I smell wood burning lol..Vaughan, Ont.-based CannTrust placed all sales on hold last week after a Health Canada audit found that the company had been growing cannabis in five unlicensed rooms for months and had provided the regulator with inaccurate information. The decision to pause sales, taken as a precaution while Health Canada investigates its main facility, has left the company’s 72,000 medical cannabis patients in limbo.
“Let’s be clear … what they’ve done creates uncertainty and distrust not just for the company, but for the industry itself,”
CannTrust did not reply to multiple requests for comment inquiring about how many patients they’ve lost since placing sales on hold.
Patients looking to move to another LP from CannTrust have two choices, according to Megan Henderson, director of marketing and business development at HelloMD, a telemedicine service that connects patients with physicians through virtual consults. Patients can either seek to have their medical document transferred over from CannTrust or apply for a second document. Having more than one document is the standard for many patients who might require oils from one LP and dry flower from another, she said.
CannTrust patients and their doctors have been calling his company to inquire about transfers since the sales freeze was first announced.
“We’ve had clinics or physicians’ offices contacting our client services team asking almost immediately as the news went out they were halting shipments,” said Engel, who added that OrganiGram has been able to get former CannTrust patients access to their products within 48 hours.
The Moncton-based LP, which Engel said treats 17,000 patients, has placed phone calls to cannabis clinics to tell them that they’re able to take on new clients if needed, but is not aggressively pursuing CannTrust patients.One concern for those courting CannTrust’s clients, however, is the question of loyalty. It’s entirely possible that the new registrations may only be rentals because nothing would stop the patients from returning to the company should it go back online without significant repercussions from Health Canada.
