HALIFAX — A national cannabis lobby group says it’s suspending its operations, citing the financial challenges to the industry from the illicit market.
In a news release Monday, the Cannabis Council of Canada suggested its members don’t have enough money to pay for its lobbying services.
Financial pressure, complex regulations and the “highly active” illicit market have “constrained the resources available to sustain a national association at its current level of activity,” the council said.
The council’s president, Paul McCarthy, said in an interview last week the organization has been calling on Ottawa to establish a national strategy for eradicating the unregulated cannabis market.
“While this is a provincial and territorial responsibility, I would say accountability rests with the federal government … they legalized it, it wasn’t the provinces and territories,” he said Thursday, adding that Ottawa would be best equipped to deal with the complexities of cannabis enforcement.
The federal departments of health and justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCarthy said the businesses the council represents, which include cannabis producers and processors, generate billions of dollars in revenue, but the majority of them remain unprofitable.
“One of the biggest reasons is because they’re trying to compete against illicit product. They’re eating up market share and they’re driving down price, and the margins are already razor thin,” he said.
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National cannabis lobby group suspends operations, citing black market
