The Canadian cannabis industry is still reeling from sky-high demand in the second week of legalization, with growers expressing frustration at the length of time it's taking to get licensed as shelves sit empty.
"We're biting our nails and I think our shareholders are biting their nails too," said Anthony Durkacz, director at FSD Pharma Inc., an Ontario-based producer that received its cultivation license a year ago and is still waiting for its sales license. "We want to be supplying."
The process of getting a sales license from Health Canada is onerous, according to Durkacz. After receiving a cultivation license, a grower must produce two full crops, send them off for testing, get its sales software audited, and then submit a completed application for the sales license, which can take up to 341 days to process, he said.
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