Facility allowed to grow 1,752 plants, but officers found more than 6,000 CBC News ·

Facility allowed to grow 1,752 plants, but officers found more than 6,000

CBC News · Posted: Jan 29, 2019 2:30 PM ET | Last Updated: January 29

York Regional Police have charged three men after officers found a licensed cannabis grow operation north of Toronto that was cultivating more plants than legally allowed. The three were charged wth two offences each under the Cannabis Act: cultivation, propagation and harvesting; and possession for the purpose of distribution. Two of the men, aged 43 and 56, are from Toronto, while one, aged 43, is of no fixed address. None were the licence holders for the grow operation, which is near Aurora, Ont., police said in a news release on Tuesday.

Police said the 10,000-square foot facility was operating with four combined Health Canada medical cannabis licences that allowed it to grow 1,752 cannabis plants.

When officers arrived, however, they found more than 6,000 cannabis plants in various stages of production. 

"These investigations raise significant concerns, as there is once again a blatant disregard for licensed grow limits," Chief Eric Jolliffe said in the release.

"Since the legalization of cannabis on October 17, 2018, the increasing demand is creating additional opportunities for organized crime to be a supplier."

Jolliffee said police need citizens to continue to report grow operations suspected of growing in excess of their licensed limits. 

Police said they believe organized crime organizations are exploiting the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Those federal rules allow designated growers to pool up to four grow licences per address and turn one production site into a cannabis farm.

But police said the growers, because they are not actual licensed producers, are avoiding Health Canada regulations that govern growing, security and quality control of cannabis.

"The end result is lower cost cannabis that is sold into the black market for high profits," the news release said.

HEXO NEWS closes C$57.5 million public offering of common shares

GATINEAU, Quebec, Jan. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HEXO Corp. (“HEXO” or the “Company”) (TSX: HEXO; NYSE-A: HEXO) is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced marketed offering of 8,855,000 common shares at a price of C$6.50 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of C$57,557,500, which includes the exercise of the full over-allotment option of 1,155,000 common shares.

The Company will use the net proceeds from the Offering for general corporate purposes, including funding the Company’s global growth initiatives and research and development to further advance the Company’s innovation strategies.

CIBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets are the lead underwriters and joint book-running managers and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is the co-lead underwriter for the Offering. The co-managers for the Offering are AltaCorp Capital Inc., Beacon Securities Limited, Bryan, Garnier & Co Ltd, Cormark Securities Inc., Eight Capital, GMP Securities L.P., Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., PI Financial Corp. and Roth Capital Partners, LLC.

The common shares were offered in each of the provinces and territories of Canada by way of a prospectus supplement dated January 24, 2019 to the Company’s amended and restated short form base shelf prospectus dated December 14, 2018 and in the United States pursuant to a registration statement on Form F-10 in accordance with the U.S./Canada Multijurisdictional Disclosure System.

Copies of the prospectus supplement, short form base shelf prospectus and registration statement may be obtained in Canada from CIBC Capital Markets, 22 Front Street West, Mailroom, Toronto, ON, M5J 2W5, by telephone at (416) 956-3636, by email at michelene.dougherty@cibc.ca or from BMO Capital Markets, Brampton Distribution Centre c/o The Data Group of Companies, 9195 Torbram Road, Brampton, Ontario, L6S 6H2, by telephone at 905-791-3151 Ext. 4312 / 4322, or by email at torbramwarehouse@datagroup.ca and in the United States from CIBC Capital Markets, 425 Lexington Avenue, 5th floor, New York, NY, by telephone at (800) 282-0822, by email at useprospectus@cibc.com or from BMO Capital Markets Corp., Attn: Equity Syndicate Department, 3 Times Square, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10036 (Attn:Equity Syndicate), or by telephone at (800) 414-3627, or by email at bmoprospectus@bmo.com.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release. This press release is for information purposes only and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About HEXO

HEXO Corp. is an award-winning consumer-packaged goods cannabis company that creates and distributes award-winning products to serve the global cannabis market. As one of the largest licensed cannabis companies in Canada, HEXO Corp. operates with over 1.3 million sq. ft. of facilities in Ontario and Quebec and a foothold in Greece with plans to establish a Eurozone processing, production and distribution centre. We serve the Canadian adult-use market under the HEXO brand while continuing to provide our medical cannabis clients with consistent access to Hydropothecary medical cannabis products.

Forward-Looking Statements