A BC based cannabis company is one of the first to be approved to operate a cocaine production and distribution network.
Adastra Labs is located in the City of Langley, B.C. and received approval for their application by Health Canada in February.
Adastra can also possess, produce, sell and distribute up to 1,000 grams of psilocybin and psilocin.
“The amended license allows Adastra to interact with up to 250 grams of cocaine and to import coca leaves to manufacture and synthesize the substance,” reads a statement on the Adastra Holdings website.
“Harm reduction is a critically important and mainstream topic, and we are staying at the forefront of drug regulations across the board,” said Michael Forbes, CEO of Adastra, in a statement.
“We proactively pursued the amendment to our Dealer’s License to include cocaine back in December 2022. We will evaluate how the commercialization of this substance fits in with our business model at Adastra in an effort to position ourselves to support the demand for a safe supply of cocaine.”
After Adastra’s declaration, Sunshine Earth Laboratories, a different Canadian business, announced that it had also been given approval to produce and distribute cocaine as well as MDMA, morphine, opium, and diacetylmorphine.
Health Canada Licenses were issued to Oryx BioMed Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunshine Earth Labs Ltd.
Health Canada recently granted BC approval for an exception to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, allowing adults to possess up to 2.5 grams of some illegal narcotics.
BC became the first province to decriminalize small amounts of controlled drugs.
