At least two companies have plans to open medical marijuana facilities in Central Alberta.
MedCan, a medical cannabis company that plans to open a facility in Red Deer, is yet to receive Health Canada licensing. Same goes for Sundial, the company that’s constructing a medical marijuana facility in Olds and has applied for licence to produce there.
Wendy Konschuk, co-founder and director of MedCan Solutions Inc., said the licensing process is complicated, although “it’s moving along nicely.”
“I guess Health Canada has put out such stringent and strict rules,” she said. “It’s a new industry, new procedures and there are no models to follow.”
The company intends to use a 35,000-square-foot vacant building in the West QE2 Business Park in Red Deer. It received an approval from the city to develop a medical marijuana facility in September 2016.
South of Red Deer, in the Town of Olds, Sundial acquired 30 acres of land for future purposes of cultivating and harvesting dried marijuana. It is currently constructing a 405,000 square-foot facility in Olds that is expected to be in operation in 2018.
Since the federal government announced legalizing marijuana by July 2018, provinces have been engaging with the public to come up with legalizing guidelines.
Konschuk said Albertans should be proud of the public engagement initiative conducted by the province.
She encourages Albertans to take the online survey to let the government of Alberta know where they stand on marijuana legalization.
More than 45,000 people took the first provincial marijuana survey. Based on the input the government received, it created a draft framework that was announced Wednesday. Now the government is seeking input on the framework. The survey is open until Oct. 27 and can be found at alberta.ca/cannabis.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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