Invest in MJ Blog

Contributed to The Globe and Mail - Published Monday, Nov. 02, 2015 5:00AM EST
Anthony Wile is chief editor of the economic and investment newsletter The Daily Bell and chief investment strategist of High Alert Investment Management.

The election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals has had an immediate impact on the investment marketplace, with a rush to invest in the handful of publicly traded Canadian medical marijuana startups – all on the promise of legalization of recreational marijuana use.

However, as with any burgeoning new industry, including the Canadian cannabis industry as it “whitens” from its previous black-market status, investors considering directing their capital there may want to take a temporary respite from hitting the go button.

Investors who make assumptions today about what may be profitable tomorrow will likely find their wallets considerably lightened by a changing set of regulatory circumstances.

While a legalized cannabis industry means a substantial increase in potential profitability for the industry leaders already invested in the marketplace, for all investors the key questions are: What will that new landscape look like? How will the industry be regulated, structured and taxed? And, most importantly for the new or individual investor – how best to navigate the marketplace?

Tweed, one of Canada's first medical cannabis producers, recently renamed Canopy Growth Corporation, has opened a dispensary in Guelph. The storefront now known as Better by Tweed, opened Oct. 15 and is the town’s first dispensary.

In September, Tweed purchased MedCannAccess a company focused on helping new medical marijuana patients and acquired the group’s three community access centres in Guelph, Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area. The Hamilton location opened earlier in the week and Better by Tweed will soon expand with the Etobicoke Better Centre. 

The MedCannAccess locations had helped cannabis patients register with a licensed producer.

The Better by Tweed operation will provide patients with information packages to bring to their doctors to fill out and then return to the store where they can place orders for cannabis from Tweed’s production facilities in Smiths Falls, Toronto and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

“There will always be a market for medical marijuana, and, if the time comes, we’re well equipped for recreational use as well,” said Tweed president Mark Zekulin.

Transaction Unites Canada’s Two Strongest Cannabis Brands, and Establishes World’s Largest Publicly-Traded Cannabis Producer

June 24, 2015 – Toronto and Smiths Falls, Canada – Tweed Marijuana Inc. (“TMI” or “Tweed”) (TSXV: TWD), operator of licensed cannabis producers Tweed Inc. and Tweed Farms Inc., and Bedrocan Cannabis Corp. (“Bedrocan Canada”) (TSXV: BED) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement, pursuant to which TMI will acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Bedrocan Canada. TMI will be renamed at its annual meeting of shareholders to reflect its evolution as a multi-brand holding company. This acquisition marks the beginning of the structured evolution of the Canadian cannabis sector, and it is intended that TMI’s portfolio of technologies, brands and geographies will continue to expand.

In a recent article called Medical marijuana users concerned about drug supply posted on CBC News website, Yvonne Colbert writes about how some licensed producers under MMPR are getting sold out of supply in a matter of minutes.  Of the 13 licensed producers, some patients feel that the number of suppliers is not enough.  Tanya, a patient tells the reporter of her predicament: