Marijuana Business Magazine September 2019

September 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 29 © 2019 Marijuana Business Daily, a division of Anne Holland Ventures ; this information is current as of Aug. 15, 2019. In July, CannTrust fired its CEO and forced the resignation of its chair over a scandal involving unlicensed marijuana cultivation. CannTrust’s stock has been in a tailspin since a whistle­ blower alerted the federal cannabis regulator to five unlicensed cultivation rooms the company had been operating since late 2018. Supply Issues and Declining Sales in Uruguay Years after legalization, supply issues continue to hinder the growth of the adult-use marijuana market in Uruguay, according to a new report by the Institute for the Regula- tion and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA). Sales of recreational marijuana in Uruguay are allowed only through pharmacies, and they are supplied by only two licensed producers—ICC Labs, acquired last year by Canada’s Aurora Cannabis, and Simbiosys. The government has been struggling with ICC Labs and Simbiosys because the companies haven’t produced the agreed-upon cannabis quantities–2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds) per year by each. Since they were granted licenses, the companies could have produced and sold at least 12,000 kilograms, but they provided only 3,000 kilograms combined. Because of those supply issues, the government decided to decrease the quantities shipped to pharma- cies. Now, only 2 kilograms per week are being delivered to each of the 17 retail outlets in order to have a steady— albeit insufficient—supply. The government is expected to announce the winners of new licenses to provide nonmedical cannabis in the coming weeks. Each of the newly licensed producers will also have a production quota of 2,000 kilograms per year, which means a total market supply of 10,000 kilograms per year would theoretically be possible.