Wasted Weed: Canada’s Disposal of 3.7 Million Pounds of Cannabis Since 2018 Oversupply has been a real issue for the cannabis industry.
Export or stop making so much (or discount it, or give it away).
«Industry expert and consultant Farrell Miller notes that the majority of this discarded product was destroyed for being too old and having too little THC. “There is no demand for old and low-THC products, so manufacturers of finished products are not buying this biomass as inputs,” she said. “It’s likely low-quality material with no value. “As consumers become more savvy with packaging dates on dried cannabis products, this trend will only continue.”»
They claim nobody wants it
That makes no sense. Low content strains are perfect for all sorts of concentrates.
Yeah, any trim or whack weeds could easily be repurposed for concentrates. Theres probably more to it than just “nobody wants it”
The size of the market was vastly overestimated. Every pothead wanted a slice of the business, so they all started up companies thinking there was unlimited growth potential. It was rapidly saturated and now we’re in the collapse and consolidation phase, exacerbated by the higher interest rates and inflation.
Canada’s population is similar to California, but it’s producing weed enough for a country several times its size.
Plus the black market still exists, albeit in a small scope, due to price, quality, variety, or loyalty reasons.
Whats the overall legal status of cannabis in canada?
It’s legal all across Canada at the federal level. The provinces have the ability to regulate administrative aspects such as where it can be sold, who can sell it, how much it is taxed, where it can be grown, etc.
However, unlike the USA, criminal law is the same across the whole country. There are no provincial criminal codes. So, provinces have no ability to criminalize cannabis.
This is exactly what happened in Oklahoma
And people from all around Oklahoma traveled there just for their low prices.
My state started up sales last year and I watched the prices drop a lot over the year. It’s mostly sold in eighths and the average eighth went from $40 to $20 for high quality products
It’s cheaper and probably way easier to use higher potency cannabis
What’s more value than 100% if the product is considered worthless as flower?
Taking a write down for tax purposes versus trying to move crap product, just like any other industry.
There’s more than enough of that to go around.
Doesn’t make economic sense to process low value plants into low value extracts.
Not everyone wants a 85% THC extract with a minimal CBD profile.
It’s still more efficient with way less energy usage, wear and tear on your machines, and residue build up, to distill high potency strains into concentrates and then dilute that down to the desired potency, rather than chew through enormous amounts of plant matter to get to the same concentrate.
So why is their hemp industry not thriving. They should be making fabrics and paper with it.
I’m fairly certain hemp isn’t made from the flower, which is the part of the plant that is sold for weed consumption.
What they are throwing away is the flower. The part they would use to make hemp is already long gone.
I’m fairly certain that it’s the same plant with less active cannabinoids. The gender doesn’t matter. They can use all of it.
Them discarding the flower doesn’t mean they arent using the hemp part.
I would imagine they seperate those almost immediately if not the moment it’s out of the ground. If they’re using a combine to harvest it, then that probably seperates it.
They should sell it for biomass fuel. :)
This just in, huffing your cars exhaust gets you H.I.G.H.
This was my first thought, too.
I think Hemp is a different species that has low amounts of thc.
Same species! The line between them is actually pretty blurry and some strains are inbetween. They’re just different general ‘types’ within the same species
Different “types” in horticulture are called variants, for future explanation reference.
Haha thanks!
Supply and demand. No one wants it for the price they’re charging.
I don’t think you understand that the bottom end of the weed market in Canada is literally $0 per giant ziplock bag of homegrown that your friend can’t possibly smoke all of.
People arent willing to pay anything for low quality weed because it literally grows on trees… 1lb per plant is a very modest yield for Southern / Eastern Ontario growing conditions and will yield ~1814g or ~5442 normal sized joints, ~15 / day, every single day of the year. And it literally takes no extra work than typical gardening until harvest season … There’s just no market for low quality weed.
Then it’s time to start selling 2 ziplock bags at $1. We’re fucking late stage capitalism, companies need to realize, just because they build it, doesn’t mean they get to charge whatever the fuck they want. If they can’t compete with your friend’s shitty leftover weed, then maybe they’re in the wrong business, because even McDonald’s can sell shitty fake meat burgers for $1.
I haven’t seen a 1$ burger at McDonald’s in almost 5 years.
they claim it, but it’s just spin put on by the company. Any THC levels are usable in some fashion, even if not directly smok-able flower.
even 5% flower could be used to create potent extracts.
These are companies who bet big on production for international growth, and that never materialized. And now they’re stuck with production capabilities that aren’t profitable. Aurora Cannabis lost over $1 billion in 2022 over it’s misguided growth plans and killed itself.
They could have free weed events for tourism. I’ve been meaning to drive up there.
They should’ve destroyed it by burning, a lot of people would come take a look
That’s a sin.
How about we change the title juuuuust a bit…
Since 2018 Canada Destroyed 3.7 Million Pounds of Cannabis Rather Than Let Prices Fall
That’s not really that accurate. The article explicitly says that much of the waste is caused by growers who overproduced low quality weed, when most of the market is focused on really high potency cannabis.
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When demand is high and supply is low they raise prices but when supply is high and demand is low they don’t lower prices, the lower supply.
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That would have been the smart thing to do but they continued to grow when it wasn’t selling fast enough to begin with so I don’t think we’re talking about the most brilliant minds.
Economics 101: additional supply is counteracted by lower demand (meaning lower prices to compete for that demand)
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No single company contols supply.
if you want to decrease supply you can simply grow less
Pick one. You can’t have both. Either you have the ability to control supply or you don’t.
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I didn’t have to. You contradicted yourself.
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Hey man. I’m just like… Doing my best.
Me too, eh! Rolls another one, while singing “Oh Canada…”.
You’ve been bested 😱 😜 😂
It’s probably got a lot to do with the market being relatively new. I imagine things will settle down in the coming years as producers gain real data to base demand estimates off of.
Also, I think initially some people were conflating support for legalization with actual demand. There are many people that support legalization who don’t actually use the product.
This is me :)
Weirdly phrased title. The Canadian government has no role in throwing away product or setting the price, that falls on the businesses that manufacture and sell the weed.
What if I told you Canada was a place?
hemp is king
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🫡 🫡 🫡
Lower the price???
Want to Chime in since there’s a lot of weird misinformation and conjecture in the comments:
The over-production was a business decision by many of the producers. A bad one. But they knew they were producing more flower than the Canadian market needed at any price point. Dropping price down isn’t going to dramatically increase the consumption as polling / research by stats can shows the people smoking todtay, are the same who were smoking illegally before, and that the overall Cannabis market (while huge) isn’t something that was ballooning.
I had invested in numerous stocks in the industry back when legalization started to gain ground. As an investor and reading the reports, one thing was clear. Everyone of the biggest producers believed they were going to be international gods of pot and be able to sell world wide. Many hedged billions on producing enough flower for the American market with hopes that the US would follow along very shortly.
These poor business decisions led to the large producers, such as Canopy, and Aurora from making over-building production to the point that even if they shut several of their operations, they would still over-produce for the Canadian market.
at the end, this was some MBA deciding that profit margins would be higher by writing off the excess weed instead of spending additional resources to use it in other products (it still can be used for extracts and edibles even if low quality)
This is what happens when you create a new industry (Producers) and let it be run by the MBA’s and giant businesses instead of those who are actually involved in the industry in the first place.
as soon as I saw these happening I sold out on their stocks. IOf you go look up these companies current valuations, they’re almost worthless and worth pennies compared to when they started due to their horrific management. (Aurora Cannabis lost 1 Billion in a year)
End stage capitalism: when you realize the population you’re selling to has a finite number and neglect to scale to parameter and still feel like you’re owed.
This is a huge problem I have with America. It’s okay to stop growing at a certain point. Increases don’t have to be infinite.
Yeah there is a lot of toxic beliefs surrounding money there. Take the stock market for example: where they count ‘potential gain’ as their money before it has a chance to pan out. counting their chickens before they hatch and if it doesn’t come true then they expect insurance on it as if it’s a true loss and they’ve been a victim of robbery.
And Bail outs shouldn’t be a thing. Especially on businesses that abandon their employees to rely on tipping culture. That’s the wrong definition for bailing out someone.
Though even the derivative products are still competing with the other products. You don’t really need to get high from flower and an extract. You might get both for variety, but consumption of one will slow consumption of the other.
And yeah, it was dumb to assume that even if the US legalized it that there wouldn’t suddenly be a bunch of US producers wanting to get in on it. It’s not hard to figure out how to produce it. The plant can grow in all kinds of conditions and the hardest part is keeping it from reproducing more than you’d like.
but consumption of one will slow consumption of the other.
Someone needs to tell my wallet this :p
Yeah, all very interesting Mr Canada Money Bags.
I just wanna know when you’re gonna post me some free weed to the UK?
Well, not keen on being on an international criminal list for illegal exports of Cannabis products. I’m no Mark Emery (thats good).
But if you find yourself in the GTA, I would gladly take you to a pot shop and give you my recommendations.
Can one compost old weed? Turn it into weed mulch? Could someone buy it wholesale and make something else? This feels like a problem a little R and D could solve.
In high school, weed mulch was all we had.
Turn it into hempcrete, and build some houses. I hear Canada needs some.
Sounds like the price is too high. Stupid fucking government. How dare you pride yourself on high prices. Are you not trying to disrupt the illegal trade? Why the fuck are you using their numbers, retards? GEE WHY ISNT ANYBODY BUYING OUR GREEDY FUCKING OUNCES and man, you should see the fucking website. Doug ford can go fuck himself with a forklift.
Try this amazing philosophy: if you can make that much, but can’t sell that much, it’s cuz it ain’t worth that much not cuz nobody will buy it. Unless it’s, you know, shit. AND FURTHERMORE, since clearly the government is going to read this, you might want to doublecheck that quality control isn’t just taking the cheque and AFKing, cuz from this end that’s how it looks!
There’s a lot of misinformation in this post, clearly based on emotion rather than the reality:
Sounds like the price is too high.
While this is true in some cases, most of these LP’s are producing flower that can be picked up for ~$100 an ounce. For Canadian Weed, that’s great. Especially considering on legalization it was closer to $400. Not a single dealer I used to use pre-legalization can match the price point of legal weed right now.
This is also a luxury product. Not a necessity. It will be priced where the market bears. The problem with our current over-supply is manufacturer driven. Producing more weed than Canada would consume, even if it was free for “business” reasons.
Stupid fucking government.
Government doesn’t set prices. Cannabis prices have actually bucked the inflationary trends and have gone down overall in the last couple years.
Are you not trying to disrupt the illegal trade?
The illegal trade isn’t going to be shut down overnight. Especially given that most places allow personal growing, so it’s going to happen with people selling to eachother. Even if it’s technically illegal. However, the illegal criminal organizations that used to thrive and require pot sales? Those are decimated and their involvement in the Cannabis trade is decreasing year after year: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20200930/026/index-en.aspx
Why the fuck are you using their numbers, retards?
what? also really with the use of “retard”… really what are you. 12? Come on man. be an adult.
you should see the fucking website.
if you’re basing your entire purchasing / and angry rant above entirely on the ocs website for purchasing, you’re missing out 90% of the actual Cannabis market. Most sales are through retail. NOT online from the government. Yes the OCS is expensive as fuck. It’s the government run retail outlet. Don’t go there. Order from a local store. you will find much better pricing, and might even meet some wonderful people and budtenders too
Doug ford can go fuck himself with a forklift.
AMEN! 100%.
if you can make that much, but can’t sell that much, it’s cuz it ain’t worth that much not cuz nobody will buy it.
I highly recommend you to read why they were making that much. They never intended to sell that much to us Canadians. it’ was stupid business decisions to try and pry into the US market before legalization even happened there. Even if they gave this stuff away for free, it would be more than Canadian’s would consume because it’s more than the demand. Cannabis isn’t a staple or necessary daily product (for MOST people). it’s a luxury and therefore there’s a ceiling to the demand. Unlike staples and products we need to live, which has no ceiling.
AND FURTHERMORE, since clearly the government is going to read this, you might want to doublecheck that quality control isn’t just taking the cheque and AFKing, cuz from this end that’s how it looks!
Really? Have you had a really bad string of experiences with quality? I’ve been smoking for 20+ years, and the stuff I’ve gotten from the store, (while dry compared to older stuff), is 100x stronger, and a better smoke than anything I ever got illegally before. While much of the numbers are inflated (since we need better regulation on testing), the quality of weed now is truly astounding compared to how it used to be.
I can recommend you some amazing strains if you’d like.
Other than the primo strains, Canadian legal weed is cheaper than buying it from a dealer. I pick up ounces for $100.
Pot shop on every corner in Ontario. Shops are usually empty anytime I go in. Picking up whole ounces for $100. It was a scam run by the province to sell dispensary licenses because Doug Ford only knows how to run scams instead of doing good business based on good policy.
Really depends where you are. But there’s a massive oversaturation in some areas. Downtown Stouffville for example has like 15 right now. Stouffville has a population of 40,000. but at the same time, they are also serving other areas who have no shops. For example Markham and Richmond Hill both opted to ban sales of pot in their areas, as well as public consumption (bylaw)
I hate Ford. But I don’t have a problem with anyone who wants a license being able to get one. Cannabis is a luxury product and like all retail/consumer luxury goods, there’s no need to regulate the business for “success”. let the free market sort this out. Yes some of them will fail. That’s free market.
If the shop you frequent is almost always empty, it’s likely because it’s not a well regarded shop or chain. The store I go to (not chain) always has people in it. Even when I show up at 9am for opening, there is always people in it. but it’s also a little further away from any other pot shops and has a good reputation
ayo send me some I can pick up the slack
Hey send some of that oversupply to me, yeah, thanks.
lol
I’ll do my part!
We’re smoking. It’s just not that weed.
Absolutely. For many reasons. Quality, price, delivery options, selection. All beaten by the original market for such items.
😂 🤣 😅
I mean we throw away groceries in the same fashion, I think that’s just how capitalism works
Aren’t a lot of unused groceries used for other things though?
In Canada I think a lot is just thrown away into locked dumpsters when expired. They certainly aren’t giving it to the homeless at any rate
If the excess weed was free believe me it would all be smoked
I’m not familiar with Canadian healthcare but if cannabis can be prescribed then i don’t see why they couldn’t make medicine out of it.
They do. You can get capsules with properly dosed amounts of THC/CBD etc.
the problem is convincing the medical community in large that it’s a drug that has enough merit to be considered for larger amount of people. Right now, no insurance company will cover it. No Pharmacy stocks THC/CBD medication. And getting “medical” weed requires a lot of jumping through hoops that just aren’t worth it right now considering I can just go to the store and buy it retail anyways
