Canada has taken a giant leap forward in the recreational marijuana legalization process. Fulfilling a campaign pledge made during the last election cycle, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation on April 13, 2017 to legalize the recreational use of marijuana (cannabis) in Canada. The proposed legislation is expected to be approved and become law by July of this year, making marijuana legal as a consumer product for the entire country.Canadian companies are scrambling to capitalize on the inevitable spike in demand for marijuana that will result from legal recreational use. Canada already has a flourishing medical marijuana industry which has existed since 1999 when marijuana was legalized for medical use. Companies like Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (OTCMKTS: TBQBF, and CVE: EMH) that are already established in the medical marijuana industry have a clear advantage for capitalizing on the upcoming opportunity.Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. operates primarily through Emerald Health Botanicals Inc. ("Botanicals"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and a Licensed Producer under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (the "ACMPR"). Botanicals is authorized to cultivate and sell both dried medical cannabis flowers and medical cannabis oils in Canada.Botanicals currently operates an indoor cultivation facility in Victoria, British Columbia, and plans to construct a much larger purpose built hybrid greenhouse facility on 32 acres in metro Vancouver. Botanicals prides itself on being one of Canada's most medically focused licensed producers and on having one of the industry's most qualified management teams with respect to pharmaceutical drug discovery, development and distribution. Botanicals intends to capture unique niches in both the medical and future adult use cannabis markets through its proprietary strains, defensible intellectual property, and superb client experience.
As of Mar 8, 201, Emerald Health was ranked third in the Clean Technology & Life Sciences sector of the 2017 TSX Venture 50 based on its market capitalization growth, share price appreciation, and trading volume. Last year, the stock price jumped nearly 500% from a low of 15 cents to over C$1.25. On February 23, the company was also featured in a video profile and official announcement of the top-ranking stocks in each sector.The company is well underway with its first phase of expansion that will add 50,000 square feet of cultivation space and a state-of-the-art facility with anticipated capacity in excess of 5,000 kilograms per year. In its second phase, the company will scale-up in a modular fashion with 50,000 additional square feet in the near-term. Management anticipates that both phases will be completed in 2018 with sales commencing when licensing is completed. The company has the capacity to build out an aggregate one million square feet of total production space on its 32-acre Metro Vancouver property.On March 28, 2017, Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. announced that it filed its final prospectus to launch the Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, the new ETF, that began trading on April 5. It was the first publicly-traded fund offering direct exposure to North American-listed stocks that are involved with medical marijuana bioengineering and production. Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. is the seventh largest holding in the index with a roughly 6.6% allocation, as of April 3, 2017.On April 11, 2017, Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. announce that it entered into an amended letter of engagement with Underwriter Eight Capital under in which they have agreed to purchase 13,170,000 units of the Company on a "bought deal" basis at a price per Unit of $1.85, for total gross proceeds of $24,364,500. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to accelerate facility expansion and for working capital and general corporate purposes.In its most recent press release, Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. announced the launch of its CBD-25 and CBD-50 medical cannabis oils containing 25mg and 50mg of CBD per ml. Management believes these oils contain the highest amount of CBD per ml, with a nominal amount of THC, on the ACMPR market today, putting Emerald in a leading position for CBD medical cannabis extracts, an important dosage form for patients and their doctors. President & CEO of Emerald, Dr. Bin Huang commented:
"These high CBD oils have minute amounts of THC and thus little to no psychoactive effects. Emerald is also actively developing capsules that will have the advantage of precise dosing in a format familiar to patients and doctors. We believe that capsules are the ideal form of delivery for patients with little or no experience with cannabis and will become the preferred delivery method in the medical cannabis industry."
Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. has plenty of momentum, and money in the bank to capitalize on the upcoming legalization of recreational marijuana. The stock has been on a steady upward trend with increasing volume since the start of August 2016. With the July date fast approaching, we see no signs of the Canadian Green Rush slowing down anytime soon.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on EMH/TBQBF, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in EMH/TBQBF and have not been compensated for this article.
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