Canadian CANNAINVESTOR Magazine June 2019 | Page 160

seen to be giving investment advice because they are paid by companies to promote the company as an investment opportunity and in some cases they are also paid by their members/followers. They may find that they cannot hide behind some disclaimer that despite targeted messaging aimed at investors that their messaging is really not investment advice to act on. Or one can accept their disclaimer as true and in that case why are people paying for investment advice if one believes none is being offered?

CannaInvestor Canada’s content is often written by industry leading lawyers, health professionals, CPAs, and Certified Financial Planners … that will always be your CannaInvestor advantage. Our writing team’s content tends to not focus on specific companies but rather is there to give you the tools needed to be successful and at no cost to subscribe. Think of this article, references to companies are to provide examples that fit the subject matter.

Compare that to a paid membership or subscription with targeted information and tailor made (curated) content to that subscriber base. Such content can include all the disclaimers in the world that they are not providing investment advice but at the end of the day they are accepting payments from companies to target paid membership with specific information. I have attended sessions where some in attendance speak to the group how much money they have made from having such paid memberships because the members themselves communicate in chat forums and use the received information to coordinate trading activity. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck ….

Soon, such content may fall outside of what is allowed and what is not allowed in Ontario and we can only hope other jurisdictions follow in kind. A B.Comm is not a CFP. An MBA is not a CPA. And any other designation is also neither a CPA nor a CFP.

Please read our Q&A this month between myself and our very own Jason DeJean on what this may mean to investors in Ontario.

Quality is supreme in this industry and for you specifically … Quality of:

•The legal cannabis whether medical or recreational – Anyone purporting alternative facts of black market superior quality are contributing to the more nefarious activities often associated with those entities participating in illegal supply and distribution of cannabis (hard drugs, human trafficking, gun trafficking, extortion, and so forth).

•The accessories being used to deliver or consume the legal cannabis;

•Your investment, financial, and health information;

•Education – is it from a leading accredited post-secondary institution such as Durham College in Ontario (with online access throughout Canada) or some inhouse program from a non-accredited post-secondary institution? The Cannabis Act itself forbids any content that may be seen as promoting the health benefits of cannabis or any lifestyle inferences. There are some exceptions such as when done so by a recognized educational institute or if done so as an opinion in the context of editorial or journalism. CannaInvestor Magazine is an example of the latter and Durham College the former? Paid content from a foreign paid promoter or courses offered by non-accredited institutions may not be. Always con

•The individual(s) providing content – are they CPAs, CFPs, Lawyers, Medical Professionals with a duty of care or hobbyists, opportunists, and paid promoters? Do they have a duty of care to you or not? Are you paying for memberships that when you really think about it … are just a means to facilitate to target and coordinate trading activities and other speculative activities (with disclaimers that may mean zero if challenged) OR are you truly paying for financial, investment advice and strategies?

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