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In this educational episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss corporate developments and regulatory changes in the Canadian cannabis industry. They cover the financial and operational restructuring reports for Avant Brands, Delta 9’s CCAA proceedings, and Sundial’s layoffs. They analyze the British Columbia sampling license regulations, highlighting the administrative tracking requirements for producers and retailers. The hosts also discuss new product releases, focusing on Dabble Cannabis’ rosin-infused beverages and Pistol & Paris’ Orange Ting’z pre-rolls.
Later, they are joined by Jeff Curtis of TruQuartz and Boro & Beyond, who shares insights on concentrate consumption culture, retail glass wholesale, and the advocacy for legal consumption lounges. Finally, Canadian Army veteran Glen Coyle joins the show to discuss his military service and the founding of Six One Charlie. Glen explains how Six One Charlie operates as a supportive platform for veterans and first responders, curating quality medical products such as flower and live rosin capsules to assist with sleep and pain management.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies: Miss Genevieve, what a saint! What an angel. Isn’t that incredible? I have not opened this yet.
Jeff Curtis Says: Everybody needs a banger. It doesn’t matter whether you get a $20 piece or a $20,000 piece, everybody needs a nice banger.
Glen Coyle Says: This is for you, this is for brothers and sisters who serve, this is for my family. I got some stuff for me and my dog, because you know I’ve got to get him looking bad ass.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles—co-host, executive producer, and my go-to for literally every fucking thing I need. I’ll still say that, Wes, everyone needs to be reminded. But I think what’s happening by doing so is more and more people continue to reach out to you and reach out to me.
Tom Ritchie Says: Good morning, by the way! Good morning, Wes. This is a tough episode today. There’s so much going on in the world.
Wesley Bowles Says: What could you possibly be talking about? I have no idea what you mean!
Tom Ritchie Says: You know me—I avoid politics like the plague. But you’ve got attempted assassinations going on in the US, you’ve got Trudeau at NATO giving speeches to an empty room… You are a dual Canadian and US citizen, so you must be watching this like, ‘Oh man, tough times!’
Wesley Bowles Says: I was also a UK citizen pre- and post-Brexit, so I’ve got the full gamut!
Tom Ritchie Says: All I know is I have never paid so much attention or been so enthralled with US politics as I am right now.
Wesley Bowles Says: It’s a soap opera—a definite soap opera, for sure. At this point, there’s just so much crazy stuff going on that it’s down to personal opinion. I’m just over here drinking my shake and minding my own business. My only thought on the whole thing is: if someone thought trying to kill him was the right decision, all you’re doing is creating a martyr.
Tom Ritchie Says: My only comment is to the people celebrating it: shame on you. At the end of the day, are we not all human? But let’s sound like old people and talk about the weather, because we cannot ignore this storm. It has been non-stop torrential downpours. I got stuck taking the dogs out and it completely downpoured again. We’re about an hour and a half west of Toronto, and the flooding across the GTA and the Don Valley Parkway is insane.
Wesley Bowles Says: Yeah, where I am there are floods everywhere. Whole streets are completely underwater. Burlington has a natural slope toward Lake Ontario so we’re okay, but as you get closer to the escarpment, people are in real trouble.
Tom Ritchie Says: It was so bad that the Kind Summer Fair festival yesterday had to be cancelled. Everyone was messaging us asking if we were going to be there. Wednesdays are our locked studio time—we’re booked out with guests two months in advance and we never move our schedule. But seeing the comments on Kind’s post complaining about the cancellation was ludicrous. It’s an outdoor event! Who wants to stand in a flooded park in the pouring rain? Open the window—Noah’s Ark is sailing down the DVP!
Tom Ritchie Says: If you flew into Toronto for the week, get your tickets to the 420 Affair this Thursday! Jazz Samra had to open up more space in the banquet hall to accommodate everyone. It’s going to be a fantastic event with incredible brands and our favorite people in the industry getting together.
Tom Ritchie Says: We finally connected with David Brown from StratCann! We’ve been playing phone tag, but we finally got him scheduled. StratCann is our primary news source—David and his team are on top of everything. There’s so much happening right now. Avant Brands put out their H1 2024 results, and they reported significant sales losses alongside write-offs.
Wesley Bowles Says: The other striking number from Avant was roughly $14 million in product and inventory asset losses.
Tom Ritchie Says: Avant owns BLK MKT, which is an extremely successful brand across Canada with incredible flower, as well as Tenzo and Treehugger. Then you’ve got Delta 9 filing for CCAA creditor protection, with Sundial and FIKA stepping in on the restructuring and financing.
Wesley Bowles Says: And Sundial is laying off 106 staff as part of their restructuring. Layoffs are horrible, especially in this industry where there aren’t many open positions to absorb people.
Tom Ritchie Says: StratCann also reported on the BC Cannabis sampling program and their marketing license framework. BC introduced a marketing license that allows sampling, but it comes with intense compliance. Under Health Canada and the Cannabis Act, samples must have excise stamps and lot tracking. In BC, both the brand sending the sample and the retailer receiving it must log and track every single SKU and lot number.
Wesley Bowles Says: If you tried that in Ontario, 90% of brands would be offside immediately. When I get a black pop-top tube with a generic sticker and an excise stamp but zero brand information, how is that effective marketing?
Tom Ritchie Says: That’s why programs like the Dope Box by Jazz Samra and Dank Reviews make so much sense. Jazz packed 1,100 boxes for the Astro Boys edition, and Dom Jackson is doing a dedicated craft craft box next. Retail buyers love it because you get aggregated, compliant samples with feedback cards all in one organized package.
Tom Ritchie Says: Our friends over at Stewart Farms sent us the heaviest care package I’ve ever received! I pulled up to the community mailbox and all I could smell was fresh lavender. Stewart Farms is so innovative in the wellness and topical category. They sent over their Rebound balm—which Tanner introduced us to at Grow Up—along with their citrus bath bombs containing 100mg THC and 100mg CBD, a 250mg THC / 250mg CBD Turmeric & Arnica salve, and their Lavender Field body pump cream.
Wesley Bowles Says: Their topicals and bath bombs are phenomenal. Having that 1:1 ratio with clean inputs is next level.
Tom Ritchie Says: And on top of the package was a bag of their Daily Grape dried flower! Miss Genevieve, what a saint, what an angel. You open the bag and it smells pure grape—no artificial botanical terpenes. Thank you so much Genevieve, Tanner, Mike, and the whole Stewart Farms crew!
Tom Ritchie Says: Wes, you went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert on Monday night. How was it?
Wesley Bowles Says: It was wild! I combined edibles with a pre-roll and was outrageously high for the show. I brought Pistol and Paris Orange Tingz pre-rolls—shoutout to Dylan King! They tested at 3.2% terpenes, and as soon as you crack the pack, it smells like authentic citrus terpenes, not that fake sprayed botanical flavoring you find in cheap strawberry pre-rolls. Sparking it up right as Frusciante launched into a solo was pure perfection.
Tom Ritchie Says: Pistol and Paris sources the absolute best craft lots in Canada. And seeing Flea play live on bass is always an absolute masterclass.
Tom Ritchie Says: Another great event coming up is Lake & Bake on August 17th, hosted by Brennan and Chino from Ganja Glam! It’s a four-hour open-air cruise on the River Gambler in Toronto Harbor with tailgating and ten-plus brands present. It’s going to sell out fast.
Tom Ritchie Says: Also, on the beverage front: I stopped into a dispensary yesterday looking for Sheesh live rosin sodas, and they were completely sold out. But Dabble Cannabis just dropped their Hydrate sparkling live rosin beverage in Purple Punch and Wild Berry Lavender! Finding authentic solventless live rosin drinks is a game changer compared to distillate beverages.
Wesley Bowles Says: We have two great guests today, so let’s bring in Jeff Curtis from TruQuartz and Boro & Beyond, followed by Canadian Army veteran Glen Coyle!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We’re joined by Jeff Curtis of TruQuartz and Boro & Beyond. Jeff, thanks for joining Legacies! You’ve been extremely active in the concentrates space and advocating for consumption spaces in BC.
Jeff Curtis Says: Thanks for having me, guys! From 2015 to 2018, pre-legalization, we operated an art gallery and dab bar upstairs in Vancouver. We showcased high-end functional glass art, hosted concentrate release parties with local growers and extractors, and provided a safe, curated consumption space. It was a thriving, passionate community.
Tom Ritchie Says: How has that landscape shifted under current BC regulations?
Jeff Curtis Says: It’s extremely restrictive. In BC, the BCLDB applies a 15% wholesale markup even on direct delivery and farmgate sales. In beer and wine, wholesale distribution markup is only 3% to 5%. Adding 15% on direct delivery chokes producers and forces retailers to raise prices, driving consumers back to the illicit market.
Jeff Curtis Says: On top of that, the BC government has opened over 30 government-run BC Cannabis Stores that sell products near wholesale cost, competing directly with independent mom-and-pop retailers who are capped at eight stores. Government stores don’t operate under a mandate to turn a profit, so they undercut private retailers using public tax dollars.
Tom Ritchie Says: You’ve also been directly petitioning municipal governments for legal consumption lounges. What has that experience been like?
Jeff Curtis Says: We joined the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody) and got the CEO to write an open letter supporting cannabis consumption spaces for tourism and economic development. But at a mayoral panel, when I asked why we have alcohol bars but no legal cannabis lounges, one mayor replied, ‘People just like to hotbox their cars, we don’t want to interfere with that.’ It was shocking. We need designated, safe consumption spaces with trained staff focused on harm reduction, just like Serving It Right handles alcohol.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tell us about TruQuartz and the media work you’re doing with Boro & Beyond.
Jeff Curtis Says: In 2020, we launched TruQuartz. My wife’s family has a stake in a quartz manufacturing facility in South China, allowing us to engineer premium, high-purity quartz bangers across 24 custom designs with full warranties. With Boro & Beyond, we provide commercial photography and videography for cannabis facilities, restaurants, festivals, and live dab bar activations to educate consumers on low-temperature dabbing safely.
Tom Ritchie Says: Jeff, thank you for your ongoing advocacy and for shedding light on the BC market. Keep pushing the fight for legal lounges!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Canadian Army veteran Glen Coyle, founder of Six One Charlie. Glen, first and foremost, thank you for your service to our country.
Glen Coyle Says: Thank you, gentlemen. It’s an honor to be here.
Tom Ritchie Says: You spent ten years in the Canadian Armed Forces. What drove your initial decision to enlist?
Glen Coyle Says: 9/11 was the defining moment. I wanted to help and serve. I grew up loving military history, snipers, and airborne units. I joined the infantry and went through boot camp and Battle School in the freezing Canadian winter—training in -30°C and -40°C. From there, I was posted to 1 RCR—First Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment. The leadership was incredible and the bond in the infantry is forged for life because you know what the stakes are.
Tom Ritchie Says: How did you transition from standard infantry into the elite Reconnaissance (Recon) Platoon?
Glen Coyle Says: From day one in battalion, you look at the Recon guys—they wore the black toques and were the total badasses. Nobody was even allowed to look inside their platoon doors. To get onto Recon, you had to top all your courses, be a qualified driver and gunner, and complete multiple overseas deployments. When my sergeant asked if I wanted to take the Recon course, I jumped at it. It was the physically hardest course of my life—ten guys dropped out on the very first day. Recon’s mission is covertly infiltrating close to target positions, gathering intelligence on enemy strength, and relaying accurate data back to battalion.
Tom Ritchie Says: You deployed overseas to Bosnia and multiple combat tours in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2008. What was your experience on the ground?
Glen Coyle Says: In Bosnia, I saw kids playing hopscotch on dirt paths just to avoid active landmines. In Afghanistan, we operated strictly night reconnaissance patrols with thermal and night vision. In high-tension situations, humor was our survival mechanism. One night in an abandoned village, surrounded by rustling sounds, I broke the intense silence by asking, ‘What do you guys think of the Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson divorce?’ The whole patrol burst out laughing and the tension vanished.
Glen Coyle Says: Another time, we were pinned in a poppy and cannabis field during a heavy firefight. An overhead Predator drone was preparing a Hellfire strike but couldn’t verify our exact friendly position among the tall plants. Our sergeant ordered our six-man team to drop onto our backs and do snow angels in the cannabis field so the thermal drone camera could identify us before clearing hot!
Tom Ritchie Says: What was your first encounter with how cannabis was used in Afghanistan?
Glen Coyle Says: Coming from Canada, cannabis was heavily stigmatized and strictly forbidden in the military. But in Afghanistan villages, with no access to pharmacies, Advil, or Tylenol, locals used cannabis topically and medicinally as an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever for injuries. It completely opened my eyes to the plant’s authentic therapeutic value.
Tom Ritchie Says: When you transitioned out of the military after ten years, what was your recovery process like?
Glen Coyle Says: Getting out was extremely difficult. I struggled with severe anxiety and PTSD, and doctors put me on a cocktail of prescription pharmaceuticals. I was a complete zombie—I couldn’t interact with people or take my young kids to the park. When Veterans Affairs Canada approved medical cannabis, a friend rolled my first medical sample, and it was an immediate game changer. It helped me step off pharmaceuticals, manage anxiety, and reconnect with my family.
Glen Coyle Says: That led to a position at Canada House Clinics, an organization dedicated to guiding veterans through tailored medical cannabis treatment plans and navigating VAC entitlements. Canada House has secured over $1.6 million in benefits for veterans in need, including homeless vets who didn’t know what support existed.
Tom Ritchie Says: Explain the vision behind your brand and platform, Six One Charlie.
Glen Coyle Says: ’61C’ was my Recon callsign overseas. Six One Charlie is a platform built to empower veterans, first responders, and community supporters. Beyond apparel and woodworking workshops—where we teach vets hands-on carpentry to build pride and decompress—Six One Charlie is curating top-tier craft cannabis products specifically tailored for veterans.
Glen Coyle Says: I don’t cultivate the flower myself; I conduct reconnaissance across licensed micro-cultivators in BC and across Canada. I inspect facilities in person, verify hand-trimming practices, and select only the absolute best small-batch lots for sleep, anxiety, and pain relief. Our first drop launches this August on the Mendo Medical platform, founded by Jay Schwartz, who is an incredible advocate for veterans.
Wesley Bowles Says: Last week, Jonathan Wilson from Crystal Cure left this question: ‘How can the industry unite producers, retailers, and brands to deliver a unified public educational message to consumers about the true costs of compliance and excise taxes?’
Glen Coyle Says: It’s a vital question, and my response is: ‘Once that unified message is delivered, what will the consumer actually do with that information, and how will it change their daily purchasing decisions?’ Passing information is step one, but we must understand what practical action or economic incentive empowers consumers to choose legal craft cannabis.
Tom Ritchie Says: That is such a sharp perspective. Glen, thank you so much for your service, your honesty, and everything you’re building with Six One Charlie. We look forward to seeing the launch on Mendo!
Tom Ritchie Says: What an incredible story. Hearing a ten-year veteran explain reconnaissance patrols and doing snow angels in a cannabis field during a drone strike is unforgettable. Supporting veterans through Canada House and Mendo Medical is essential work.
Wesley Bowles Says: Glen is one of the most humble, genuine guys in the space. Make sure to check out Six One Charlie and support his woodworking workshops and veteran initiatives.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tomorrow we’ll be at the 420 Affair in Toronto connecting with everyone. Get your rest, support legal craft cannabis, and we will see you all next week on Legacies!
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Founder & CEO
Glen Coyle is a Canadian Army veteran, entrepreneur, and the founder of veteran-focused cannabis brand Six One Charlie.
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Six One Charlie is a Canadian cannabis brand founded by military veteran Glen Coyle, named after his Army radio call...
Learn More About Partner ↗Six One Charlie is dedicated to supporting Canadian military veterans and first responders by curating clean, high-quality craft medical cannabis products, including flower and live rosin capsules, to assist with sleep and pain management.
BC's sampling rules allow producers to provide samples to retailers, but require strict documentation of receipt, lot numbers, SKU details, and excise stamps by both the distributor and receiver.
TruQuartz specializes in manufacturing high-purity quartz accessories like bangers and terp slurpers, which help consumers vaporize concentrates safely and efficiently at precise temperatures.
