Medical marijuana company Tweed Inc. to seek TSX listing

Tweed Inc., an Ontario company that won a federal licence today to grow medical marijuana, plans to seek a listing on the TSX Venture Exchange.

It has sent a letter of intent to the Toronto Stock Exchange saying it plans to take over a ticker owned byLW Capital Pool Inc.as soon as it can complete the regulatory process for listing on the Venture Exchange.

The company will grow medical marijuana at its site in a former Hershey Co. plant in Smiths Falls, Ont., about 80 kilometressouthwest of Ottawa. Registration begins Feb. 6 for patients wanting to buy its product.

Tweed Inc. already had permission tostart planting a variety of strains, but can now expand its crop to fill the168,000-square-foot facility, said vice-president MarkZekulin. The company is licensed to produce 15,000 kilograms a year.

"We're going to fill it up as quickly as possible to service as many people as we can," he said. "We're going to, in the next couple of weeks, roll out information about the particular strains we're going tobe carrying we'll be having25 different strains off the bat to deal with a number of different needs, different ailments. Everybody's different in terms of what they look for," he said.

Its master grower, Ryan Douglas, previouslyworked as cultivation manager for a state-regulatedmedical marijuana grower in Maine.

Tweed Inc. secured a licence to become a commercial supplier of marijuana from Health Canada, one of five companies that are listed as approved suppliers.

Canada changed the laws that allowed medical marijuana users to grow their own product last year.

Starting in October, licences were no longer available to those who wishto grow their own medical marijuana. As of April 2014, the practice will be outlawed.

Anyone using medical marijuana will need to get it from a licensed medical supplier.

Tweed Inc. purchased the old chocolate factory last year, but had been waiting on approval to go ahead with its plan,Zekulinsaid. Distribution will begin as early as April, he said.