An aerial shot of Hexo Corp's 1,000,000 sq. ft. facility in Gatineau, Quebec. The company is now the largest employer in the region.Supplied
From education and myth-busting to harm reduction and environmental impacts, the cannabis industry has a lot to think about. In response, an international initiative called the Global Cannabis Partnership was launched in 2018 to set corporate social responsibility standards for the burgeoning industry.
Recently, Globe Content Studio caught up with a few of the leading voices in the industry to discuss the early days of corporate social responsibility in cannabis and how the industry can avoid disaster, support local economies, and minimize harms.
What are some of the priorities and concerns in the cannabis industry regarding corporate social responsibility?
Karina Lahnakoski, vice president, quality and regulatory, Cannabis Compliance Inc.
Other industries have been forced into CSR initiatives after some kind of disaster. We want to get ahead of any possible issues and make sure that we are developing industries from the beginning with a socially responsible framework. Canadian companies want to be competitive on the world stage and to do that we need to build this industry responsibly.
Terry Lake, vice-president of corporate and social responsibility, HEXO Corp.
It's incumbent upon us to have a strong CSR lens on what we do because we want it to be a positive contributor to society and minimize any potential negative impacts that our industry may have. We recognize that cannabis can have adverse effects for young people, and Canadians need to be aware of the risks of over-consumption, as well as with driving or working. So, we want to make sure that we're addressing some of these issues from the very beginning.
There are also demands on environmental inputs that people are concerned about. There’s a lot of water that's used and potentially a lot of natural gas and electricity. We want to make sure that we're demonstrating that we are minimizing our footprint on the environment as we produce our great products.
Morgan Fox, media relations director, National Cannabis Industry Association.
I think, traditionally, people in the cannabis space have always cared about environmental responsibility and sustainability and now they're starting to get more leeway in terms of being able to grow outdoors and with greenhouse cultivation, which requires less energy. Technology that helps the industry be more sustainable is also increasing day by day and this kind of innovation wouldn't have happened in the illicit market. The innovation that's going on right now is something that is only possible because of legalization and regulation.
Are companies looking at these concerns with a long-term focus? Is there a collaborative effort underway to help the industry set high standards?
TL: I was hired about 20 months ago when we were still a relatively small medical cannabis company because our co-founders, Sébastien St-Louis and Adam Miron, understood the importance of corporate social responsibility when we were in the early stages of getting ready for legalized recreational adult use. They planted that flag early to say this is important for our company.
Since then we've seen other companies also understand the importance of this to the point where the industry has formed the GCP. That partnership is in the late stages of developing a responsible cannabis framework, which looks at CSR from a broad perspective.
KL: It's still a very competitive industry in that each company does want to protect what makes it competitive. At the same time, the group of companies that came together to form the GCP recognize that if we're not collaborative and don't share best practices, then we're going to be working in silos.
What are some of the key issues that the industry still needs to address?
TL: The obvious ones are the greenhouse gases associated with electricity and natural gas use. Growing outdoors has even less of an impact but across the industry, we still want to make sure we are minimizing the amount of water being used. Practices that HEXO employs include capturing rainwater in reservoirs to water our plants and ensuring any runoff from our irrigation is treated and reused.
As an industry, we are also concerned about social justice issues. We support cannabis amnesty to help those that are seeking pardons for simple possession charges from the past. We support the Canadians for fair access to medical cannabis to make sure that our medical patients are not forgotten in this new industry.
MF: There's a huge drive to do more charity and community development. For many years, these groups simply would not take money from anybody in the cannabis industry. That's starting to change as the stigma erodes.
We've got an opportunity to start this legal industry with a firm foundation based in corporate, social and environmental responsibility. I think that there's a lot of drive to make sure that those values remain as the industry grows.
One of the benefits we’re seeing from the cannabis industry so far is its ability to provide economic renewal to smaller towns and city centres where previous industries have left. What kind of social impact can the cannabis industry have in these places?
KL: I love the stories because we have this vision for building something sustainable for local economies and bringing jobs back, including skilled labour in financial, regulatory and science roles.
MF: So many ancillary businesses are buoyed by the legal cannabis industry. I've talked to American business owners who said that they were floundering before cannabis became legal in their state, and then they were able to pivot a large portion of their business towards servicing the cannabis industry for whatever that might be. Plumbers, electricians, general contractors. Now they’re in a position where they need to expand and hire more people, whereas before they might've been on the point of bankruptcy. Nearly 70 per cent of the businesses that we represent nationally are ancillary businesses that don't directly touch the plant.
TL: In Masson-Angers, Quebec, which is where our largest growing footprint is, we have become the community’s largest employer and contribute to its local health foundation. In Belleville, we're moving into the old Sears warehouse. So it’s a legacy type of industry being replaced by new industry and the town has been extremely supportive.
Having said that, there are potential impacts on communities and we want to be very good neighbours. We've worked with our communities to ensure that the impacts we have are positive. We recently had an open house with the neighbourhoods that surround our operation and that was very well received. We went through how we produce cannabis and some of the measures that we are taking now and will take in the future to reduce those impacts as much as possible. Being a good neighbour is very important because providing jobs is one thing, but you want to make sure that you are not having any adverse effects as well.
These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.