Recently I had the opportunity to visit some greenhouse companies that were set up about 5 to 6 years ago for the cultivation of cannabis. Quite a few of them are empty and for sale now here in Canada and that prompted my curiosity.
It is fairly common knowledge that in the years 2016 and 2017 the Canadian government aimed to legalize cannabis use and its commercial production. In October 2018, cannabis legalization was official nationwide. The liberal government had hopes to curb the illegal production and trade and thus the associated crime.
The biggest and most elaborate greenhouse facilities were newly constructed. Existing greenhouse projects were converted, for hundreds of millions of dollars. These projects had to comply with the craziest, most impractical regulations, imposed by the government.
Not a drop of condensation was allowed to fall on a plant. Incoming product could never cross or be in the same space as outgoing product. Harvested buds and other end-product had to be stored in vaults as big as the one at the Federal Reserve, with concrete walls 18 inches thick. Closed greenhouses were equipped with the heaviest security installations in terms of security including hundreds of cameras and laser beams.