This study is published in the International Journal of Drug Policy and titled “Medical cannabis access, use, and substitution for prescription opioids and other substances: A survey of authorized medical cannabis patients”. The study, funded by Tilray (private LP), was first announced in 2014.
To the Retail Investor, this may signal that patient growth will continue to increase at an above average pace for the foreseeable future. The forthcoming legislation may or may not allow for dispensaries or store-fronts but it will certainly be clear where all supply must originate from without exception. The astute Retail Investor is already aware that for medical marijuana, the government has expanded the “grow your own” option. The criteria and compliance required to pursue this will be prohibitive to most; however, there will be a market for it and already one Licensed Producer (Tweed Inc – a Canopy Growth Corporation asset) has begun selling seeds to eligible patients. Passage of time changed it from a planned initiative to a done deal with seeds for sale. The Peace Naturals Project (a Cronos Group Inc asset) also recently announced that it will have a presence in the “grow your own” market. There are ancillary companies with award winning grow lights that one can invest in such as Future Farms Inc and Heliospectra AB (OTC:HSPY; FIRSTNORTH:HELIO). On February 27, it was announced that Macedonia's first Licensed cannabis cultivation facility will deploy Heliospectra LED Lighting Solutions. For those unfamiliar, FIRSTNORTH is “Nasdaq's European market for smaller, growing companies, with approximately 130 listed companies” (http://www.nasdaqomx.com).
One of the parameters of the “grow you own option” is that it can be outsourced to an eligible third party with a growing environment that is in full compliance. Astute investors looking to invest on a prospective basis have already discovered companies such as New Age Farms (CSE:NF; OTC:NWGFF) where one of its business lines includes facilities suited for tenant-growers.
Case Study 1 of the February US Magazine issue spoke to a joint venture between two Canadian companies: Lexaria Bioscience Corp (LXX; OTC:LXRP) and Neutrisci Intl Inc (TSXV:NU; OTC:NRXCF). I encourage you to read that case study as their joint venture as well as the findings of the collaboration between Lexaria and the National Research Council of Canada may be far reaching and could be a key Ecoforming series of events. Although that article was only written one week ago, Lexaria just announced that it was issued a patent in Australia.
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