Bloomberg Businessweek June24, 2019
55
month,Canopyannouncedit’s
workingwithMarthaStewart
tocreatecannabisproducts—
forpetsinitially—thatnoone
could talkabout yet. Snoop
Dogg,wholicensedhisLeafs
by Snoop brand to Canopy
in 2016 andco-hostsa cook-
ingshowwithStewart,intro-
ducedhertoLinton.SethRogen
foundLintononhisown.In
March,Rogensaid he’llcol-
laboratewithCanopyto sell
hismarijuana (brand name:
Houseplant)inCanadaaswell.
InApril,Lintonofferedtopay
some$3billionfortheU.S.com-
panyAcreageHoldings—when
marijuanais federallypermissi-
ble.Acreageis amongthelargest
U.S.potcompanies,witha mar-
ketvalueofabout$2billion.It
hascultivation,processing,anddispensinglicensesoragree-
mentsin 20 statesandmanagesa chainofstorescalledthe
Botanist.It alsohasformerHouseSpeakerJohnBoehnerand
formerCanadianPrimeMinisterBrianMulroneyonitsboard.
Lintonsayshewantstobuilda companysobigthatthere’s
“noquestionwho’sNo.1. It’sdifficulttoseewho’sbehindus
becausethey’resofarbehind.”Lintonseemstohavepicked
upa thingortwofromSiliconValley.Sohavehisrivals.They
havecatchynamesfortheircompanies:Aurora,
Tilray,Cronos,Organigram.Theywanttotakeon
establishedmultibillion-dollarindustries.Theycall
themselvesdisrupters.“We’redisruptingevery-
thingfromveterinariancare,vetmedicines,vegan
proteins,OxyContin,opioids,sleepaids,geriatric
care,alcohol,sportsdrinks,”Lintonsays.Thisis
whatexplainsthecompany’s$15billionvalueonthe
stockmarket,wherepromisesandpotentialcount.Canopy’s
actualrevenuein 2018 was$120million.Thisyearit couldbe
around$170million.“Forsure,theopportunityis overstated,
butwhatelseis excitingrightnow?”Lintonasks.
“OK,let’sgoona tour.”
W
e’ve come to Smiths Falls, an hour’s drive
southwestofOttawaacrossquietplainsofsnow,
ona lateFebruarydaytoseea cannabisharvest.
SmithsFallswasa hard-upcityofabout9,000residentswhen
Linton first visited in 2013. “They madethefirstBeatlesrecord
ever pressed in North America,inanRCArecordfactory.
Gone,” he says. “They used to makeallthesilverfilmforcig-
arettes and vitamin packaging. Gone.Theyusedtomakeall
the chocolate bars for all of CanadaforHershey.Gone.”Linton
saw derelict buildings he could buyonthecheap,highunem-
ployment, and plentiful power, gas,andwater.Donedeal.
We walk down bright
whitehalls. Weswipeour
security badges. We view
the plants—“moms” and
“teens,”asthey’recalled— in
analmost2,000-square-foot
growroom.“Allmarijuana
plants are female. Every
one,”Lintonsays.Thisgave
himanideafora workplace
slogan: “Don’t stress out
womenif youwanta super-
productiveenvironment.”
Wemeetpeople.Canopy
has3,400employees,more
than1,000of whomwork
atSmithsFalls.Therestare
initsdozenorsofacilities
inCanadaandoutsidethe
country.BilalRazackmon-
itorsthesystemsthatkeep
the growing, drying, and
trimmingroomsattherighttemperature,humidity,and
brightness.“Wedon’twanta singleextinctionevent,”Linton
says.Growingcannabisona commercialscaleis hard.Mold,
fungus,pests:Anyofthosecouldcausea croptofail.Canopy
saysit’sneverhada cropfailure.
Razackusedtogrowpotonhisown.“Iwouldn’tsaythat
wehiredyoubecauseyouknewabouttheplant,”Lintonsays.
“Butwedidn’tnothireyoubecauseofthat.”Therearemany
grayareasinthecannabisbusiness.Linton’semployment
philosophyis simple:“Wedon’tcareif youhavehadcrim-
inalexperience,”hesays.“Wecareif youdon’tdiscloseit.”
“Exactly,”Razacksays.
“OK.Thisperson,he’sgotthingstodo.We’lljustrandomly
stopandsayhitopeople.”
Asthetourproceeds,Lintondescribeshowhemanages
thosepeople.“Youhavetohavegoalsanda culture,”hesays.
“Everybody’shustlingaround,buteverybodyisina good
mood.”Couldthatbethemarijuana?weask.“Whoknows?
Theyjoke:‘Wehavereallyhighemployeemorale.’”
We see a room with eight people wearing hairnets and
orange gloves who are working with joint-rolling machines.
Canopy’s engineering team developed the machines over
two years and filed patents for them. The machines can roll
1,000 joints an hour; Canopy produces almost 200,000 joints
every week.
The company grows marijuana in more than a dozen facilities
around the world.
“For sure, the opportunity
is overstated, but what else
is exciting right now?”
Just don’t call
it
Pot
Weed
Grass
420
Ganja
Dope
Herb
Joint
Blunt
Reefer
Mary Jane
Buds
Stinkweed
Nuggets
Chronic
Tobacco
Doobage
Jazz cigarette
Wacky tobacky
Smoke
The 11th special herb in KFC’s recipe
Green
Sticky-icky-icky
Holy herb