Former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt is going green.
The ex-BC NDP leader and former Vancouver mayor has joined medical marijuana grower True Leaf Medicine Inc. as its board chairman.
“By separating fact from folklore, True Leaf has an opportunity to fill in the knowledge gap for both doctors and end users when it comes to aligning a specific ailment with a documented cannabis remedy,” Harcourt said in a statement.
The company has yet to set up operations and is waiting for approval from Health Canada for a licence to grow and distribute medical cannabis.
True Leaf plans to set up a 16,000-square foot facility in Lumby, B.C., a small town in the Okanagan valley. The building has 40-foot ceilings, giving True Leaf room enough to construct three additional floors.
CEO Darcy Bomford said he met Harcourt through a business connection who was frat brothers with the former premier.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with Mike Harcourt. That sort of sets the theme for our company,” he said.
“Our next focus is to have a medical advisory board that’s filled with the top people from different disciplines.”
Bomford added the company’s focus would be solely on medical cannabis as opposed to other large producers that are trying to appeal to recreation users.
The CEO wants the medical advisory board to feature experts in chronic pain, spinal cord research and Crohn’s disease.
The facility will be up-and-running by January if it receives approval from Health Canada within the next few months, according to Bomford.
True Leaf has eight people under contract right now and the CEO expects to add an additional two people to the payroll when the facility opens.
Bomford has previous experience in the manufacturing of consumable products, serving as the founder of Darford International, a Vernon-based pet nutrition company.
