Leamington medical marijuana producer Aphria is working on producing cannabis oil after getting Health Canada approval for a major expansion.
Sarah Dobbin with the company hopes to have a medical cannabis oil product approved for patients within the next couple of months.
The extra 22,000 sq ft of space should help.
"You need a lot more product to produce cannabis oil," says Dobbin. "We would need that expansion in order to produce more cannabis."
The new expansion doubles the company's capacity allowing Aphria to generate an estimated $30-million in annual revenue from the combined facility.
Adding cannabis oil to the Aphria product line means less goes to waste.
"Cannabis oil, we can use the leaves and the stems whereas when we're selling the dried bud we can't use any of that, we'd have to discard it," says Dobbin, adding the new product is excellent for dosing.
"Doctors can now be a lot more specific and it's so much more controlled than someone smoking a joint or vaporizing or even making their own recipes," says Dobbin.
The company invested $1.7-million in preparing its oil production facility as part of its expansion plans.
Medical marijuana plants. (BlackburnNews.com file photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
An oil extracting machine seen at Aphria's headquarters in Leamington on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Sarah Dobbin, Patient Care Manager at Aphria, stands next to rows of medical marijuana plants at the company's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Medical marijuana plants seen at Aphria's Leamington greenhouses on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Aphria chemists work on producing a new cannabis oil product at the company's Leamington headquarters on February 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
