Ep.32 - Excise Tax with Whistler Therapeutics, EarthWolf Farms, & Joint Venture Craft Cannabis

Watch our deep dive into how excise tax is affecting real-world cannabis companies. Our guests on this episode of The State of Craft have graciously shared and dissected numbers from their operations to illustrate just how awful the current framework is for long-term industry sustainability.

Watch it now!

This discussion featured Daniel Lantela and Brishna Kamal of Whistler Therapeutics and EarthWolf Farms,who brought their scientific background and direct experience with solventless extraction and outdoor cultivation (not to mention the brutal mathematics of excise duty on concentrates). Also on the podcast was Janine Davis, previously of Joint Venture Craft Cannabis, who shared the processor's perspective on bringing legacy producers into the legal market while navigating impossible pricing compression.

Our conversation ranged from the technical (provincial excise variations, ad valorem adjustments, the difference between federal and provincial portions) to the deeply personal (single mothers who used cannabis income to feed their kids, businesses in receivership, employees being laid off). The conversation laid bare that the government's dual mandate of collecting tax revenue and eliminating the illicit market is fundamentally at odds with itself, given its current structure.

And don’t forget to check out the first chapter of our white paper, The Dire State of Craft Cannabis in Canada, where we go all in on the many, many issues caused by the current structure of excise duties.

Here are just a few of the points discussed in this episode of The State of Craft:

• The stark reality that excise duty alone can exceed 100% of a farmer's entire seasonal revenue
• Province-by-province excise comparisons, using Alberta versus BC tax burden as an example
• The absurdity of cannabis reporting requirements imposed by CRA
• Why concentrates and extracts remain mostly in the black market (spoiler alert: excise tax structures were designed for flower)
• Cannabis as the only medicine in Canada that is taxed, because prescriptions are intentionally called "medical documents" (see the “Medical Patients Have Been Forgotten” chapter of our white paper)
• The complete absence of industry voices on the federal Expert Panel reviewing the Cannabis Act
• Why increased enforcement against the illicit market will fail without fixing the legal framework first
• Calls for BC to follow Manitoba's lead and rebate the provincial portion of excise to in-province producers
• And much more!