PR: Work has begun on a large-scale seed to sale cannabis operation in Alberta

Posted on December 19, 2017 by can_admin

For Immediate Canada Wide Release
December 19, 2017
Work has begun on a large-scale seed to sale cannabis operation in Alberta
Freedom Cannabis announces plans to become one of the largest Licensed Producers in Canada

A new cannabis facility in Alberta has the potential to become one of Canada’s largest licensed producers.

Co-founder and CEO of Freedom Cannabis, Gianfranco Potestio announced today that work is underway on Freedom’s massive cannabis grow and production facility in Acheson, Alberta. Situated on 56 acres in Parkland County the 125,000 square foot operation is slated to grow to 375,000 square feet by 2020 with expansion potential of over 2 million square feet with market demand.
The enterprise was co-founded in 2016 by Mr. Potestio along with Troy Dezwart and Julie Girard-Potestio. As the key management team they have assembled some of Canada’s top industry experts skilled in cannabis licensing, cultivation, law, finance, and pharmacology to execute their sustainable and scalable business plan.

The growth potential for the cannabis industry is phenomenal. After legalization in July of 2018 the economic impact for recreational and medical cannabis in Canada is predicted to exceed 22 billion dollars* (Deloitte, 2017). “Based on current production, the demand for cannabis over the next few years will far exceed the available supply. The timing is perfect for Freedom to enter the market and capitalize on the exploding demand for premium quality cannabis products.” said Potestio.

Currently there are over 70 licensed producers in Canada. Getting their new facility operational is a vital step toward obtaining a license to produce cannabis.

Freedom is well positioned to do just that according to President and co-founder Julie Potestio. “Our licensing application through Health Canada has been proceeding under the guidance of experienced experts who have been successful in obtaining licenses for a number of other producers. Now that the facility is under construction we anticipate being licensed by next fall and producing cannabis shortly after that.”

Freedom Cannabis believes their unique growing method gives them a competitive and sustainable advantage. The growing method they use is called the Isolated Growth Strategy. By this method seedlings and plants are grown in smaller rooms varying in size from 1000 to 2,500 square feet. The isolated grow rooms allow for optimized environmental control of temperature, humidity, light, water, and nutrient supply to foster higher yields and superior quality. The segregated grow rooms also mitigate the potential spread of disease to a whole crop, unlike the “sea of green” method commonly used by other growers where one diseased plant can wipe out an entire crop potentially losing millions of dollars.

Freedom Cannabis promises to be a different kind of cannabis company committed to a purpose driven business model. Future plans include compassion and care programs for those in need who are unable to access medicinal cannabis. Freedom Cannabis is also creating a corporate culture of inclusion to inspire their people and offer opportunity for growth and advancement from within.

Co-founder and COO Troy Dezwart believes their culture will make the difference. “We exist to give people the freedom to live their best lives. A life where they are free to heal, soar and relax. He is convinced when he says, “Our dynamic team, superior grow methods, brand marketing and values-driven culture will ensure success for Freedom. We see an opportunity to be on the ground floor of a burgeoning and lucrative industry that can benefit so many people.”
For more information go to www.freedomcannabis.ca
Media contact:
Bronte Valk

v@albertacounsel.com
Direct: 780-652-2347
Phone: 780-652-1311

THE MEDIA DEBATE 2004

From: CannabisLink.ca

THE ISSUE: CANNABIS IN CANADA

THE MEDIA DEBATE 2004

THE ISSUE: CANNABIS IN CANADA

COMPLETE TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

Pot : Legalize Vs Prosecute: With So Many Canadians Smoking And Growing It, Is A Ban Practical? Canadians will today consume roughly 2,100 kilograms of marijuana… By the end of the year, three million of us, according to a recent study by the Senate, will have smoked, eaten or otherwise inhaled almost 770,000 kilograms of the stuff — impressive numbers considering that marijuana use is a federal crime … police and industry insiders estimate about 215,000 growers across the country produce more than 2.6 million kilograms of cannabis each year.

Everyone is calling for a national debate, the arguments for and against cannabis prohibition are headline fodder almost every day, but how are we to know exactly where the debate is at? Print media provides an easy record of expressed sentiments as it gets played out in the public eye. The private accounts are more likely to be found on websites, in forum posts, newsgroups and maillists within the cannabis community.

This project began, and was first assembled, as other Year in Reviews on this site, but started to take many different forms as the task of assembling so much material into a coherent picture became overwhelming at times, but eventually a sense of order emerged. So the format is different this year, with the intention of having greater flexibility to reflect a more complete picture, and easier reference. Some headlines have a sentence quoted, and a very few have [a comment in brackets] and more may be added as time permits, but the main goal was the debate itself.

After sifting through 6, 343 Canadian drug policy articles for 2004, it was obvious The Trouble With Interesting Headlines, is they relate far more to selling papers than telling the truth. The repetition of some headlines, topics and other reefer madness over the years is certainly not a figment of anyone’s imagination.

http://www.mapinc.org/find Title search

Up In Smoke Found 200+
Going to Pot Found 115
Reefer Madness Found 200+

Crystal meth, oxycontin, or ‘hillbilly heroin’ and ecstasy were also headline grabbers and we are told they are as much a ‘menace’ to society as grow ops, but all are outside the scope of this review, which explains the absence of articles about them, although the related hemp industry is featured whenever it has managed to make some headway despite oppressive regulation.
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Cannabis and Canada: Year 2002 in Review

Focus On The Media

Where do Canadian media stand on drugs today? Help with that question came from the Senate Committee’s Report that was released in September:

Where do Canadian media stand on drugs today? We did not analyse all the press coverage of drugs in Canada, although the exercise would probably have been interesting in sociological terms in identifying key notions and seeing just how public opinion is shaped. All we do here is examine two main types of media article. The first is news related to criminality, the second, feature stories and editorials.

News stories on illegal drugs usually focus on police operations: raids, seizures, dealer arrests and dismantling of organized crime rings. The best-known modern example was surely the 2001 arrest in Quebec of more than 70 Hells Angels members known to be involved in narcotics trafficking and other illegal activities. And then there are seizures, month after month, of kilograms – even hundreds of kilograms – of drugs, more and more often marijuana.

We do not know how this information helps shape public opinion on drugs or what impact it has on the public’s demands concerning drugs. However, these articles probably give people the impression that the “drug problem” is first and foremost an organized crime problem. But while there may have been an impression until the mid 1980s, shall we say, that marijuana was a problem exported into Canada from other countries, the growing number of articles on raids of domestic producers – as opposed to shipments from overseas – is giving more and more people cause to think of marijuana as a home-grown problem.

Other news stories focus on the relationship between drugs and crime, especially prostitution, residential break-ins, and “incivilities” experienced by street youth and the homeless. Some of these activities are at least in part associated with drugs. For prostitution, it is the fact that people, mostly women, are forced to work as street prostitutes in order to support their habit. Residential break-ins are also tied to supporting drug habits, although the perpetrators are different: most break-ins are committed by young men. For street youth, the main problem is intravenous drug use and the risk of spreading AIDS. None of this is directly related to marijuana. Except for schools. Virtually every big city in Canada – and every not-so-big city, too, for that matter – has seen some kind of police operation in schools. School raids usually elicit two types of reaction, both rooted in indignation: people are indignant when they learn that drugs are so much a part of the school environment while others think the police are abusing their authority and failing to respect young people’s rights.

The Senate Committee’s Report on the Media, Chapter 10

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Cannabis and Canada: The Year 2000 in Review

After decades of no real progress toward reforming the cannabis laws, historic events culminated in a shift happening throughout the year 2000 that will influence the future direction of cannabis regulation. There are many eyes on Canada right now – watching and waiting as we roll out new policy for the medicinal use of cannabis.

Is it all good news? Hardly. What kind of progress did Canada make in the year 2000 toward restoring the rights of Canadians to sovereignty over their own bodies? And just what is the national mood?

Based on a quick glance at newspaper articles throughout the year, what immediately materializes is a snaphot of a government so out of touch with the will of the people, (and why) and the measures some of those people have been forced to take to maintain their autonomy. The mixed signals given by the government appear to be an attempt to placate two extremes – the USA and the Canadian citizen, but is failing miserably to please either.

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