Since merging with the Cannabis Retailers, Distributors, and Growersā Association in February, Cannabis Growers of Canada has experienced what executive director Ian Dawkins called āexplosive growthā in membership.
āThe CGC had a handful of paid members andĀ now weāre approaching our 100th fully-paid member, once you hit that threshold it brings with it a certain amount of momentum,ā Dawkins said.
Dawkins said most of that growth is coming from dispensaries and cannabis-related businesses, with expansion growing as new members talk to their growers or retailers about the trade organization.
āThis week Iāve already had several conversations about dispensaries who have been taking to their growers and suppliers saying āyou should join,āā said Dawkins. āI think that growth in the hundreds is not unreasonable for the remainder of the year, potentially in the thousands, thereās certainly a lot of cannabis businesses in this country and theyāre all eager to be represented.ā
When CGC president Chad Jackett first started the organization his intention wasnāt to exclude non-growers from joining, but to look at the entire industry.
āYou canāt have growers without retailers and you certainly canāt have any retailers without growers,ā said Jackett. āI realized that nobody else in the industry was really looking at the industry as a whole, and you have to look at it from the very base of the industry āĀ which is the growers.
“When I first envisioned the Cannabis Growers of Canada it was really to put the entire industry together and make it work as refined, fine-tuned machine that works in the best interest of the people.”
While the cannabis industry expands, Dawkins said itās important to unite all members operating in it and the group hasĀ made an effort to target different sectors to let them know about how the CGC can aideĀ them.
āWe understand their issues and weāre trying to create a unified trade association that represents the entirety of the cannabis economy,ā Dawkins said. āWe now represent edible makers and professional services companies that arenāt directly in the cannabis industry, but which serve it. Weāve got a lot of dispensary members now and value-added product producers.ā
Jackett explained that CGC members are held to the highest standards of the cannabis industry to ensure that patients and customers can trust the products and services they receive.
āThe Growers is going to represent the best practices of the people that created the industry in the beginning and also be a voice for everybody to get what they want – true legalization and a free and fair market,ā said Jackett. āWe need to be that voice.ā
Dawkins said, as the group takes on more and more members across the country, the benefits to those in the organization, like political representation, also increase, for growers, retailers and other related businesses.
āAs a trade association, one of the things we can do is negotiate on behalf of our members so weāre heavily involved in getting value-added products such as banking services and insurance products that are specifically tailored to the cannabis industry,ā Dawkins said.
āOur growers and our value-added product makers will know what to produce to satisfy dispensary customers and the dispensaries will have more intelligence about who theyāre serving. Those are the type of things you usually have to be a big company to get at, but because weāre all banding together we can share those resources and that intelligence.ā
Jackett said itās vital for the industry to unite, as legalization opens the door to new players like pharmaceutical and liquor groups that want to shut out established members of the community.
āWeāre at the point of critical mass,ā said Jackett. āThe powers that be are trying to take hold of our industry. Itās time for us to stand-up and work together and not allow them to hijack our movement for their own cause and put their face on the hard work weāve done.ā
For more information about Cannabis Growers of Canada and becoming a member visit their website.