Canada-based CannTrust Holdings Inc. put a hold on product sales and shipments of its cannabis products last week in the wake of questions arising following inspections at two of its Ontario facilities. The company makes medical cannabis products including prescription-grade CBD.
CannTrust last Monday was notified by Health Canada that the regulator had discovered unlicensed cultivation at its Pelham, Ontario greenhouse between October 2018 and March 2019. Health Canada is also reviewing CannTrust’s Vaughan, Ontario manufacturing facility.
12,000+ kg of product on hold
Health Canada put roughly 5,200 kg of CannTrust products on hold, while the company is withholding an additional 7,500 kg. voluntarily.
Meanwhile, authorities in both Ontario as well as the province of Alberta said they were also placing lots of CannTrust products on hold to protect consumers.
Danish partner affected
CannTrust’s Danish partner Stenocare has quarantined some of the company’s products linked to illegal cultivation at the Canadian company’s Pelham greenhouse.
Stenocare said it received documentation that showed 5 batches of the Danish company’s inventory originated in grow rooms that did not have government approval.
Result of unlicensed grows
Stenocare, which caters to medical cannabis patients with prescription products, added that most of the CannTrust products it has supplied to Danish consumers since early June are linked to the unlicensed grows.
Stenocare had said early last week that only one “very small” batch was connected to the unlicensed grow rooms, expanding that estimate at week’s end.
CannTrust announced a joint venture with Stenocare in early 2018 and in September of last year began shipments of “cannabis oil” to the Danish company. Stenocare said it is in talks with the Danish Medicines Agency, which regulates medicinal products in Denmark, about the matter. Stenocare is enrolled in Denmark’s highly-regulated four-year program that is delivering medical cannabis products to patients.
CannTrust’s chief executive Peter Aceto has said the holds represent the “majority” of the company’s inventory and warned of potential shortages.
