While fears of international travel disruption dominated headlines prior to the Cannabis Act taking effect, the months following recreational legalization have shown a shortage of supply to be the major hurdle facing the industry.
Seeking to tackle that problem by bumping up production capacity, The Flowr Corporation (TSX.V: FLWR; OTC: FLWPF) just doubled its existing grow space after receiving approval for new production rooms from Health Canada.
Those new rooms were already constructed and are operational as of today at the company’s primary facility in the Okanagan Valley.
The 10 grow rooms now operating doubles Flowr’s previous production capacity, although new construction at the facility is not yet complete and remains at the halfway mark. Another doubling of grow space to a full 20 rooms is expected by Q3 2019 pending further Health Canada approvals and hitting construction milestones.
Citing the need to get additional cannabis products to the market as quickly as possible, Co-Chief Executive Officer Tom Flow issued this statement about the newly acquired Health Canada approval:
That supply deal inked earlier in January will see Flowr-branded medical marijuana products sold through the Shoppers Drug Mart online sales platform for at least three years, with an option to extend the agreement at the end of that period.
Flowr has joined a growing roster of marijuana companies supplying product to Shoppers Drug Mart, with Emblem Corp. (TSXV: EMC) also striking a deal to sell cannabis oils through the pharmacy giant last month.
Companies on both the medical and recreational sides have frantically sought increased production capacity and deals with existing growers to fill orders from provincial governments and retailers like Shoppers Drug Mart.
The lack of licensed supply meeting regulations has been a thorn in the side of the industry since cannabis became legal in October, with some companies even going so far as to acquire non-licensed product illegally to meet their shipment obligations.
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