized recreational marijuana use.

Cannabis carries farm growth in otherwise average year

Crop receipts declined 1.1 per cent without cannabis numbers included

Glacier FarmMedia – New data from Statistics Canada shows farm cash receipts continue to trend upward, increasing in 2019 by 5.7 per cent or $66.1 billion to mark the ninth consecutive year of increase and the largest single-year uptick since 2012. But that number is less impressive when cannabis is removed from the equation, which […] Read more


Plants at Delta 9 Cannabis’ indoor production facility in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Legalization lifts Canada’s net farm income in 2019

Livestock receipts up, unsmokeable crop receipts lower

A significant year-over-year increase Canada booked last year in realized net farm income rests mainly on 2019’s status as the country’s first full year in the recreational cannabis market. Statistics Canada on Tuesday released full-year data on farm income, pegging Canada’s realized net farm income for 2019 at $4.9 billion — a 10.4 per cent […] Read more

Signage on a Tweed retail outlet in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canopy Growth to close Saskatchewan pot plant

Ontario company stepping out of other international plays

A major indoor cannabis grow site at Yorkton, Sask. is the latest casualty as pot producer/retailer Canopy Growth adjusts its worldwide footprint. Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Canopy Growth, whose cannabis brands include Tweed, Tokyo Smoke, Van der Pop and Spectrum Therapeutics, announced Thursday it will shut down its Tweed Grasslands production facility at Yorkton to “further […] Read more