Executives from some of Canada’s largest licensed producer operations met in Denver to provide an information session at the 2015 National Cannabis Summit, titled “Investing in the Canadian Cannabis Sector.”
Participating were PharmaCan Capital CEO Paul Rosen, licensed producer Tilray CEO Greg Engel, licensed producer Canopy Growth Corp CEO Bruce Linton, Supreme Pharmaceuticals CEO John Fowler, and Santé Cannabis CEO Adam Greenblatt.
The presentation offered a look into the potential future of Canada’s medical, and recreational, cannabis industry.
Highlights from the discussion included the panelists discussion of the dispensary situation in Canada. The panel expected changes to occur that would allow licensed producers to open storefronts themselves or sell to dispensaries directly.
Linton said these changes could take place within the next 18 months.
The panelists were also in agreement that Health Canada‘s forecast of 450,000 registered medical cannabis users by 2024 is too low. Rosen estimated the country would eventually see 1 million patients enrolled in the federal government program.
Greenblatt suggested numbers are already higher than estimates, when patients are included who are accessing their medication outside of licensed sources.
The majority of the panel agreed the cannabis production market will eventually be dominated by large-scale operations, but they said it was too early to speculate which they may be.
Fowler said, eventually, some licensed operations will begin to purchase their supply, rather than manufacture it themselves.