Pull back the curtain on Bonify

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/12/2018 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What did Health Canada know, when did it know it and why didn’t it share the information?

These are the unanswered questions, after the Free Press reported a Winnipeg-based cannabis producer was caught allegedly distributing illegally obtained products to recreational customers in Saskatchewan and, possibly, Manitoba.

Bonify Medical Cannabis Ltd. has been suspended by Manitoba from all sales or distribution of cannabis products. All of its existing products provided to provincial retail stores have been seized by the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba.

However, despite the province’s forceful and decisive response, many questions are unanswered. Chief among them, where did Bonify get its allegedly illegal supply and, perhaps more importantly, why did Health Canada fail to notify Manitoba about the problem?

According to information obtained by the Free Press, in early December, Health Canada was tipped off by a whistleblower at Bonify that 200 kilograms of cannabis had been acquired by the company outside legal channels and was being distributed to licensed retailers. That led to a recall notice Dec. 7 for two strains of Bonify products being sold in Saskatchewan.

However, Manitoba did not learn until Dec. 18 that a licensed distributor in its jurisdiction had reportedly obtained a supply of cannabis outside legal channels, when a representative from Bonify volunteered the information.

Health Canada made no attempt to contact Manitoba to provide information about the issue.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister lashed out Thursday at the federal department for not volunteering the intimate details of the Bonify situation. “Unacceptable,” was the word he used, over and over again, to describe Health Canada’s performance.

One might have thought a breaking news story would force Health Canada to weigh in. You’d be wrong.

Repeated efforts by the Free Press to get statements from Health Canada and Bonify were ignored.

On Monday, in response to a Free Press inquiry, the department would only say it was continuing to monitor the situation. Company officials said an investigation had revealed certain “irregularities” related to the products in question.

On Thursday, Health Canada finally released a statement, saying it is aware of all the details in the original Free Press story, but “at this point, the department is still assessing the available information to determine whether, in fact, there has been any contravention of the law. No such determination has been made at this time.”

In the news business, we call that “will neither confirm nor deny.”

If Health Canada continues to conceal the details of what allegedly went on at Bonify, it would be consistent with a long-standing policy to keep details of such transgressions from public view.

Federal departments and agencies, particularly those responsible for enforcing regulations, are notorious for trading confidentiality in exchange for compliance. In other words, regulators such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and even the Canada Revenue Agency, frequently enter into agreements where confidentiality is used as bait to get quick compliance.

It works something like this: a federal regulator will catch someone doing something wrong. In exchange for recalling products or paying back taxes and fines in a no-contest fashion, the federal regulator agrees to keep details of the transgressions from public view.

Health Canada’s handling of the Bonify case certainly suggests such a trade was in play.

Even after two strains of cannabis produced by Bonify were recalled Dec. 7, the company was allowed to continue operating. The Health Canada news release on the voluntary recall seemed to go out of its way to avoid any suggestion the weed in question had been obtained outside legal channels.

Health Canada attributed the recall to below-standard “microbial and chemical contaminant limits” specified by federal regulations. There were no details about which contaminants and what standards. That in and of itself is quite telling.

A quick review of Health Canada’s news releases reveals more than a dozen instances during the past two years where cannabis products have been recalled for a variety of reasons. Some went out to medical users with erroneous information on labels, contaminant levels above accepted levels, trace amounts of mould or pesticides that are not approved for use in growing cannabis.

In almost all cases, the news releases contained detailed information about the exact details of the mislabelled products, and the exact amounts of contaminants or pesticides discovered, measured in parts-per-million.

The news release on Bonify had no such details. It noted concerns about the products not meeting “some of the microbial and chemical contaminant limits,” as specified by regulation. And “documentation confirming test results could not be matched to the specific lot numbers.”

The absence of specific details may not be significant, but it makes the Bonify news stand out from previous Health Canada messages. It serves to make Health Canada’s continued silence particularly suspicious.

Health Canada should have known compliance-for-confidentiality framework was inappropriate for use in any story related to legalized cannabis. We’re all travelling on uncharted waters when it comes to legalized weed, and full and immediate transparency needs to be a guiding principle for Ottawa and the provinces.

When stories of this type are kept from public view, it has the potential to shatter the public’s trust in the entire regime.

Public faith in legalized cannabis has been shaken. Only a full and complete disclosure of any problems at the Manitoba-based company can restore that faith.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca