Ontario to hold lottery to open another 42 pot shops

The second wave of cannabis retail in Ontario is set to kick off after the province said it will soon announce the results of a second lottery awarding another 42 licences to open pot shops later this year. To participate in the lottery, applicants must meet certain pre-qualification requirements including a $50,000 letter of credit and show they have secured retail space. The lottery results are expected to be announced on Wednesday, a spokesperson from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario told BNN Bloomberg in an email. Despite the rollout of more pot shops in Canada’s most populous province, it still may be too early to declare Ontario's cannabis retail rollout a full success, Trina Fraser, cannabis lawyer at Brazeau Seller Law, told BNN Bloomberg on Tuesday.

Canopy Growth’s third extraction facility awarded licence by federal regulators

Canopy Growth formally announced on Tuesday that one of its cannabis extraction subsidiaries has been awarded a licence from Health Canada. Saskatoon-based KeyLeaf Life Sciences, formally known as POS Management Corp., has the capacity to extract up to 5,000 kilograms of hemp or cannabis biomass per day and is expected to come online later this fall, Canopy said in a statement. Canopy now operates three significant extraction firms to support the next generation of cannabis products such as topicals, extracts and edibles that should be available for sale later this year.

Liberty Health Science books loss after selling Florida, Ohio assets  

Toronto-based Liberty Health Sciences is selling some of its assets to focus on one of its facilities based in Gainesville, Florida. The company said it sold 36 acres of land, which includes its Chestnut Hill Tree Farm site in Alachua County, Florida, as well as all of its assets in Ohio, for about US$14 million. Liberty said it plans to focus on expanding its Liberty 360 facility which supports its various dispensaries located in Florida. Liberty acquired the Chestnut Hill Tree Farm site for US$40 million back in 2017 when the company operated as the U.S. arm of Leamington, Ont.-based Aphria.  

Los Angeles to start shutting down illicit pot shops amid effort to stamp out black market   

California is starting to get serious about clamping down on black market cannabis dealers. Cannabis Wire reports that the Los Angeles City Council recently introduced a motion to block properties where illicit cannabis sales may have occurred. The city’s law and building officials are set to work together to create a process that will enable authorities to close off properties in violation of state and local cannabis laws, the news website says. Legal pot sales in California have under-performed expectations due to high taxes and a still-thriving black market.

DAILY BUZZ

42
-- The number of cannabis retail licences up for grabs in Ontario when the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario releases the result of a lottery sometime early Wednesday. 

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