
CannTrust Holdings has voluntarily stopped selling cannabis products after it was found to be operating five unlicensed grow rooms, following an inspection of its manufacturing facility in Pelham, Ontario.
The issue came to light after an ex-employee tipped off Health Canada about the illegal rooms that he was involved in creating. Two days later, on June 17, inspectors conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility in Pelham, which resulted in an overall Non-Compliant (NC) rating. In addition to producing cannabis in unlicensed rooms before obtaining approval from Health Canada, the company provided false and misleading information to inspectors during the course of the inspection and had inadequate record keeping, according to Health Canada.
Health Canada inspectors returned to the Pelham facility on July 3 and 4, where they hand-delivered the inspection report and seized 4,327 Kg of implicated product, and obtained samples for further testing. The company has also put a voluntary hold on product at its other licensed site in Vaughn, Ontario.
The company has 10 business days (until July 18, 2019) to respond to the NC inspection report. Health Canada will review any additional information provided by the company and determine the appropriate compliance and enforcement action.
The Cannabis Act contains a number of enforcement tools that may be considered in determining the appropriate actions to prevent or address non-compliance, based on a review of the situation and all relevant information, including the health or safety risk and the compliance history of the individual or corporation. These include measures ranging from compliance promotion and awareness, which are intended to educate and prevent non-compliance, up to measures intended to correct non-compliance or address a public health or safety risk, such as the issuance of a warning letter, suspension or cancellation of a federal licence, the issuance of a ministerial order, or the issuance of administrative monetary penalties (up to $1 million).