A Closer Look at Seven Leaf – Medical Cannabis Company
Seven Leaf made their public debut in local, regional and national news last week as an applicant for medical cannabis production and later, distribution. They are standing in line at 38 to be federally licensed by Health Canada. Closing in on meeting Phase One of their plans, Seven Leaf plan to grow the highly regulated and controlled medical cannabis by 2018.
Working on this since 2013, Lewis Mitchell, President; Michael 'Gus' Pyke, Assistant Director of Quality Assurance & PRIC and Lorraine White, RPIC and Chief Compliance Officer will hold the federal license in their names.
This is a growing and ever changing field and once established – a lucrative endeavor. With sales expecting to reach 1.3 billion annually by 2024 and according to some estimates, the industry could add another 150,00 jobs over the next few years. Once fully operational, Seven Leaf plans to add "75 to 100 quality jobs with benefits and pensions to the area hoping to keep young, educated Mohawks in the area."
Firmly established in the former water bottling plant on Kawehnoke, Seven Leaf is reengineering the building to meet all security and assurance quality measures mandated by Health Canada, whose regulations can be found in voluminous document binders of standard operation procedures. Security plans include a vast array of cameras covering every minute inch of the building inside and out including the activities of every Seven Leaf employee. Health Canada can request at any time a recording of a certain date and time. And all security recordings must be kept for a minimum of three years. They also require that all employees, from cleaning people to cultivators, to office management, complete a background check. Dependent upon your job description some may only require a local Akwesasne Mohawk Police background check while others will require fingerprinting and a RCMP background clearance.
And in the near future, plans must be submitted for inventory tracking and client tracking plans; all documents required by Health Canada proving they meet all regulations.
Constantly going back and forth between Health Canada on quality assurance and quality control, HC can and has asked about something as mundane as cleaning: what is your cleaning schedule, what type of cleaners do you use to clean your walls, what type of products do you clean your floors with, what do you paint your walls with? It is that detailed.
Their goal is simple, detailed plans provide information on keeping containments out to ensure the product is pure and eliminate any type of contaminants from infecting the cannabis plant.
Anything past a certain point is considered 'marijuana present' and requires employees working in a marijuana present area to have two levels of security. Cultivators can work with a single level security clearance as long as 'Responsible Person in Charge' is present. The 'RPIC' requires a second level of security clearance.
Regulations have changed as they go along, with Seven Leaf revising or amending plans already in place to meet new regulations. Health Canada and Seven Leaf have built and maintained an open and reciprocated relationship in meeting Seven Leaf goals and required regulations.
Investors, local and otherwise, have knocked on their doors asking to be a part of this. When asked if Tweed (Smith Falls, ON) and Delshen (Toronto, ON) and other major medical cannabis growers are invested in this, Mitchell stated, "They were here. They wanted to invest with Seven Leaf. We want to – as I use the words – 'paddle our own canoe.' We want to make our own way in this new industry. We want to control it. We don't want a pharmaceutical company dictating how to run our company. We are proud of that fact too. We are Mohawk owned and Mohawk operated."
He added, "We have been approached by investors. You have to be careful. Phase One is affordable to us. We will be looking for other community investors."
When asked if Akwesasne residents would be allowed to make small investments, he answered, 'that's a good question' and he would have to refer that back to his partners.
In 2015, in Delshen Therapeutics invested $3 million on the Wahgoshig Territory, which operates its cannabis facility out of a former Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources tree nursery. Delshen offered a seat on its board, employment guarantees and funding for a drug and alcohol treatment center. Since then 49 other First Nation communities have invested in Delshen Therapeutics.
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake issued a moratorium on the production, distribution and sale of cannabis on its territory until they adopt their own regulations.
The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte have 16 unregulated growers and dispensaries in their community. Some are storefront operations and others operate out of people's homes. None are registered businesses with their Council and technically, all are considered illegal by the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Council. According to national media, the Federal Crown attorney advised MBQ Council that the judges in Belleville, Ontario do not want to hear these cases and the local police believe that 'it's a gray area'.
"So there's really no law enforcement", Tyendinaga Chief R. Don Maracle was quoted as saying.
Mitchell shared Seven Leaf's communication history and future plans. A few years back they Seven Leaf held several public meetings with very few community members attending. According to Mitchell, Seven Leaf met with the former Grand Chief Mike Mitchell and present Grand Chief Abram Benedict. Along the way, they met with several district chiefs. They also met with the Tsi Snaihne community at a public meeting at their request. They have held small family meetings with two in attendance and large family meetings with eight to ten family members with some meetings lasting for twenty minutes and other meetings lasting for over two hours.
They have also met with SRMT Chief Beverly Cook and Tsiorasa Barreiro.
In a new area not yet regulated in Akwesasne, Seven Leaf is willing to share their plans, their goals and each step they take with the community of Akwesasne.
The onus is on Mohawk Council of Akwesasne to regulate the sale and distribution of medical cannabis in Akwesasne.
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