The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - The State of Cannabis Production in Ontario

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Sara Epp, assistant professor in the Rural Planning and Development Program at the University of Guelph, discusses the state of cannabis production in Ontario and the challenges facing the industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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roller coasters where it's been done so well during especially with previously to the recreational legalization we had a huge medicinal sector and it was doing quite well to the recreational legalization, we had a huge medicinal sector and it was doing quite well. And then with legalization I think we expected it would do even better and we haven't really seen that. So we've seen this roller coaster ride of like really really good and a lot sort of pushing back at this point. But the significant impacts right now I think is in some of them all the smaller scale producers. Those that are doing it from a craft perspective, those that are more niche oriented outdoor growth as an example. So I think the smaller scale

producers are much more significant at this point and there's much more opportunity I think for them at this point than we see with the large sort of corporate structure that we had in the past. How we accept cannabis production in our rural communities in particular, it's one of those uses that's very sensitive, you either love it or you hate it. You either are fully in support or you're against. And it is a form of agriculture that absolutely has a place in our rural communities. And that stigma attached to it is really, I think, preventing a lot of opportunities for new entrants, for growth, for economic development, simply because we still have that stigma attached to it.