Recent claims by two B.C. companies about being licensed to sell cocaine and other substances — statements they later retracted — represent a communications "failure" that regulators will want to prevent, a Canadian psychedelic advocate and business consultant says.
"It was a bit of a black eye with those press releases to be frank," Michael Kydd, a regulatory communication specialist in the psychedelic industry, told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.
A pair of companies from B.C. claimed that Health Canada gave them approval to possess, produce and sell drugs and psychedelics such as psilocybin.
Health Canada responded earlier this month, saying it stressed to the companies Adastra Labs and Sunshine Earth Labs that they are only allowed to deal with the controlled substances for "authorized medical and research purposes."
Both and later retracted their statements and clarified that they are not allowed to sell these, or any of the other controlled substances they were granted a licence for, to the general public.
"I don't think it's a knock-out punch, but I do suspect that the regulator will likely take this back and have a look at some of the wording and the communication around their own policy," Kydd said.
"And more importantly how that's communicated to companies in the public and the private space ... and what they're actually trying to do with these drugs, whether it's investigation of molecular compounds right through to the actual manufacturing of them."
The initial news prompted anger in and confusion from Premier David Eby.
"The short answer is I was astonished by this announcement," Eby said. "I understand that this company says Health Canada has given them some sort of authorization. It is not part of our provincial plan."
Earlier this year, B.C. announced details of its three-year pilot project to of small amounts – 2.5 grams – of illicit drugs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said he was "as surprised as" Eby, adding that the federal government was "working very quickly" with Adastra Labs "to correct the misunderstanding" caused by the company's statement.
The latest developments come as advocates push for more research into the use of psychedelics, like psilocybin, to treat mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Last month, some MPs joined advocates in calling for the federal government to expand access to psychedelics as medical treatments.
"You're not to mess around with Health Canada dealers' licences. These things don't get handed out like hot cakes," Kydd said.
"They are to be taken seriously and what I think happened here is maybe a little bit of excitement, some miscommunication, and that is a failure on the communication side of things."
Watch the full interview with Michael Kydd at the top of the article. With files from CTV News Vancouver Multi-skilled Journalist Abigail Turner, CTVNewsVancouver.ca Reporter Becca Clarkson, Multi-media journalist, CTV News Vancouver Bhinder Sajan, CTV News Vancouver Multi-Media Journalist Regan Hasegawa and The Canadian Press.
