Down a short driveway nestled in the woods and pocked with potholes, a hulking cannabis-production facility sits hidden from the eyes of law enforcement and thieves.
“Phil”, a medium-to-large-scale cannabis producer, invited Postmedia to his facility in B.C.’s Kootenays region under an agreement that his identity and location would be protected.
He stands outside the building in a black T-shirt, a warm smile on his slender face.
Since the early 1970s, the southeast B.C.’s Kootenay-Rockies region has been a key player in the nation’s cannabis industry — in the shadows of snow-capped mountains, scattered along the grassy banks of glassy rivers, a billion-dollar black market quietly keeps Canadians stoned.
Some 150,000 people live here, many of them farmers who have set aside patches of land and corners of chicken coops to cultivate small crops of lush indicas and sativas — infamous “B.C. Bud” that is estimated to comprise 40 per cent of the cannabis produced in the nation.
Police and industry insiders believe thousands of these small growers contribute to this aromatic cash crop, estimated to be worth anywhere from $2 billion to $7 billion province-wide.
Nick Eagland – National Post – October 12, 2016.
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