As Westlock County goes about amending its land-use bylaw to include the cultivation of cannabis, the proprietors of the area’s first medical cannabis cultivation facility are waiting patiently.
“We’re doing good, we’re still moving forward and the next step for the county is to get the usage added into the bylaw,” said Healius Naturals CEO Stephanie Bauman, which is planning for a large cannabis growing facility in the county’s industrial park.
“In the meantime, we’ve got our application pretty much ready to go, so that will go in pretty quickly ... I think we’re still hoping to be up and running by this time next year.”
At it’s June 26 meeting county council passed first reading of the bylaw amendment to include cannabis cultivation and distribution within the county.
It will be advertised for two weeks before coming back to council for second and third reading.
The company held an open house at the legion on May 3 and while attendance could have been better, with just 20 people coming out, Bauman said she heard a variety of opinions.
While some expressed concerns about the crime rate, others inquired about the medical value of cannabis and others wanted to apply for work.
“We’re open to hearing everyone’s concerns and anything that comes up with that,” she said.
As cannabis is still illegal for recreational purposes, the company is concentrating on the medical market for the time being, but Bauman didn’t rule out exploring that option when it is legalized in October. As such, the distribution of their product would follow the same rules as the numerous medical cannabis companies that operate across the country.
“We’re going to be a medical cannabis organization, so we’ll have connections to the medical clinics that prescribe it, so when a patient goes in there, they can choose between either us or any other licensed producer that they want to get their medication from and then we deliver through the mail services directly to that patient. So they don’t come to our facility to pick it up or anything like that,” said Bauman
If Healius Naturals was to get into the recreational market, they would need to make deals with retail outlets and all their products would be delivered through the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, then sold to customers.
“We’re definitely looking at all our opportunities and partnering up with local groups, not even just with stores, but even for the construction and things like that. Before we open up, we’re going to be building the facility, of course, and we’re going to need people that can operate our services and that’s another way we’ll be partnering with local groups,” said Bauman, adding the company will soon be posting job ads on its website.
