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HEALTH CANADA SUSPENDS CANNTRUST LICENSES

CannTrust announced Tuesday that Health Canada suspended its cannabis licenses.
NewsWire

  • Health Canada partially suspended CannTrust’s standard cultivation licenses, and fully suspended CannTrust’s licenses for processing, medical sales, and cannabis-drugs-and-research.
  • The company has to stop all planting immediately, but is allowed to cultivate and harvest existing lots, and to dry, trim, and mill that product.
    Globe and Mail
  • CannTrust has 10 business days as of Tuesday to respond to the action—meaning to argue the suspension is without merit, or to add new information.
    MJ Biz Daily, Twitter—Matt Lamers

If the company cannot convince Health Canada to remove the suspension, Health Canada will decide whether to revoke the licenses or reinstate them.

  • Interim CEO Robert Marcovitch said of the suspension, “CannTrust’s paramount and urgent priority is to satisfy regulators.”

Health Canada has instructed CannTrust how to take measures to prove it had addressed the reasons for suspension.
Bloomberg

The suspension makes CannTrust far less desirable to potential buyers, who would take on any of the company’s future liabilities—including retaliations against the company for wrongdoings made already public as well as those not yet known.
Financial Post

CannTrust has lost 75% of its value since the beginning of the scandal in July.
Bloomberg

  • Whistleblower Nick Lalonde, who worked at CannTrust from July 2017 to May, feels responsible for the impact of his actions and the ensuing scandal on CannTrust employees.
    Bloomberg
  • “I was hoping Health Canada would investigate those directly involved with the wrongdoing and that they would be reprimanded, but there are innocent people at CannTrust who weren’t involved and are likely to lose their jobs. It’s just not fair to them,” he told Bloomberg

Following the suspension, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis returned roughly $1.3M in CannTrust products.
Global News