Investor Says Future of Cannabis Production is From Outside Canada

In a recent Toronto Sun article, investorĀ Anthony Wile from Toronto-based venture capital firm The Wile Group Ltd. said that the future of Canada’s cannabis industry won’t see production in this country.

ā€œCanada does not offer the appropriate climate to produce these products in either an environmentally friendly and natural manner or a cost structure necessary to eliminate the black market,” Wile said. “Embracing international trade with countries better suited to marijuana cultivation is the right thing to do on all counts — environmental, cost and social impact.ā€

According to Wile, Canadian producers, large or small, can’t offer cannabis at a competitive enough price to eliminate the black market when regions near the equator are able toĀ grow year-round, outside without the heavy need for electricity.Ā Importing from these warmer areas will allow cannabis production forĀ cents a gram.

Wile said substance bans have devastated Latin American countriesĀ in the past.

ā€œMany of these countries and their people have suffered tremendously from the illicit trade in drugs,ā€ Wile said. ā€œTheĀ development of a regulated international marketplace may provide the opportunity to finally eliminate the criminal black market and improve the quality of living for people in these regions.ā€

Wile said the domestic industry should, instead, focus on services and value-added products to compliment the foreign grown cannabis.

“We must allow importation,ā€ Wile said. ā€œProtectionism has proven to be a failed economic policy across the board, and the marijuana market is no different.ā€

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