True Leaf breaks ground

It was a groundbreaking day for True Leaf, an Okanagan company building a massive cannabis facility in Lumby.

Friday marked the start of construction at the True Leaf campus in Lumby.

"It means a lot," said Darcy Bomford, CEO of True Leaf. "We are officially getting started after applying for a medicinal cannabis license almost five years ago."

"We were successful in raising $14 million through an equity crowdfunding, raised in the U.S. and Canada and that allows us now to break ground on the 40 acres that we purchased in Lumby."  

The project will employ up to 150 workers during construction and create 35 full- and part-time jobs at the start of operations.

"The facility is initially 25,000 square feet and it will be anchored by a 9,000-square-foot hub and then the first phase of a grow which is 16,000 square feet," Bomford said.

"Initial production will be around 2,500 kilos of dry product per year and then we can grow as the business grows."

In 2015, True Leaf Pet Inc. started marketing hemp-based products for the pet industry in addition to providing federally-approved cannabis products for humans.

"It can help with pain management and sleep deprivation, people that have anxiety, people going through serious treatment and suffering nausea, cancer, chemotherapy or from leukemia and other forms like that," said Mike Harcourt, chairperson of True Leaf and former B.C. premier.

The company's application to produce and distribute cannabis under Health Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations has completed the security clearance stage.

Construction is expected to be completed and operational by fall 2018.

Photo: True Leaf

Rendering of True Leaf