Cannabis Canada: Canopy Growth to close two facilities, lay off 500 staff

Employees work in the Mother Room at the Canopy Growth Corp. facility in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. , Chris Roussakis/Bloomberg

BNN Bloomberg

Mar 4, 2020

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Canopy Growth to book up to $800M in impairment charge after closing two production facilities, lays off 500 staff  

Canopy Growth, the biggest pot producer in the world, said Wednesday it plans to shut down two major cannabis production facilities and lay off about 500 staff to better align its operations with Canadian consumer demand for its products. The Smiths Falls, Ont.-based company said its facilities in Aldergrove and Delta, B.C. that represent about three million square feet of production space will be shut down, resulting in the reduction of about 500 staff, Canopy said in a statement on Wednesday. It will also stop plans to build a greenhouse in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., the company said. The announcement will result in impairment charges ranging between $700 million to $800 million, Canopy said. Canopy’s announcement is the latest in a string of layoffs in the cannabis industry including similar moves made by Tilray, Aurora Cannabis and Supreme Cannabis as pot companies look to cut costs amid a drive to become profitable.

Organigram rejigs C-suite to appoint former board member as new CFO 

Organigram Holdings announced a couple of executive changes to its C-suite on Wednesday, appointing board member Derrick West as its new chief financial officer. West, who previously was the CFO at Partners REIT, will replace Paolo De Luca, who is appointed as the company’s chief strategy officer. West also plans to resign from the company’s board as a result of his new appointment, the company said.  

U.S. NIDA gives congressional testimony on cannabis research findings

The head of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow, discussed the agency’s research efforts on cannabis during a congressional hearing on Wednesday, stating that it is evaluating its potential therapeutic value to help treat different types of addiction, according to Marijuana Moment. The news website reports that Volkow testified during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, telling congress officials that cannabis is a “benign” drug that is causing a “very dramatic increase” in consumption in the U.S. As well, the NIDA has observed that cannabis with “high content THC is associated with a greater risk of having psychosis,” Volkow said.


DAILY BUZZ

 
 


2.45 million pounds

-- The amount of dried hemp biomass which Charlotte's Web Holdings harvested in 2019, an increase of 245 per cent from the prior year, the company said on Wednesday.

 

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