B.C. initiative offers more than half a million dollars for illicit pot producers to transition to legal market
The new initiative is dubbed the Cannabis Business Transition Initiative and delivered by Community Futures Central Kootenay and subsidized by the province to the tune of $675,000
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Part of a $15 million employment fund has been earmarked by the government of British Columbia to help grey-market or illicit cannabis producers in the Kootenays transition to the legal market and foster sustainable cannabis facilities.
The new initiative, dubbed the Cannabis Business Transition Initiative and delivered by Community Futures Central Kootenay and subsidized by the province to the tune of $675,000, is set to help both new and existing cannabis producers and related businesses navigate the complications involved with transitioning to and operating in the legal market.
“This program recognizes the potential for the Kootenay region to support people with local and sustainable employment opportunities,” said Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, in a statement. “It will help cannabis businesses get off to a good start with a solid and sustainable plan to create jobs that support local families.”
The province hopes that the initiative, which has hired a team of “cannabis business transition advisors” to tun the project, will help entrepreneurs with an interest in “testing tools and resources” to support local licensing applications and hemp them convert their businesses in compliance with government regulations — all in the hopes of reducing the province’s fruitful illicit market.
“Cannabis production has been a significant economic driver in many of B.C.’s rural communities and it is our goal to help cannabis producers, who are not connected to organized crime, transition to the legal market,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, in a press statement. “A failure to transition these producers would not only jeopardize our goal to reduce the illegal market, it would also be a lost opportunity to create stable jobs that support families and communities.”
Provincial authorities estimate that in the Kootenay region alone there are approximately 2,500 small-scale (or “craft”) cannabis producers — some licensed for medical production and wanting to get in on the adult-use market, and some wholly unlicensed.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnsworth lauded the move in a recent press release, saying that inaction on the province’s part would amount to a failure to the community.
“A failure to transition these producers would not only jeopardize our goal to reduce the illegal market, said Farnsworth. “It would also be a lost opportunity to create stable jobs that support families and communities.”
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