Applications up, approvals slow for med weed

Julia Ratcliffe, a technical consultant with The Bug Factory, a company that supplies insects for natural pest control, examines marijuana plants for pests at the MediJean medical marijuana facility in Richmond, B.C., on Friday March 21, 2014. The number of Canadian firms applying for lucrative medical marijuana licences has topped 1,000, as a so-called 'greenrush' continues to overwhelm Health Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

image credit: Photo for: Applications up, approvals slow for med weed

By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The number of Canadian firms applying for lucrative medical marijuana licences has topped 1,000, as a so-called "greenrush" continues to overwhelm Health Canada.

So far, only two new licences have been approved this summer even as the department tightens the application rules and as nervous investors await decisions on their multimillion-dollar bids.

Health Canada says that as of Aug. 25, it had received 1,009 formal licence applications to grow medical weed since a call for proposals was issued last year, with 462 returned as incomplete, 201 rejected and 32 withdrawn.

That still leaves almost 300 applications being assessed.

Some 13 licensed producers are actively providing medical marijuana to patients, while another nine Health Canada-approved producers are about to market their products.

Just two new licences were issued in the last three months, raising questions among applicants about why the department's approval process is so slow.

In July, Health Canada tightened the rules for prospective producers, increasing some security requirements to ensure inventories of medical marijuana were stored in secure facilities.

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Applications up, approvals slow for med weed