Agra Ventures Ltd. (CSE:AGRA, OTC:AGFAF) has welcomed Health Canada's recent announcement of regulatory changes to streamline the application process for cannabis processors to bring products to market quicker.
"The regulatory changes recently announced by Health Canada are a welcome improvement of the licensing process for AGRA and the entire Canadian cannabis industry,” said Elise Coppens, CEO of Agra, in a statement. “Although we remain focused on our business-to-business strategy of growing great cannabis and selling it in dried form to other licensed producers in Canada, the changes give us optionality that we didn't have before, which I believe adds value to our organization."
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On March 31, 2022, Health Canada said it would begin granting sales authorizations for dried and fresh cannabis products during the initial licensing process to all standard and micro-class processing license holders. Therefore, licensees, such as Agra, will no longer have to apply for an amendment in order to sell to wholesalers. The planned improvements are scheduled to go into effect on April 19, 2022.
"Our team commends Health Canada on its open-mindedness, applauds the outcome of its process and endorses the changes that have emerged and are planned to be in effect shortly," added Coppens.
Agra said existing licences that do not currently authorize the sale of dried and fresh cannabis products will be reissued with amended conditions within the next 90 days, adding that once a holder's licence has been amended, and 60 days have passed after submitting a Notification of New Cannabis Product for any dried or fresh cannabis product, the holder will be able to sell those products into provincial markets, pending local approval.
However, it noted that an amendment will still be required in order to sell cannabis extracts, cannabis topicals and edible cannabis products. The changes are part of the regulator's ongoing efforts to improve Canada's cannabis program.
The company also said it has made a further amendment to its 10% Senior Unsecured Convertible Debentures. Agra has agreed to amend the applicable conversion price of the debentures to a price per share equal to the volume-weighted average trading price of the company's common shares on the CSE for the five trading days prior to the applicable conversion date, subject to a minimum issue price of $0.05. Previously, the company agreed with holders to amend the debentures to extend the maturity date for an additional twelve months to March 12, 2023.
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