Ontario firm awarded licence to grow medical marijuana at former Hershey plant
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Tweed Inc. will use the former chocolate factory to grow medical marijuana for sale across country
SMITHS FALLS, Ont.—An Ontario company said it has received a licence from Health Canada to grow medical marijuana and will soon begin production at a former Hershey Canada Inc. chocolate factory near Ottawa.
Tweed Inc., which moved into the massive plant in Smiths Falls, Ont., about 70 kilometres southwest of the nation’s capital last fall, said it received its federal permit this month to produce and supply medical marijuana under the new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).
We are ecstatic to have a production license in-hand,” Chuck Rifici, Tweed president and CEO, said in a statement. “Tweed is now one monumental step closer to providing Canadians in need with premium, affordable marijuana.”
The company moved into the shuttered Hershey plant in September 2013, and announced plans to use more than 168,000 sq.ft. of space to grow pot.
Hershey closed the facility in 2008.
Tweed plans to begin registering customers by early February, with the goal of products hitting the market in April.
The firm is also in the process of becoming a publicly-traded company on the TSX Venture Exchange.
“If approved, this will allow Tweed to run a transparent, open company, while providing an opportunity for the public to invest in a unique market in its early stages,” said Rifici.
