International Women's Day

International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8th to commemorate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is also a day to raise awareness about the struggles women face and the need to continue working towards gender equality. This year’s theme is “Choose to Challenge”, encouraging people to challenge gender bias and inequality in all aspects of life.

The history of International Women’s Day can be traced back to the early 1900s when women around the world started demanding better working conditions, voting rights, and an end to discrimination. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and voting rights. The following year, the first National Women’s Day was observed in the United States on February 28th. In 1910, an International Women’s Conference was held in Copenhagen, where it was proposed that a Women’s Day be held annually. The idea was widely accepted and International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland on March 19th, 1911.

Since then, International Women’s Day has become a global celebration of women’s achievements and a call to action for gender equality. It is an opportunity to celebrate the progress that has been made in advancing women’s rights, while also recognizing the challenges that still exist.

This year’s theme, “Choose to Challenge”, highlights the importance of taking action to challenge gender bias and inequality. It encourages people to speak out against discrimination and to actively work towards creating a more inclusive and equal world. Whether it’s in the workplace, at home, or in the community, there are many ways to challenge gender bias and inequality.

One of the key ways to challenge gender bias is by promoting women’s leadership and empowerment. This includes supporting women to take on leadership roles, advocating for women’s rights, and providing opportunities for women to learn and grow. It also involves addressing systemic barriers that prevent women from reaching their full potential, such as unequal pay, lack of access to education and healthcare, and gender-based violence.

Another way to challenge gender bias is by promoting diversity and inclusion. This means creating a culture that values and respects the diversity of women’s experiences, backgrounds, and identities. It involves recognizing and addressing the intersecting forms of discrimination that women face, such as racism, ableism, and homophobia.

Finally, it’s important to challenge gender bias by raising awareness and starting conversations about the issues that women face. This can be done through social media campaigns, events, and other forms of advocacy. By speaking out and sharing stories, we can build solidarity and create change.

International Women’s Day is a reminder of the ongoing struggle for gender equality, and the need to continue working towards a more just and equitable world. By choosing to challenge gender bias and inequality, we can create a better future for all women.

Cannabis Guide: Five Infused Beverages to Mix-up Your Cannabis Experience

To mark the occasion of the second anniversary of legalization in Canada, we’ve searched high (and low) and picked the brains of some notables in the industry to offer up street-level advice on their fave—and greenest—producers of strains, edibles, and beverages.

BRZY cannabis-infused sparkling spring water by Ontarieau and Level Up Infusions

It’s coming soon—that’s all we can tell you right now, and that it’s going to be good. It comes in glass bottles, has no sugar and the companies have partnered with Tree Canada to be carbon neutral…

https://www.straight.com/food/cannabis-guide-five-infused-beverages-to-mix-up-your-cannabis-experience#

High Buys: The Buzziest Cannabis Products Right Now

NOW Toronto’s wrap-up of the best cannabis products on the market in Canada this month includes an Indigenous strain from Nova Scotia.

Neptune announced its new Mood Ring line of High CBD Oil, High CBD Capsules, Classic Hashish and Legacy Hashish earlier this month, is promising higher dose products than are on the market right now. They’ll be hitting shelves in Ontario and BC next month. For now, you can check out the supply at MoodRing.com.

https://nowtoronto.com/news/best-cannabis-products

Cannabis "care-mongering" in the time of COVID-19

With so much COVID-19 doom and gloom online, some in the cannabis community have opted to turn the channel with what they call “care-mongering” on Instagram.

People have been dropping off or mailing cannabis-related products, including pot seeds, to friends, explained Lisa Campbell, the Toronto-based CEO of the cannabis sales and marketing company, Mercari Agency Ltd.

“A lot of people have been talking about care-mongering as opposed to fear-mongering where you can go down these YouTube or Google spirals where you’re just reading about horrible things happening,” said Campbell.

“People are trying to move away from a state of fear to a state of caring on social media,” she added. “What I’ve noticed is there’s this trend, especially on Instagram, where the cannabis community is really strong, with care-mongering with cannabis. So it all started the first package I got.”

Everything you need to know about microdosing

Let’s face it: you’ve likely heard the term microdosing at least once since Canada legalized marijuana. But since December 2019, when the government finally allowed the sale of legally infused goods such as candies, chocolates, tea bags and drinks, use of the term has increased. If you’re a new cannabis user or just plain old canna-user, you’re likely left wondering what microdosing is and why you should care?

Well, we’re glad you asked.

What is microdosing?

As cannabis consumption becomes more mainstream, people are concerned about how its use may affect them. This is why microdosing has become popular. A microdose is when someone takes a low dose of cannabis – for the purpose of experiencing its therapeutic benefits – while avoiding some of the harsher effects pot has been known to have on one’s mood or mindset. For some, it’s about taking in all of THC’s medicinal benefits while avoiding the psychoactive effects like anxiety or euphoria, which can interfere with the demands of daily life.

“Microdosing is a great way to experiment with cannabis for new and old users,” says Lisa Campbell, CEO of Toronto-based Mercari Agency, noting that consumers may want to experience “the euphoric highs of cannabis while reducing the side effects of overconsumption including paranoia, dry mouth and tiredness.”

11 Canadian women in weed smashing the grass ceiling

Lisa Campbell is the CEO and founder of Mercari, a Canadian cannabis marketing company, and the co-chair of the Cannabis Beverage Producers Alliance. “Previously, I was very involved in promoting edibles, and now, my most recent mission is to understand what it would look like if we crossed hospitality and cannabis. And it’s exciting right now for us because Restaurants Canada is starting to explore what it would look like if your restaurant needs a license for private retail to serve cannabis,” Campbell told The GrowthOp in a 2018 interview.

Cannabis Is Taking Away From Beer Market Share Following Legalization

Infused cannabis products started trickling into the Canadian market in December, but wider distribution isn’t expected until later this quarter.

Lisa Campbell, CEO of Mercari Agency, a Toronto-based cannabis consultancy, noted that hurdles stand in the way of beer companies looking to capitalize on cannabis beverages – especially regulatory barriers.

For example, beer makers are unable to produce cannabis beverages unless they build out a separate facility – or partner with someone who already has a separate facility.

That adds significant cost and limits synergy.

Many cannabis beverage joint ventures with some of the biggest brewers have yet to launch a product despite such products being legal, she said.

“The ban of alcohol branding and nomenclature means beer brands can’t capitalize on their existing brands to gain cannabis market share.”

Lifford rebrands to Mercari ahead of launch of Cannabis 2.0 products

Canadian cannabis sales agency Lifford Cannabis is rebranding to Mercari Agency to better establish itself as a pure-play legal pot sales and marketing agency. The company, which previously operated alongside its agency that focused on alcohol sales, looks to focus its efforts on its wholesale cannabis brokerage business and working with federally-authorized cannabis licence holders. Mercari is also expanding its business nationally ahead of Canada’s launch of Cannabis 2.0 products early next year after previously focusing exclusively on Ontario, B.C. and Alberta, the company said in a statement.

Cannabis: les experts s'attendent à d'autres coupes d'emplois

Les experts de l’industrie du cannabis estiment que la vague de mises à pied et de départs de dirigeants qui s’est amorcée cette semaine devrait se poursuivre.Ils s’attendent à une année difficile pour l’industrie et prévoient que les mois à venir verront des réductions d’effectifs plus importantes et des changements à la direction des petites et grandes entreprises de cannabis.Le producteur Aurora Cannabis a indiqué jeudi qu’il supprimerait 500 emplois et inscrirait des dépréciations d’amortissement de près de 800 millions $, en plus d’annoncer le départ de son chef de la direction, Terry Booth.Quelques jours plus tôt, Tilray avait annoncé la mise à pied de 10 % de son effectif dans le but de réduire ses coûts, tandis que la semaine précédente avait vu Sundial Growers supprimer une partie de sa main-d’œuvre.

Selon la chef de la direction de la société de vente et de commercialisation de cannabis Mercari Agency, Lisa Campbell, ces réductions étaient inévitables puisque plusieurs entreprises se sont surévaluées depuis la légalisation du cannabis récréatif, en plus de s’engager dans une course pour se tailler une place parmi les plus gros joueurs du secteur.

Omar Khan, responsable national du secteur du cannabis pour la firme Hill + Knowlton Strategies, affirme que les gouvernements doivent prendre note des récentes pertes d’emplois et trouver des moyens d’aider l’industrie à développer des stratégies économiques à long terme.

Experts predict more cannabis layoffs and executive departures coming this year

Experts predict more cannabis layoffs and executive departures coming this year

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

A salesperson displays a jar of cannabis for a photograph at the Potorium dispensary in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. , Ben Nelms/Bloomberg

TORONTO -- A rash of cannabis company layoffs and executive departures in recent weeks is likely to continue as the industry faces a rocky year, according to observers.

They are anticipating the coming months will bring more dramatic staffing cuts and changes to leadership at small and large cannabis companies alike as they grapple with the recent roll out of edibles, a history of overspending and a lack of profitability.

The predictions come in the wake of Aurora Cannabis Inc.'s announcement Thursday that it would be slashing 500 staff jobs, taking nearly $800 million in goodwill writedowns and seeing the departure of Terry Booth, the Edmonton-based company's chief executive officer. Aurora's news was preceded by Tilray Inc. saying it would lay off 10 per cent of its workforce in a bid to cut costs and Sundial Growers axing some of its workforce.

Even smaller cannabis companies have been hit with hard times. Zenabis Global Inc. cut about 40 staff, mostly in head office roles in Vancouver, in early January. TerrAscend Corp., Sundial Growers Inc. and the Supreme Cannabis Company have also experienced leadership departures.

"Everything is so tumultuous," said Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, a University of Toronto associate professor of sociology, who follows the cannabis industry. "I expect companies to completely go under. I don't think it will just be a matter of layoffs. In the next year and even five years, I think smaller companies will go bankrupt or they might be bought by the larger companies."

The industry's troubles have not caught him by surprise. He has long expected them because he says the birth of any newly-regulated industry comes with "a lot of unknowns."

Licensed cannabis producers, he says, are still figuring exactly what the size of the retail market is, how regulatory systems will work and how the international and national weed scene will look as it evolves.

"Part of what we saw here is that there was so much hype around this industry," said Owusu-Bempah. "The companies themselves wanted to hype up the size of the industry and the size of the revenues to attract investors, which led to outsized and perhaps unjustified growth."

Lisa Campbell, the chief executive officer of cannabis sales and marketing company Mercari Agency, said a lot of companies spent too much of their time overvaluing their companies and engaging in a war to be the biggest brand.

"A lot of money was burned through and there wasn't so much focus on quality or execution because the focus was on who could send out more press releases and acquire the most companies," she said.

"We all kind of saw the writing on the wall and that many companies were running out of money. It makes sense that a shakeup was inevitable. It was just a question of when."

She has noticed industry morale is low, especially because of the departures of so many leaders that shepherded companies through the early days of legalization and shaped the industry into its current form.

The recent turmoil should be turning political heads, added Omar Khan, the national cannabis sector lead at Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

"Governments need to take note of the recent job losses within the industry and cannot ignore that well paying jobs are being lost," he said in an email to The Canadian Press.

"The cannabis industry has almost single handedly saved several Canadian small towns that were suffering from years of decline due to the loss of manufacturing jobs."

He said the government should start appointing people to co-ordinate long-term economic strategies for the industry and to look for ways to monetize export potential, attract clinical trials, deal with research and development investment and reduce overall regulatory burden, so that the legal cannabis industry can better compete with the illicit market.