New Episode
Short Summary
In Episode 24, hosts To
In this educational episode of the Legacies Podcast, hosts Tom Ritchie and Wesley Bowles discuss significant regulatory updates and crop reviews in the Canadian cannabis sector. They cover the $3.2 million fine levied against the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (vcbc) Compassion Club, analyzing the legal distinction between medical not-for-profit compassion clubs and commercial adult-use dispensaries. They review craft flower products, detailing Retro Haze’s Jack Herer legacy strain and Clem & Co’s Apricot Cream & Cheese one-to-one cultivar. The hosts are also joined by Rick Moriarity of High North Labs to review potency inflation issues.
Later, they interview Michael Elkin, widely known as ‘The Canna Brokr.’ Michael shares his history in the security sector designing Health Canada-compliant physical security architecture for early commercial license applicants. He explains the evolution of CannaBrokr, detailing his work connecting legacy growers with legal corporate processors, navigating regulatory bottlenecks, and establishing strategic business partnerships within the legal Canadian market.
m and Wes talk about the vcbc fine, legacy strains from retro haze, and interview Michael Elkin about security and compliance.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, what’s going on, everyone? Check out what’s coming up this week on Legacies.
Rick Moriarity Says: Look for a lab that is doing proficiency testing. Health Canada does not require that, and they don’t require ISO accreditation.
Wesley Bowles Says: You go ahead and do your low T test, but when it comes time for you to take testosterone injections, I am not doing your ass jabs for you—no chance!
Michael Elkin Says: And he’s laughing. He’s like, ‘Dude, what do you want? We’ve been watching you for five fucking nights. Is this guy selling Bibles? What does he want?’
Tom Ritchie Says: Hey, welcome to Legacies, everyone! I’m your host, Tom Ritchie, joined by Wesley ‘The Wizard’ Bowles, co-host and executive producer. Morning, Wes!
Wesley Bowles Says: Morning! Glad to be back from Virginia. Escaped unscathed—an eight-hour drive, zigzagging through the state, wasn’t bad at all.
Tom Ritchie Says: I am feeling so hazy today. I got about three hours of sleep because both of my dogs got sick. Gordon was scratching all night with welts, so we had to give him Benadryl. It’s like having toddlers! When you call the vet, they show ten times more concern and ask deeper diagnostic questions than a family doctor does.
Tom Ritchie Says: I really understand why people like Dana White say they only visit conventional doctors for acute trauma or surgery, not baseline wellness. After years of sports injuries and back surgery, I’m trying to figure out chronic joint inflammation. I asked my doctor for a full blood panel to check hormone markers like testosterone, and he completely blew me off as if the testing was coming out of his own pocket!
Wesley Bowles Says: There are plenty of specialized online clinics like Science & Humans that order comprehensive bloodwork through nurse practitioners for fifty bucks to check thyroid, B12, and testosterone.
Tom Ritchie Says: Hormone replacement therapy has been life-changing for women dealing with menopause, so why wouldn’t men address hormone deficiencies as they age? Gary Brecka’s research on methylation pathways and baseline markers has me questioning everything from folic acid to hydrogen water.
Wesley Bowles Says: Just remember—when the clinic prescribes testosterone injections, I’m definitely not giving you your glute jabs!
Wesley Bowles Says: I hopped back on the carnivore diet two days ago. I did it for two months earlier this year and felt phenomenal once you push past the initial two-week sugar and carb cravings.
Tom Ritchie Says: After eight years on a vegan diet and seven years vegetarian before that, I’m amazed by how quickly harvested produce decays. Spinach loses virtually all its nutritional value within six days of harvest, which explains why Canadians are so nutrient-deficient in winter. But eating high-quality grass-fed steaks every day is definitely not cheap compared to tofu!
Tom Ritchie Says: Watching U.S. economic advisors stumble on basic monetary policy questions—like Jared Bernstein struggling to explain why governments borrow money if they print currency—is mind-boggling. Meanwhile, Canada holds massive natural mineral wealth and deep gold reserves that get overlooked while public frustration with federal politics and cost-of-living inflation reaches an all-time high.
Tom Ritchie Says: StratCann reported that the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (VCBC) was hit with a massive $3.2 million fine by the province of British Columbia.
Wesley Bowles Says: For those unfamiliar, how is the VCBC different from an illicit dispensary?
Tom Ritchie Says: Ted Smith founded the VCBC back in 1996 as a non-profit compassion club providing subsidized or free medicinal cannabis to low-income patients suffering from chronic pain and debilitating conditions who cannot afford standard retail pricing. Nick Wong called the fine an ’emotional hand grenade.’ Instead of creating a legal compassion club framework, the government slaps a multi-million-dollar penalty on a non-profit while commercial illicit storefronts get minor fines. Renowned cannabis lawyers Kirk Tousaw and Jack Lloyd are fighting it.
Tom Ritchie Says: At Jazz Samra’s event, Nate from Retro Haze handed me a 3.5g jar of their Jack Herer—a classic Haze x Northern Lights x Skunk cross. The entire eighth was one massive, dense, aromatic nug with classic old-school nose and a smooth burn.
Wesley Bowles Says: We also tried Cleaver & Co’s 1:1 Apricot Cream & Cheese pre-rolls from the Dope Box. The aroma and flavor actually came through on the smoke, delivering a perfectly balanced CBD:THC high.
Tom Ritchie Says: One minor industry pet peeve: when a producer packs a half-gram into a full one-gram pre-roll cone and twists the top into a giant two-inch wick, it looks like a candle! Trim your tails, people! And brand your filter tips—it costs pennies and gives your product an immediate craft finish.
Tom Ritchie Says: We have a packed show today with two incredible guests: Rick Moriarity, COO of High North Laboratories, to break down THC inflation and lab fraud, followed by Michael Elkin, ‘The Canna Brokr.’ Let’s bring in Rick!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Rick Moriarity, Chief Operating Officer of High North Laboratories. Rick, welcome to Legacies!
Rick Moriarity Says: Thank you very much for having me, guys. It’s an absolute pleasure to be here. Education is the number one tool to fight the fraudulent data circulating in our market.
Tom Ritchie Says: You’ve been cultivating and making hash for over twenty-five years. Decades ago, nobody shopped purely by a printed THC percentage—they looked at bag appeal, aroma, moisture, and cure.
Rick Moriarity Says: Exactly. THC percentage alone is not what dictates how high you get or the quality of the experience. But because consumers are trapped buying through opaque packaging behind retail counters without seeing or smelling the product, numbers on labels became their only proxy for quality.
Tom Ritchie Says: In your StratCann report with David Brown, you highlighted that out of thousands of flower samples tested at High North, only about 1% naturally test above 30% THC. Yet on provincial boards like the OCS, 17%+ of listed flower products claim 30% to 38% THC. How is that possible?
Rick Moriarity Says: It’s pay-to-play laboratory fraud. Certain non-compliant labs market themselves to struggling producers by promising inflated certificates of analysis (COAs). We’ve seen three distinct strain lots from different genetics all return identical bogus results like 38.02%, 38.04%, and 38.06%. When retested accurately, those same products often sit between 19% and 26% THC.
Tom Ritchie Says: Explain how High North conducts testing and why consumers and retailers can trust your data.
Rick Moriarity Says: Cannabis flower is not a homogeneous matrix. Cannabinoids and terpenes vary across the top canopy, mid-branches, and individual buds. High North requires larger composite sample sizes, which we homogenize thoroughly before solvent extraction using validated HPLC analytical methods.
Rick Moriarity Says: Crucially, High North is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited specifically for cannabis cannabinoid and terpene testing, which mandates regular third-party proficiency testing. Many labs claim ISO accreditation, but when you check their public scope, it only covers soil or water testing—not cannabis!
Rick Moriarity Says: A major regulatory flaw is that Health Canada does not mandate maximum harvest batch sizes. In California, batch sizes are capped at 50 pounds, and Nevada caps them at 3 pounds. In Canada, an LP can harvest hundreds of kilograms across a 100,000 sq. ft. room and submit a single 30-gram sample to represent the entire crop.
Tom Ritchie Says: That allows bad actors to cherry-pick a top cola from the highest-lit section of the room and pretend it represents the entire wholesale lot.
Wesley Bowles Says: If a sample was tested at 38% at harvest, could shelf aging cause it to test at 19% eight months later?
Rick Moriarity Says: Absolutely not. Over eight months in packaging, THCA naturally decarboxylates into Delta-9 THC, but total THC remains relatively stable with only slight degradation into CBN. A drop from 38% to 19% is pure fabrication from the start.
Tom Ritchie Says: Why is terpene and aroma testing so critical for the consumer experience?
Rick Moriarity Says: Terpenes, esters, aldehydes, ketones, and flavonoids create the true entourage effect and aroma profile. When growers rush post-harvest drying with high heat instead of a slow cold cure, they strip volatile monoterpenes like pinene and myrcene. We are expanding our testing packages to provide comprehensive aroma analysis reports directly on COAs so retailers understand the true nose and quality of the bud.
Tom Ritchie Says: What should budtenders and retail buyers look for to avoid fraudulent products?
Rick Moriarity Says: Demand the full Certificate of Analysis. If an LP will only show the cannabinoid page and refuses to share microbiology, heavy metals, or the lab’s name, that’s a red flag. Check if the lab is ISO 17025 accredited for cannabis. Dried whole flower testing above 34% THC is statistically suspect.
Rick Moriarity Says: We frequently connect international medical buyers in Germany, Australia, Portugal, and Poland with compliant Canadian craft cultivators. International jurisdictions enforce strict THC limits—Israel caps medical flower around 24.4%, and Quebec caps at 30%—proving that global medical markets value clean, consistent craft standards over inflated potency numbers.
Tom Ritchie Says: Rick, thank you for bringing data and integrity to this conversation. Keep up the phenomenal work at High North Laboratories!
Rick Moriarity Says: Thank you both, cheers!
Tom Ritchie Says: Welcome back, everyone! We are joined by Michael Elkin, ‘The Canna Brokr.’ Mike, welcome to Legacies!
Michael Elkin Says: Thanks for having me, Tom and Wes! Great to be here. In business, chance and luck don’t exist—it’s about surrounding yourself with high-performing people and executing relentlessly every single day.
Tom Ritchie Says: Tell us your origin story—how did you get into the Canadian cannabis space?
Michael Elkin Says: In 2013, I was selling commercial IP security systems in Ottawa. I heard on the radio that a company bought the old Hershey chocolate factory in Smiths Falls to convert it into a medical cannabis facility under the MMPR. I read Health Canada’s Directive 28 on physical security—requiring complete camera coverage and two years of continuous video storage across 200,000 square feet.
Michael Elkin Says: I drove down to Smiths Falls five days in a row, taking site photos and drafting a full security blueprint. On Friday at 5:00 PM, Chuck Rifici opened the blue door laughing: ‘Dude, what do you want? We’ve been watching you on the perimeter cameras for five days—are you selling Bibles?’ I walked into the boardroom, pitched Chuck, Bruce Linton, and Mark Zekulin, and secured the contract. On October 21, 2013, we pulled cables as master grower Ryan wheeled in Tweed’s first mother plants.
Michael Elkin Says: I attended the Green Rush Summit in Toronto and met John Fowler, who was licensing a seven-acre greenhouse in Kincardine, Ontario for Supreme / 7ACRES. I offered to write their entire Health Canada security directive for free on the contingency that we secured the equipment purchase order upon licensing. They got approved, we landed a $900,000 purchase order, and between 2013 and 2016, our team completed over $28 million in cannabis security installations across twenty facilities, including HEXO, Aurora, and 48North.
Michael Elkin Says: In late 2016, Brian Wagner of NHP Consulting reached out to build a comprehensive, one-stop cannabis licensing firm. We co-founded Cannabis Compliance Inc. (CCI) alongside Rahul Rajan. We expanded beyond paperwork into project managing facility build-outs, HVAC specifications, and GPP floor plans, charging $250,000 per cultivation license application with an unmatched approval track record.
Michael Elkin Says: We scaled CCI from zero to 115 employees. At MJBizCon Las Vegas in 2018, we rented an entire floor at The Cosmopolitan, built a premier 20×20 booth, and our sales team wrote $1.3 million in consulting contracts directly on the trade show floor. In late 2019, Deloitte acquired CCI as the premier cannabis advisory firm in Canada.
Michael Elkin Says: After the Deloitte acquisition, I launched Canna Brokr to handle private M&A advisory, B2B deal structuring, and cross-border licensing. Boston Beer Company (makers of Sam Adams and Truly) hired me to structure their Canadian cannabis beverage launch. I partnered them with Entourage Health and Peak Processing to formulate and commercialize TeaPot, one of Canada’s most successful cannabis iced tea brands.
Michael Elkin Says: The U.S. market is a tale of two coasts. California is suffering through extreme price compression where high-grade pounds sell for $900 because an outdated medical framework was awkwardly retrofitted into recreational taxes. Meanwhile, on the East Coast in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, scarcity drives wholesale pricing between $3,000 and $5,000 a pound. Michigan has exploded past California in volume because adult-use retail access is open and affordable.
Tom Ritchie Says: How will the OCS SKU rationalization impact Canadian producers?
Michael Elkin Says: Saturated categories like distillate vapes and infused pre-rolls will face aggressive culling. Following General Admission’s success, over 800 infused pre-roll SKUs flooded the OCS. Brands that rely on ‘me-too’ copycat formulations without retail pull-through will get dropped. Sustainable brands focus on high-quality craft flower and strong retailer relationships.
Michael Elkin Says: Look at Cannara Biotech (Tribal, Nugz, Orchid CBD). Niko and Zohar built dominant market share in Quebec with cultivars like Cuban Linx and Triple Burger, then hired Nick Van Dam to scale their Ontario presence. Every province is a distinct country—Quebec has strict marketing and packaging rules with only 96 SQDC stores for nine million people, whereas Ontario has over 1,700 private dispensaries.
Michael Elkin Says: Canadian LPs make a massive mistake by ignoring U.S. trade shows like Hall of Flowers and Benzinga. California and mature U.S. markets are thirty years ahead in retail merchandising, concentrate formats, and branding aesthetics. When federal U.S. reform opens, massive multi-state operators will look for Canadian partners who understand international quality standards.
Michael Elkin Says: Working with Taylor and Dylan at Oceanic Releaf in Newfoundland was incredible. My father was a bulk textile broker who operated out of St. John’s, so returning there with him for the George Street Festival—where Oceanic was the first cannabis brand permitted on the festival grounds—was deeply special. We structured Oceanic’s medical exports into Germany and brought California’s Higgs brand into their retail portfolio.
Michael Elkin Says: Last year, I suffered from two herniated cervical discs (C6/C7) that nearly paralyzed my neck during nine consecutive trade shows. Targeted physiotherapy and decompression restored my mobility without invasive spinal fusion surgery.
Tom Ritchie Says: I had lower lumbar L5/S1 spinal surgery years ago, and the six-month recovery from bone spur debridement was grueling. Avoiding surgical intervention whenever possible through physical therapy and natural plant recovery is huge.
Wesley Bowles Says: Last week, Adam Coates asked: ‘If you could transport yourself back to when you first started in this industry knowing everything you know today, what is the single biggest thing you would do differently?’
Michael Elkin Says: I would have valued my time and equity much higher from day one. In the early rush, many of us gave away invaluable intellectual property and licensing blueprints without demanding substantial long-term equity. Know your worth, pick trustworthy partners, and set clear contractual boundaries.
Tom Ritchie Says: Mike, what is your chain question for next week’s incoming guest, David Brown from StratCann?
Michael Elkin Says: ‘With media and journalism facing massive consolidation, what is the single most important story or untold issue in Canadian cannabis that mainstream media refuses to cover?’
Tom Ritchie Says: What an incredible, powerhouse episode with Rick Moriarity and Michael Elkin! From auditing lab COAs to the history of wiring Tweed’s original facility, today was a masterclass in Canadian cannabis history.
Wesley Bowles Says: Make sure to support true craft cultivators, demand transparent lab testing, and check out High North Laboratories and Canna Brokr.
Tom Ritchie Says: Don’t forget Lake & Bake on August 17th using code LEGACIES, and tune in next week for David Brown from StratCann on Legacies!
Jump to 01:28
Jump to 04:12
Jump to 03:35
Founder & Principal Consultant
Michael Elkin, widely known as 'The Canna Brokr,' is a Canadian cannabis industry consultant and the founder of CannaBrokr.
View Guest Profile ↗
Cannabis Industry Consulting & Security Advisory
CannaBrokr is a Canadian cannabis industry consulting and security advisory firm founded by Michael Elkin. The company provides specialized regulatory...
Learn More About Partner ↗The vcbc was fined by BC's Community Safety Unit for operating an unlicensed cannabis retail store, though they operate as a not-for-profit Compassion Club serving medical patients.
CannaBrokr provides physical security systems design, Health Canada facility licensing, regulatory compliance auditing, and B2B broker consulting for cannabis operators.
Known as 'The Canna Brokr,' Michael began in the security engineering sector, designing compliant access control systems under early Canadian medical regulations before launching CannaBrokr.
