More commercial opportunities coming with other pot products

The Canadian government’s plans to expand the scope of legal marijuana products to cover edibles and concentrates such as vape pens will prove a major boon to the market, as well as to commercial and industrial property investors putting their bets on the burgeoning industry.

The Trudeau administration will likely enact the regulatory changes in the very near future, according to Aurora Cannabis Inc. chief corporate officer Cam Battley.

“I suspect we’ll see regulations allowing for at least some of those products and maybe all of those products coming sooner than a year from now,” Battley said earlier this week, as quoted by Bloomberg. “I think we may be looking at a matter of months.”

Aurora’s selling prices might grow in lockstep with the expected addition to demand, according to CEO Terry Booth.

“The provinces initially wanted everybody to come out flat because they didn’t know who had the champagne and who had the bubbly, and certainly we feel that we have the champagne,” he explained. “That demand will lead to higher pricing in the provinces, without a doubt.”

Read more: Demand for grow-op space goes sky-high

The real estate side has certainly felt the impact of this demand, with production capacity and commercial/industrial spaces struggling to keep up.

“The response has been pretty unbelievable,” Canopy Growth Corp. CEO Bruce Linton said earlier this month. “I don’t think everything will run out but you might not be able to get the identical stuff you got last time.”

The Ontario Cannabis Store had to manage traffic from 100,000 orders during the first 24 hours of its operation alone in October 17, official records indicated. Quebec’s official retailer also admitted in the first week since legalization that it might have to shut down operations in some locations because of the supply drying up rapidly.

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