b'CANNABIS CHRONICLES4/19: A RED-LETTER DAY FOR HEMPWith its latest list of approved cultivars, Health Canada has opened the door to a new era.Marc ZienkiewiczFOR JAN SLASKI,April 19, 2021, will forevergram is able to work in a space that holdsof what is a multipurpose crop, Slaski be the day that changed the hemp indus- much promise for breeders, growers, seedsays.try in Canada for the better. companies, patients, recreational cannabis It was that day Health Canadausers and more. Cannabinoid Crazereleased its updated list of approvedThe CBD market is exploding inSince the new Health Canada list hemp cultivars, and the new additionsCanada. A 2020 report conducted by thewas issued, Alberta-based Tritium 3H are significant. Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracyannounced two major deals that will Its a game changer. For years farmersat the University of Ottawa estimated theallow them to bring significant new CBD have been able to grow hemp for foodCBD market in Canada at $1.9 billion. genetics to the Canadian market.and cosmetics and fibre, but these otherHemp plants, which are a differentSpecializing in hemp variety testing opportunities have been missing. Itsstrain of cannabis, can produce CBDand commercialization of industrial hemp really the dawn of a new era for us, sayswithout a high THC content. Cannabisvarieties, Tritium 3H announced an exclu-Slaski, principal researcher at InnoTechcontaining 0.3 per cent or less of THC issive three-year license agreement with Alberta.considered hemp in Canada. Colorado-based CW Hemp Supply Co., a That other opportunity, of course, isNow, the Canadian hemp industry hasdivision of American CBD product brand cannabidiol (CBD) production. access to varieties that produce as much asCharlottes Web. The brand made head-For nearly 20 years, Slaski has been14 per cent CBD, many times higher thanlines in 2013 when news network CNN leading research aimed at introductionthe varieties they previously had to workprofiled Charlotte Figi, who in 2006 was and breeding of hemp varieties that suitwith, which were in the 2 per cent range. only months old when she was diagnosed the needs of the fibre and food industriesThis is extremely important becausewith Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of on the Prairies. Now, his breeding pro- now, finally, we can fully take advantageepilepsy that starts in infancy.4GERMINATION.CAINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2022'