3 years after legalization, Okanagan weed tour operator hoping for post-pandemic business reset - Action News
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British Columbia

3 years after legalization, Okanagan weed tour operator hoping for post-pandemic business reset

The B.C. Craft Farmers Co-op and Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers has co-organized a three-day event in downtown Kelowna, April 20-22, where politicians and business leaders are discussing Canada's Cannabis Act and its impact on the growth of the marijuana industry.

B.C. Cannabis Summit in Kelowna discussing ways to improve growth

Wine and cannabis tour operator Nicholas Wilson stands in the Terroir Craft hemp farm in south Kelowna, B.C. hoping new ideas to grow the industry will come out of a marijuana business symposium in Kelowna. (Joseph Otoo/CBC)

Kelowna wine tour operator Nicholas Wilson says he remembers his parents beinggobsmacked when he told them five years ago he wanted to organize cannabis tours in the Okanagan, once Canada legalized the use of recreational weed.

"The baby boomer generation, you know, they were fed those indoctrinated documentaries like Reefer Madness," Wilson said of the 1936 American propaganda film filled with alarmist views about marijuana addiction.

"My mum was terrifiedif she smoked a joint, she would immediately go to heroin and prostitution."

The lingering social stigma around cannabis even in the wake of the federal government's legalization of its recreational use in October 2018 is one of the topics Wilson and others working in theindustry will discuss in the inaugural annualB.C. Cannabis Summitthat startsWednesday April 20, also known as4/20 orWorld Weed Day.

The three-day event, co-organized by the B.C. Craft Farmers Co-Op and Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers,at a hotel in downtown Kelownais bringing together politicians and business leaders to talk about changes in federal law that would allow for more promotion and growth inthe weed industry.

As he had promised before legalization, Wilsonorganized dozens of cannabis tours in 2018 and 2019 in the Okanaganbased on U.S. models, with visits to a hemp farm, two dispensaries and a brewery.

However, he maintains cannabis tourism failed to take off in Canada because of federal government rules regulating and restricting promotion of the product.

Truck used by Nicholas Wilson to take tourists around hemp farm and cannabis dispensaries in the Okanagan. Wilson says weed tour operators have to be low-key in promoting their services under the Cannabis Act. (Submitted by Wicked Wine Tours)

Greg Christie, who runs the Terroir Craft hemp farm in south Kelowna that has formed part of Wilson's tour, admits marijuana consumption is still a sensitive issue in the region.

"There's certainly a stigma around it still, and we're hoping to break that out here," he said.

Cannabis farmer Greg Christie admits stigmatization around cannabis use still exists in the Okanagan region. (Joseph Otoo/CBC)

Wilson will resume cannabis tours this June after two years of pandemic hiatus. He says he hopes his guided tours will help to bust the stigmatization around cannabis use.

"A lot of folks have smoked a joint and have been purchasing it illicitly over the years, but now they can come out and enjoy it and get some education and awareness."

With files from Joseph Otoo