AMA: Get Your Canadian Cannabis Compliance Questions Answered

{}Canada Cannabis Advertising Compliance AMA with Segev

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, thank you everyone for joining us today, we will be covering a Canadian cannabis advertising compliance ask-me-anything with Segev LLP out of Canada, our wonderful partners from Canada who are an amazing legal team operating in Canada and helping our industry tremendously. with that, let's go ahead and move right along into our podcast today, a quick introduction on myself, my

Meet the Host and Panelists

Eduardo Silva: name is Eduardo Silva, I am the VP of sales, I will be your host for today, and a little bit about us, if you don't already know, we are the leaders in cannabis dispensary and delivery digital marketing, both in the United States and Canada, we have at any given point run digital marketing campaigns for 200-plus dispensaries throughout all of the states in the United States as well as Canada, and we're really happy that you've taken the time to join us today. for our presentation today, our partners Segev LLP will be joining us here, and I'm going to turn it over to the team to introduce themselves — Ilan, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps just give us a little bit of an introduction on yourself and your firm out of Canada?

Ilan: yeah, thanks, thanks for that quick intro. Segev is based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, we've got an office in the US as well, and an office in Beijing, China, we are a full-service business law firm with a specialty in cannabis law. cannabis law is fairly broad, in a sense that we are more than just specializing in how to comply with the regulations, we assist our clients with all manners of their business, so anything from tax issues, employment issues, supply issues, litigation, and then more pointedly, how to operate your cannabis business in a lawful manner, and how to market and promote your business lawfully, in compliance with the Cannabis Act. we've got experience assisting clients in the cannabis industry — we're talking retailers, licensed producers, cultivators, marketing companies — so we've got a fairly in-depth body of experience in the industry, which allows us to really spot most of the issues that you, as professionals in the industry, will likely encounter. I'll turn this over to my colleague, Stefan, who works with me and assists cannabis clients as well.

Stefan: thanks, Ilan, this is Stefan here, I am a lawyer with Segev in Vancouver, I don't have a whole lot to add, Ilan gave a great summary of the firm, and that pretty much captures my practice as well, I'm a business lawyer in general and a cannabis lawyer in specific, I've done a fair bit of cannabis M&A, mergers and acquisitions, I do cannabis regulatory law and advice on advertising issues.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you both very much for taking the time out of your day to help us with this podcast, and address some wonderful questions that our attendees have submitted prior to the podcast. so, everybody on the line, do follow along, we will be covering numerous questions that have already been pre-submitted, however, in order to become a little bit more familiar with the Zoom interface as well as our Q&A feature, please take a moment to just navigate to the top of your screen, where you will see a Q&A button. we do have moderators for our podcast here today that will be helping manage those questions as well throughout the podcast, so despite having several questions already pre-submitted, which we will be covering here momentarily, we would also like to hear from you, who have gratefully bestowed us with your time today to attend, and perhaps have some live questions as well, and/or clarifications that you would like. the podcast today will be approximately 50 minutes long, and we will be recording this podcast, which will be hosted on our website after it is complete, so later today it will be posted, feel free to share this with anybody else in the industry whom you feel could benefit from some of the legal advice here that you will be witnessing today. so, with that being said, Ilan and Stefan, thank you once again for taking the time to join us today, and to help our industry, if you will, with some of these questions that have been submitted, so let's get started with

What Are the Regulations That Dispensaries Need to Abide By in Canada?

Eduardo Silva: the overlying question here pertaining to the Canadian, you know, legal cannabis industry itself, and the regulation — so what are some of the regulations that dispensaries need to abide by in Canada, Ilan and Stefan?

Ilan: yeah, so the legislation that is most relevant to non-medical cannabis is the Cannabis Act, it's a federal piece of legislation that is applicable to all provinces, and then, in addition to that, each province has its own provincial legislation governing the retail sale of non-medical cannabis, which also includes how to operate the stores, how to market, how to promote, including digital marketing as well, so that's sort of the main piece of legislation. and, in addition to that body of legislation, we've got other legislation that will definitely impact your ability and your methods of carrying on business — you've got the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation, that deals with electronic communications, it's often known as CASL, and then we've got the Criminal Code of Canada as well, that deals with unlawful use and sale of narcotics, and then we've got privacy legislation, both provincial legislation, which differs from province to province, albeit they're often very similar in nature, and then you've got federal privacy legislation as well — it might not be apparent how this comes into play, but it does, when you're collecting customer data, and often customer data is a very valuable asset for any business, but there are regulations on how to collect the data, how to store it, and how to disseminate it.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, that is definitely great to know, there are several — so if we were to summarize that, it sounds like there are a handful of regulations that our attendees here, and the industry as a broad spectrum, have to pay attention to, and that is both how they obtain the customer information, how they communicate with a customer, as well as how they market to their customers, correct?

Ilan: yeah, that's right, absolutely, if you're collecting personally identifiable information, then you really do fall under the legislation, and there are quite a number of pitfalls that you need to be mindful of, to stickhandle. Stefan mentioned that we also deal with mergers and acquisitions in the space, people are buying, selling dispensaries — up until very recently, those were very lucrative, the asset that was being sold, for development permits, and sort of a location of a dispensary as well, but to a large extent they were customer lists, and a dispensary with forty thousand names is extremely valuable, so how do you go about selling that information? it falls within the jurisdiction of those privacy legislations.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, so to all of our attendees today, and to the attendees that will be watching this afterwards, pay close attention to your compliance when attaining customer information, because this can be of tremendous value to your overall equity of your business, as you work towards, if you will, an acquisition or a sale of your business. so moving right along here,

What Does the Cannabis Act Say About Digital Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: what does the Cannabis Act say about digital marketing, great question, Stefan, do you want to grab this one?

Stefan: yeah, the Cannabis Act doesn't really — and Ilan, feel free to jump in here — it doesn't really discriminate between digital marketing and other forms of marketing, so the Cannabis Act does have some things to say about marketing in general, but it doesn't really discriminate between different forms of marketing, digital, print media, other types of advertising that you can imagine.

Ilan: yeah, that's right, you can advertise digitally, as long as you're in compliance with the Act.

Stefan: exactly.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, perfect, all right, so our next question here, what marketing is and

What Marketing Is/Isn't Allowed Under the Cannabis Act?

Eduardo Silva: isn't allowed under the Cannabis Act, so Stefan, we'll let you jump into this one as well.

Stefan: sure, yeah, well, that's a good question, it's a fairly broad question as well, and I don't want to just read out the Cannabis Act for you, but basically the Cannabis Act starts by listing types of activities that are prohibited, and then carves out some exceptions to those prohibitions. so, obviously, you can't communicate or advertise in a manner that's appealing to youth, so things like cartoons, and things that appeal to youth, are not allowed, you can't actually, in general, advertise the price or information about distribution of cannabis, you cannot use testimonials or endorsements, you cannot depict people or characters or animals, real or fictional — so, no Tony the Tigers. you cannot advertise cannabis in a manner that appeals to a certain lifestyle, so things like a Marlboro Man type — "use this product and live this great, glamorous lifestyle" — so that being said, within those prohibitions, there are some types of promotion that are lawful, and basically the categories of those fall under three headings: you can provide factual information about your product, about the accessories that you're selling, you can provide point-of-sale promotion, where you advertise the availability of a certain product, or a price, and you can provide brand-preference promotion, where you highlight brand characteristics or elements of your product or your service.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, yeah, definitely a little bit more of a broad question, right, Stefan, and so I think some of the follow-up questions that we had here will definitely start getting a little bit more definitive, we will be able to answer a little bit more in detail. so let's keep it moving, this is great information, so what

What Punishments and Fines Can the Government Impose?

Eduardo Silva: punishment and fines can the government impose if, let's say, a dispensary is not abiding by some of these regulations?

Ilan: yeah, good question, I can get that one — under the Cannabis Act there are penalties that are explicitly set out, they fall under two categories, these are criminal penalties, so in Canada, criminal offenses fall into two categories, the more serious ones are called indictable offenses, so for indictable offenses under the Cannabis Act, the government can levy fines of up to five million, or imprisonment of up to three years, or both, and for summary offenses, the less serious types, the government can levy fines of up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or six months imprisonment, or both.

Eduardo Silva: mm, neither of which sound really fun, right, and at the end of the day we want to avoid that at all cost. great, and then I think you talked about this a little bit, Stefan, an earlier question there, but maybe we can get into a little bit more description on this, so what

What Imagery Is Restricted for Use Online in Canada?

Eduardo Silva: imagery is restricted for use online in Canada?

Stefan: right, right, oh, good question, yeah, imagery, I suppose, certainly, you can't depict people, characters, or animals, and no imagery that appeals to children, so, I mean, that's hard to pin down sometimes, what is directed at children and what might just be found to be appealing to children, but those are two types of things that are specifically prohibited. advertising — we're going to look at some more traditional marketing techniques, I often pull examples from — you look at the Marlboro Man, that would not be permissible under the Cannabis Act, because it evokes certain imagery of lifestyle and health, so any animal depictions are not permitted, because they find that it's appealing to kids, any imagery showing lifestyle, daring adventure — it's fairly restrictive. if you look at the packaging of cannabis as well, the packaging of cannabis really speaks to it, they're always plain packaging, with no imagery other than the marijuana leaf indicating that it's a cannabis product, and even then the packaging has restrictions as well, like there's no windows on the packaging, so I can't see what's inside, it can't be shiny or metallic. so promoting a product with the use of imagery is really similar — so how do you get around that? I mean, there are ways around it, you're now sort of brand building, so if you look at some dispensaries in Canada, they've done quite a nice job doing that, whether it be Tokyo Smoke — you go to their stores and they evoke a certain lifestyle without really hitting on those points — or you look at Hobo, their stores are very distinct from other stores, so they are selling cannabis, but they do, through design, speak to certain lifestyle elements while still being in compliance with the Act.

Ilan: yeah, and I think what I take away from this, right, when in doubt, I would certainly encourage the audience here to engage Segev, and just make sure that some of these broader definitions of imagery, right, are not stepping on landmines for you down the line, so that would be my encouragement for you there.

Eduardo Silva: thank you guys for that answer, and let's move right along here, so are we

Are We Allowed to Show a Logo That Looks Similar to a Cannabis Leaf in Our Online Ads?

Eduardo Silva: allowed to show a logo that looks similar to a cannabis leaf in our online ads, it kind of bridges right into the last conversation.

Ilan: yeah, I don't see why not, I mean the short answer is you can, as long as you're not mixing it with one of the restrictions, so if it's being held by a koala bear, you can't strike a point home, so, yeah, as long as you're in compliance with the Act, by not combining that with one of the descriptions, you should be good.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, thank you for the definition, as well as the very clear example there, no imagery for that that potentially could be misconstrued as advertising to children, right, very important there.

Ilan: yeah, yeah, and, you know, for that matter, it's not just — we're focusing a lot on kids because that's an easy one to distinguish — but also health benefits, so if you're using, you know, a little old lady in a wheelchair holding a cannabis leaf, and she's smiling, that wouldn't fly as well, so there are more subtle restrictions, because that would convey some sort of health benefit.

Eduardo Silva: gotcha, gotcha, Stefan, anything you wanted to add there?

Stefan: ah, I could — I guess, you know, you could certainly use a leaf in your promotions, but you could not use it in a way that implies, like, a testimonial or endorsement, so it couldn't be being held by a celebrity, you know, you can't have LeBron James holding your leaf, or even Snoop Dogg, even though we're certainly accustomed to seeing those types of images from elsewhere.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, absolutely, and I think there are some questions here that we are going to be engaging very momentarily that do address, you know, the whole aspect of celebrity as well within the industry. what's

What's the Difference Between Providing Information and Being Promotional?

Eduardo Silva: the difference between providing information and being promotional, right, so another broad question.

Stefan: yeah, so providing information, you're focusing more on sort of the factual nature of the product or the service, so I can provide information regarding the THC content and strain, and sort of the terpene profile, that's fine. promotional is going beyond the fact, and entering into more of a subjective realm, so if you're certainly promoting the experience of the high, or promoting — again, parking back to lifestyle and some of these restrictive advertising techniques — that's not factual in nature. I can even advertise the price at the point of sale, that's factual, there's nothing wrong with advertising how much it costs, it's factual in nature. so I guess that's sort of the test, is it objective — if it's objective and factual you can advertise it, if it's not factual, in other words, my perception of the product might differ than your perception of the product, and it starts feeling like an opinion, then you're starting to enter into the promotional realm.

Ilan: that's exactly right, yeah, things like terpene profiles, or THC content, that's something that can be tested objectively, things like, is it potent, or is it smooth, or is it enjoyable, those kinds of subjective — that would be considered promotional.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, here's a question pertaining to celebrity once again, right, we were chatting about this just

Can I Pay a Celebrity or Influencer to Promote My Product?

Eduardo Silva: moments ago, can I pay a celebrity or influencer to promote my product? I think that's an easy one for us.

Ilan: yeah, no, the answer is no, you cannot, not here in Canada, that type of testimonial or celebrity endorsement is not permitted.

Stefan: yeah, that's right, I mean it's really black and white, there has been some creative ways around it, for example, Drake, with his partnership in Canopy Growth, he's now creating "More Life Growth" company, so we've got sort of an international superstar like Drake, who isn't directly promoting the product or the company, but the association with the company is likely enough to have sort of that star appeal, and that's fine, it's actually quite clever, because you've got it in the Financial Post and other newspapers, and online media, there's quite a lot of talk about Drake's involvement in Canopy, and Drake's launching this new company called More Life Growth, so, just by association, I suspect you might get more of that. I know Seth Rogen is launching his product line too, so you can advertise by association, but you can't have a celebrity like Snoop Dogg going on and on about how great the product is, and the experience, that would be outside.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, I think, gentleman, that does answer our next one, which puts it pretty plainly there, by association, right, as a celebrity, that becomes somewhat a byproduct, the influence, if you will, becomes a byproduct of that association or partnership. so, great question, how does

How Does Segev Verify Compliance?

Eduardo Silva: Segev verify compliance?

Ilan: yeah, so this would be really on a case-by-case basis, if a client approaches us and says, this is sort of what we want to do, some sort of promotional activity, we would review it, and if it passes the test we'd greenlight it, if it doesn't, we don't just say it won't fly, we look at sort of the mechanic of the activity, and we offer suggestions, like tweaking the promotion in a manner where it would comply. I mean, some things are just black and white, like if someone came to me and said, I want to start a loyalty rewards program, I would tell them, you can't do it, it just doesn't work, other items are much more fluid in nature, which we would work with the client hand-in-hand, in a pretty tight strategy, to make sure that compliance would be with the legislature.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, all right, you guys touched on this in the beginning of our presentation here, but I think it's important to go into a little bit more depth, because I feel like the anti-spam law is definitely something that a lot of clients are always concerned with, right, how do I promote to my existing customers while remaining compliant. so, if we could just take a stab at this one, what

What Is Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL)?

Eduardo Silva: does Canada's Anti-Spam Law say, maybe with a little bit more definition, I think this will be great.

Ilan: yeah, so CASL regulates a bunch of things, I'll just sort of list them off — it regulates the sending of commercial electronic messages, the alteration of the transmission of data, it deals with installation of computer programs, but that's neither here nor there for us, use of false or misleading representations online in promotion of products or services, collection of personal information through accessing a computer system, and collection of email addresses with the use of computer programs. so that's what it regulates, it's fairly broad, but for our purposes, what we really are looking at is collecting customer email, and then sending customers promotional emails, or communication to customers, to keep them abreast of the product that we've got. I understand that certain edibles are in short supply, vapes hit the shelf and disappear within a day, so blasting out a message to your existing client base about a product arriving on the shelf is permissible, but you need consent of the customer prior to being able to include them on an email list. the method of obtaining consent is pretty explicit, they have to opt in, a customer has to opt in to receiving those commercial electronic messages, so they have to provide not implied consent, but express consent to receive those emails, and the way you can do it is at the point-of-sale terminal — if you have a first-time customer, when they're making a payment, you can have them opt in at the time, we've all seen it where you check a box on a POS terminal and you enter an email address, and that would be sufficient consent to then include them in a newsletter and send out emails. there are some examples of implied consent that I won't get into, but generally it's easy enough to get express consent just by asking people for their email address at the point of sale, and then you can add them to your list. that consent is good for a period of two years, and then it has to be renewed, you can send a customer an email prior to that two-year expiry asking them if they wish to continue receiving those newsletters, and that email can be sent separately, and if they opt in, then you buy yourself another two years. what's important to be mindful of — the best practices that you should be mindful of — are: one, keep evidence of all express consent, so you should have some sort of database confirming that express consent has been given, if you have implied consent you want to make sure to convert those to express consent, so implied consent would be, for example, I reach out to a store asking for information, and that store sends me a newsletter, that would be implied consent, so when I respond to that customer at that time I would ask them, would you like to be included in our newsletter or promotional weekly mail-out, and that would be converting implied consent to express consent. you should also track the expiry of those consents, and avoid relying on oral consent, so if you've got a customer coming into the store and an associate says, hey, would you like to be updated on product as it arrives in our store, and the customer gives verbal consent, that would be — you need to train your staff to convert that verbal consent into a written express consent, by filling in the required form, checking a box, providing an email address, that sort of stuff.

Eduardo Silva: very good explanation there, thank you so much, Ilan, for that, and I think this goes back to the earlier conversation we were having, surrounding what you do with your customer, or what the value of the customer consent can be to your business, right, it is, in many ways, considered equity, as to the value of your business, once you look at potentially even selling it or going through an acquisition, and so ensuring that you do have documentation that states that the customer list that you have has consented to communication will certainly ensure that you're carrying forward that equity of your business.

Ilan: yeah, absolutely, and if you're looking at acquiring another business in the retail space, that would be part of the due diligence, the buyer's lawyer would be making sure that — the buyer would make sure that the target, or the selling business, is compliant with the privacy legislation and CASL legislation, so it's pretty important to have that stuff in check.

Eduardo Silva: absolutely, and one of the things that we also do for our customers is ensuring that they do acquire correct consent as well, by having proper opt-in procedures in place, as well as carrying forward documentation that the customer has consented to being communicated by your business, so very important there. so moving right along here, guys, thank you so much for that explanation, and does

Does CASL Apply to Digital Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: CASL apply to digital marketing?

Ilan: yeah, I mean, it does, it's actually specifically designed for electronic communications, so it does, in order for you to directly market to your customers by text message or email, you need to get their consent.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, does CASL apply

Does CASL Apply to Text Message Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: to text message marketing, so SMS?

Ilan: absolutely, yep.

Stefan: yeah, simple yes on that one.

Eduardo Silva: guys, so definitely applies to your communication with your customer digitally, right, despite the medium. can we

Can We Do Delivery?

Eduardo Silva: do delivery, so delivery of cannabis in Canada, is that something that's allowed, guys?

Ilan: so in British Columbia that's not allowed, you can only sell cannabis from the retail location, the pandemic has changed things slightly, where the regulators have been a little bit more lenient, you can do click-and-collect and curbside pickup, I understand that Ontario now has, or will be very shortly, allowing delivery, I don't know what that looks like, as I mentioned, every province's regulation governing retail sales is different, but I understand Ontario has either now permitted delivery or is about to, but curbside pickup is available, click-and-collect is available, however you want to call it, but in BC there is no delivery.

Stefan: I would maybe just add, not sure if this is what was intended by delivery, but the government can deliver by mail in British Columbia, but that wouldn't apply to private retailers.

Eduardo Silva: great point there, Stefan, very interesting one. I want to field one of the questions here from the audience now, just take a quick break from the questions that we've had submitted prior, one quick moment here — here's a great question, are there any daily consumption limits for recreational, medical, and do they vary by province, or across all, or the same across all? so, in other words, is there a daily consumption limit for recreational, medical, and is it different from province to province, or is it the standard, if you will, across the entire country?

Ilan: yeah, so I guess we should probably distinguish between recreational and medical, because they're different regimes, but as far as the recreational regime goes, there is a Canada-wide possession restriction — I think the question said consumption, and I don't know if the consumption is really regulated, but as far as what you can have with you, you're permitted to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, or the equivalent in non-dried form, whether it's fresh cannabis, liquid product, concentrates, or seeds. and the Cannabis Act has an equivalency table that states that one dry gram of cannabis is equivalent to five grams fresh, 15 grams of edibles, 70 grams of a liquid product, a quarter gram of concentrates whether solid or liquid, or one cannabis seed.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, they really broke it out, that's great, you know, it actually makes it pretty easy, right, if they break it down into those different quantity categories.

Ilan: yeah, yeah, that specific.

Eduardo Silva: moving right along here, this is another great one we get quite often, can we

Can We Offer Daily Deals or Fire Sales?

Eduardo Silva: offer daily deals or fire sales?

Ilan: yeah, it would be wonderful if you could, and — Stefan, correct me if I'm wrong — but I don't believe that you can offer any daily deals or fire sales on cannabis or related products.

Stefan: yeah, yeah, that's right, I mean, from the BC perspective, you've got minimum pricing regulations, so you can't sell below the liquor distribution branch wholesale price, or the liquor distributor, or the suggested retail price, whichever is lower — in British Columbia it's the liquor distribution branch that governs sale of cannabis, every province has a different governing body, this happens to be ours, so they do set minimum pricing, in short, what it means is you can only go as low as your wholesale cost, that's it, so there's no fire sales.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, so keep that in mind, to the audience here, right, no fire sales out there, can't move a massive amount of products in that fashion, not allowed, keep that in mind as you create your strategy for your business. can we advertise

Can We Advertise Our Deals on Social Media?

Eduardo Silva: our deals on social media?

Ilan: so if by "deals" you mean pricing, the answer is no, we've already covered that, you can't advertise discounts or blowouts or fire sales, but you can advertise your brand on social media, so if you've got one store, or a chain of stores, you can advertise, as long as the advertising is in compliance with the Cannabis Act.

Eduardo Silva: there you go, and that was also one of the questions from one of our attendees here today, in terms of being able to advertise your business on social media, so as long as you are within compliance, right, no promotions, as in discounts, or your pricing, on social media, remain compliant when advertising your business, if you will, on social media, is the answer, that's what —

Ilan: yeah, that's right, which is pretty powerful advertising, I mean, building brand awareness is really strong, and you don't need to do that by just advertising your price, for that matter — you look at a lot of the established, successful companies, they don't even advertise a product anymore, everybody knows what the Nike swoosh means, so if you create a really engaging logo and a brand name and a brand presence, to the point where all it takes for you is to constantly put that brand presence in the public's eye, that's pretty powerful stuff.

Eduardo Silva: on their function, on their phone, can we offer an incentive to capture customer information, so I think this goes back to

Can We Offer an Incentive to Capture Customer Information?

Eduardo Silva: CASL, right, the idea of being able to receive consent from the customer, and incentivizing them in some way so that you can retain more customer information, if you will, and grow that business presence.

Ilan: well, you know, this is a good question, actually, I think it's sort of nuanced, so you can't hand out a product or a discount in exchange for getting their email address and their consent, but what you can do is provide them with other incentive — "if you're on our email list you will be notified as soon as we receive a certain product that you like," or "we'll update you with new product as it arrives from time to time," which is an incentive, in that, you know, I'm first to know when product hits the shelf, but you can't — there's no trading, right, I can't give you a 10% discount on your next purchase, or a t-shirt, or anything like that.

Stefan: that's exactly right, so you cannot do that.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, great answer there, thank you so much for clarifying that, certainly some nuances there, right, that you want to abide by, and once again, if you have questions in particular surrounding how to attract customers and remain compliant, I certainly encourage you to reach out to the Segev group, get those fine lines, if you will, defined for you, so that you can go out there and capture more customers in a compliant manner, and avoid potential challenges there. so how do we

How Do We Compliantly Capture Customer Information (Name, Phone Number, Email)?

Eduardo Silva: compliantly capture customer information, name, phone number, and email? I think we just addressed this one here, right, so you definitely want to follow the regulations, once again, if you have a specific idea in mind on how you want to promote that business, or how you want to entice that prospective customer, right, certainly reach out to us, and we'll — Segev group will certainly help you navigate those waters. how do we ensure our

How Do We Ensure Our Website Is Compliant With the Cannabis Act? What Pages and Popups Are Needed?

Eduardo Silva: website is compliant with the Cannabis Act, what pages and pop-ups are needed, that's a pretty good one.

Ilan: yeah, you know, for starters you need the age verification tool before you access the website, when someone confirms that they're over the age of majority and they click on it, you enter into the website, and then the same thing applies with respect to marketing on the website as it does to promoting your product outside the website. so, same idea, when I log onto a website I can't see any advertising that would make me think there's a health benefit, a lifestyle benefit, or anything like that, I can advertise pricing, it's factual in nature, I can't advertise product strain, terpene profile, all that sort of stuff. it seems pretty bland, but it doesn't have to be, you can use imagery from your store, imagery of the product, beautiful photography, that's still very engaging. in terms of testimonials, you can include client reviews, as long as those reviews have not been paid for, so if you have a forum on the website, and that content is produced by customers, and that content has not been paid for, you can include that on your website.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, I do have a question here from the audience that takes us a little bit backwards to some of the questions that we had earlier, but I think it is important, and it's pertaining to that whole pricing conversation, gentlemen, that we were having a little earlier — you know, we did define that discounting is obviously a fine line, right, you cannot sell below wholesale costs, but one of the questions we received here is, can you advertise percentage discounts on your products?

Ilan: yeah, you can do that in the store, right, so, at the point of sale you can advertise, you can't advertise it outside of the store, so there's that distinction.

Stefan: that's a good question actually, and it's a distinction that needs to be drawn, so when I'm in the store I can show product is discounted, as long as I'm in compliance with the pricing regulation, and it should also be noted the pricing regulation that I'm referring to is the British Columbia regulation, and that might differ province to province.

Eduardo Silva: there you go, if you need some further definition on that, this is a great one to engage Segev and/or us, so we can help you define those parameters for how you engage the customer with discounts, right, and create the differentiation there. thank you so much, gentlemen, for covering that. I think we answered this question here, right, can

Can a Website Be Deemed Noncompliant?

Eduardo Silva: a website be deemed non-compliant, and I think the answer is a resounding yes, there are many different ways you can make your website non-compliant, and I think we already addressed this, so be mindful of how you promote, the product, the imagery you use, to ensure that you are not breaching some of those compliance issues, right, whether that is lifestyle, the actual product health benefits, things of that nature, to ensure that you're compliant, and then, once again, engage the Segev group, if you want to really have a fine-tuned website that speaks the message, the brand that you want, but remain compliant, so you can avoid some challenges there. is

Is SEO a Compliant Strategy and Why?

Eduardo Silva: SEO a compliance strategy and why? so search engine optimization, right, the ability to create more authority within the web world, if you will, for your website, through the means of search engines — is that something that is compliant, and if so, how do you ensure that that strategy is compliant? I think this is a little bit of a challenging question, right, because website SEO is a combination of many different things, do you guys have an easy answer for this one?

Ilan: yeah, I think there is a fairly easy answer, and that is, search engine optimization is compliant, so long as the way that you're optimizing is otherwise compliant, so, say you're providing information on your website, you're building the content so that search engines index it more effectively, and your website floats to the top of different searches for different content, then, yes, that's absolutely a fantastic way to advertise and to remain compliant, so you want to make sure that your copywriting uses the keywords that people are looking for, the information that they're searching for, and that's a fantastic way to promote your business and comply with the regulations at the same time.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you for answering that one, so SEO, yes, allowed, it can increase your overall traffic to your website, the authority of your website, but remain compliant, and take the proper steps to ensure that the content you're generating is compliant. and then, can we

Can We Display Our Menu Online and Accept Pre-Orders?

Eduardo Silva: display our menu online and accept pre-orders?

Ilan: yeah, you can, so if I log onto the website, you can display the product that you currently have, you can again show product information, pricing, can you accept pre-orders — you can, provided that you comply with the ID requirements and point-of-sale payment requirements, and it differs province to province, in British Columbia, for example, I can complete an order online, but ultimately payment has to be made in store, and the ID verification has to be made at the point of sale, and that will therefore vary province to province.

Eduardo Silva: interesting one there, for sure, especially since BC allowed the pre-ordering recently, since the coronavirus crisis that we're experiencing, certainly important, right.

Ilan: right, and I expect, as the industry starts maturing, and the regulators understand what works and what doesn't, we're gonna see changes in the regulation and how these businesses operate.

Eduardo Silva: absolutely, and this is interesting, gentlemen, because there is the ability, obviously, to share with the customer specific discounting on a product in store, but what if it's their online store, right, is that something that they can do there as well?

Ilan: yeah, that's a good question, actually — Stefan, you have any thoughts on that?

Stefan: that is a good question, yeah, I don't see why not, I mean, you're certainly permitted to provide information about the price at the time people are paying, and if there is a means for them to pre-order online, I don't see why the price couldn't be conveyed.

Ilan: yeah, I would tend to agree with that, I think, when it's on the website or on the online store, I think that's acceptable, I think it would be unacceptable to blast out sales outside of that marketplace, where you're actually placing the order.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, and this goes back to yet a few other questions that have been asked here by our audience members throughout the podcast today, about taking credit card payment, right, is credit card payment allowed within Canada, or is it province-to-province regulated?

Ilan: yeah, credit card payment is allowed, there's been lots of discussion on credit card payments, and the reason for — I'll use the word "controversy" — relating to credit card payments, it has to do with the credit card companies being owned by, or American-owned — cannabis, recreational cannabis, is not federally lawful in the US, there was lots of concern that credit card transaction information would be available to US federal authorities, and if I'm crossing the border to the States, as a customer of a regulated, lawful dispensary here, and I'm crossing down into the States, federal authorities might have access to my information and I might have issues, so there's some controversy arising out of that. I have never heard of a firsthand account of someone being stopped because they used a Visa or MasterCard up here, but that was some talk that was prevalent about six, seven months ago, I haven't heard that since. having said that, though, a large percentage of purchases are still done in cash, which is not the norm compared to other industries, maybe it comes from this paranoia, I don't know.

Eduardo Silva: I suspect it's very common, right, you hear all the stories of industry dispensary owners and their cash flow. so I think we have time for one more question, and then we're going to be summarizing our podcast here today by providing some takeaways. so what are the requirements to accept online pre-orders? I think we've already established this one, so we'll move forward to the next one — can we accept payments online?

Ilan: the answer to this question is no, it has to be done at the POS, locally, and correct me here if I'm wrong, right, that's how I would — so that's correct for British Columbia, but that may differ province to province.

Eduardo Silva: okay, there you go, so it may differ province to province, for British Columbia that is correct, it cannot, but in other locations that could be different, so keep that in mind. can we

Can We Advertise Using Google Ads?

Eduardo Silva: advertise using Google Ads?

Ilan: yeah, you can, really similar to our discussion on SEO, as long as it's compliant with the Cannabis Act — you can't, if your advertising is in contravention of the Act, then you can't, so it's not so much the medium, it's the message.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, so there it is, it is the message, so keep that in mind, and that is absolutely an area of expertise here for us, just to highlight, we have been successfully hosting Google advertisement within the cannabis industry, both in the United States as well as in Canada, for the last four and a half years, going on five years, you know, obviously it varies from state to state depending on the regulation, both in the US and Canada, but certainly one of the areas of expertise that we bring to the table is how to actually advertise online, to get you the presence and attention you need from your customers, while remaining compliant.

Closing Remarks

Eduardo Silva: and with that, I do want to share a quick takeaway, I want to thank the team here, Ilan and Stefan, for joining us today so graciously, providing us so much information, right, and I want to just highlight one of the ways that you can get in touch with the team, is either phone number, email, or navigating to their website, but I want to turn it back over to Segev, Ilan, and Stefan here, for any closing remarks, but I want to thank you for your time today.

Ilan: yeah, thanks, thanks, Eduardo, I guess sort of the big picture here is, we're in a really new industry here, and because of that we're still working in an environment that doesn't have a lot of direction, so we don't know yet how the legislation has been interpreted, we don't know how it's been enforced, which is exciting, and that we're first in this market, but at the same time it does create some challenges. what it means is, you've got to be really mindful of the legislation, know what you can and can't do, and take a creative approach to carry on business, but at the same time being compliant. and, as the industry matures, we're more than likely to see how this legislation has been interpreted and enforced, and we will then have greater guidance, but until then, it really is helpful to make sure that the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you, team, once again, for taking the time and sharing some valuable insight with our audience here today. for those of you who are still on the line with us and have attended here today, this podcast is going to be provided also via our website, so feel free to navigate to our podcast page if you want to review some of these questions and answers here, and share this information also with anybody else within the industry that you feel could benefit from it, please feel free to share that link by navigating there. we'll also follow up with some additional information via email for those that have registered, but thank you once again, Ilan and Stefan, for your time, and feel free, once again, everyone on the line, to check out our podcast page, and we look forward to the opportunity of speaking to you again, have a great rest of your day.

Ilan: thanks, Eduardo, thank you.

‍

{}Canada Cannabis Advertising Compliance AMA with Segev

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, thank you everyone for joining us today, we will be covering a Canadian cannabis advertising compliance ask-me-anything with Segev LLP out of Canada, our wonderful partners from Canada who are an amazing legal team operating in Canada and helping our industry tremendously. with that, let's go ahead and move right along into our podcast today, a quick introduction on myself, my

Meet the Host and Panelists

Eduardo Silva: name is Eduardo Silva, I am the VP of sales, I will be your host for today, and a little bit about us, if you don't already know, we are the leaders in cannabis dispensary and delivery digital marketing, both in the United States and Canada, we have at any given point run digital marketing campaigns for 200-plus dispensaries throughout all of the states in the United States as well as Canada, and we're really happy that you've taken the time to join us today. for our presentation today, our partners Segev LLP will be joining us here, and I'm going to turn it over to the team to introduce themselves — Ilan, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps just give us a little bit of an introduction on yourself and your firm out of Canada?

Ilan: yeah, thanks, thanks for that quick intro. Segev is based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, we've got an office in the US as well, and an office in Beijing, China, we are a full-service business law firm with a specialty in cannabis law. cannabis law is fairly broad, in a sense that we are more than just specializing in how to comply with the regulations, we assist our clients with all manners of their business, so anything from tax issues, employment issues, supply issues, litigation, and then more pointedly, how to operate your cannabis business in a lawful manner, and how to market and promote your business lawfully, in compliance with the Cannabis Act. we've got experience assisting clients in the cannabis industry — we're talking retailers, licensed producers, cultivators, marketing companies — so we've got a fairly in-depth body of experience in the industry, which allows us to really spot most of the issues that you, as professionals in the industry, will likely encounter. I'll turn this over to my colleague, Stefan, who works with me and assists cannabis clients as well.

Stefan: thanks, Ilan, this is Stefan here, I am a lawyer with Segev in Vancouver, I don't have a whole lot to add, Ilan gave a great summary of the firm, and that pretty much captures my practice as well, I'm a business lawyer in general and a cannabis lawyer in specific, I've done a fair bit of cannabis M&A, mergers and acquisitions, I do cannabis regulatory law and advice on advertising issues.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you both very much for taking the time out of your day to help us with this podcast, and address some wonderful questions that our attendees have submitted prior to the podcast. so, everybody on the line, do follow along, we will be covering numerous questions that have already been pre-submitted, however, in order to become a little bit more familiar with the Zoom interface as well as our Q&A feature, please take a moment to just navigate to the top of your screen, where you will see a Q&A button. we do have moderators for our podcast here today that will be helping manage those questions as well throughout the podcast, so despite having several questions already pre-submitted, which we will be covering here momentarily, we would also like to hear from you, who have gratefully bestowed us with your time today to attend, and perhaps have some live questions as well, and/or clarifications that you would like. the podcast today will be approximately 50 minutes long, and we will be recording this podcast, which will be hosted on our website after it is complete, so later today it will be posted, feel free to share this with anybody else in the industry whom you feel could benefit from some of the legal advice here that you will be witnessing today. so, with that being said, Ilan and Stefan, thank you once again for taking the time to join us today, and to help our industry, if you will, with some of these questions that have been submitted, so let's get started with

What Are the Regulations That Dispensaries Need to Abide By in Canada?

Eduardo Silva: the overlying question here pertaining to the Canadian, you know, legal cannabis industry itself, and the regulation — so what are some of the regulations that dispensaries need to abide by in Canada, Ilan and Stefan?

Ilan: yeah, so the legislation that is most relevant to non-medical cannabis is the Cannabis Act, it's a federal piece of legislation that is applicable to all provinces, and then, in addition to that, each province has its own provincial legislation governing the retail sale of non-medical cannabis, which also includes how to operate the stores, how to market, how to promote, including digital marketing as well, so that's sort of the main piece of legislation. and, in addition to that body of legislation, we've got other legislation that will definitely impact your ability and your methods of carrying on business — you've got the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation, that deals with electronic communications, it's often known as CASL, and then we've got the Criminal Code of Canada as well, that deals with unlawful use and sale of narcotics, and then we've got privacy legislation, both provincial legislation, which differs from province to province, albeit they're often very similar in nature, and then you've got federal privacy legislation as well — it might not be apparent how this comes into play, but it does, when you're collecting customer data, and often customer data is a very valuable asset for any business, but there are regulations on how to collect the data, how to store it, and how to disseminate it.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, that is definitely great to know, there are several — so if we were to summarize that, it sounds like there are a handful of regulations that our attendees here, and the industry as a broad spectrum, have to pay attention to, and that is both how they obtain the customer information, how they communicate with a customer, as well as how they market to their customers, correct?

Ilan: yeah, that's right, absolutely, if you're collecting personally identifiable information, then you really do fall under the legislation, and there are quite a number of pitfalls that you need to be mindful of, to stickhandle. Stefan mentioned that we also deal with mergers and acquisitions in the space, people are buying, selling dispensaries — up until very recently, those were very lucrative, the asset that was being sold, for development permits, and sort of a location of a dispensary as well, but to a large extent they were customer lists, and a dispensary with forty thousand names is extremely valuable, so how do you go about selling that information? it falls within the jurisdiction of those privacy legislations.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, so to all of our attendees today, and to the attendees that will be watching this afterwards, pay close attention to your compliance when attaining customer information, because this can be of tremendous value to your overall equity of your business, as you work towards, if you will, an acquisition or a sale of your business. so moving right along here,

What Does the Cannabis Act Say About Digital Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: what does the Cannabis Act say about digital marketing, great question, Stefan, do you want to grab this one?

Stefan: yeah, the Cannabis Act doesn't really — and Ilan, feel free to jump in here — it doesn't really discriminate between digital marketing and other forms of marketing, so the Cannabis Act does have some things to say about marketing in general, but it doesn't really discriminate between different forms of marketing, digital, print media, other types of advertising that you can imagine.

Ilan: yeah, that's right, you can advertise digitally, as long as you're in compliance with the Act.

Stefan: exactly.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, perfect, all right, so our next question here, what marketing is and

What Marketing Is/Isn't Allowed Under the Cannabis Act?

Eduardo Silva: isn't allowed under the Cannabis Act, so Stefan, we'll let you jump into this one as well.

Stefan: sure, yeah, well, that's a good question, it's a fairly broad question as well, and I don't want to just read out the Cannabis Act for you, but basically the Cannabis Act starts by listing types of activities that are prohibited, and then carves out some exceptions to those prohibitions. so, obviously, you can't communicate or advertise in a manner that's appealing to youth, so things like cartoons, and things that appeal to youth, are not allowed, you can't actually, in general, advertise the price or information about distribution of cannabis, you cannot use testimonials or endorsements, you cannot depict people or characters or animals, real or fictional — so, no Tony the Tigers. you cannot advertise cannabis in a manner that appeals to a certain lifestyle, so things like a Marlboro Man type — "use this product and live this great, glamorous lifestyle" — so that being said, within those prohibitions, there are some types of promotion that are lawful, and basically the categories of those fall under three headings: you can provide factual information about your product, about the accessories that you're selling, you can provide point-of-sale promotion, where you advertise the availability of a certain product, or a price, and you can provide brand-preference promotion, where you highlight brand characteristics or elements of your product or your service.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, yeah, definitely a little bit more of a broad question, right, Stefan, and so I think some of the follow-up questions that we had here will definitely start getting a little bit more definitive, we will be able to answer a little bit more in detail. so let's keep it moving, this is great information, so what

What Punishments and Fines Can the Government Impose?

Eduardo Silva: punishment and fines can the government impose if, let's say, a dispensary is not abiding by some of these regulations?

Ilan: yeah, good question, I can get that one — under the Cannabis Act there are penalties that are explicitly set out, they fall under two categories, these are criminal penalties, so in Canada, criminal offenses fall into two categories, the more serious ones are called indictable offenses, so for indictable offenses under the Cannabis Act, the government can levy fines of up to five million, or imprisonment of up to three years, or both, and for summary offenses, the less serious types, the government can levy fines of up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or six months imprisonment, or both.

Eduardo Silva: mm, neither of which sound really fun, right, and at the end of the day we want to avoid that at all cost. great, and then I think you talked about this a little bit, Stefan, an earlier question there, but maybe we can get into a little bit more description on this, so what

What Imagery Is Restricted for Use Online in Canada?

Eduardo Silva: imagery is restricted for use online in Canada?

Stefan: right, right, oh, good question, yeah, imagery, I suppose, certainly, you can't depict people, characters, or animals, and no imagery that appeals to children, so, I mean, that's hard to pin down sometimes, what is directed at children and what might just be found to be appealing to children, but those are two types of things that are specifically prohibited. advertising — we're going to look at some more traditional marketing techniques, I often pull examples from — you look at the Marlboro Man, that would not be permissible under the Cannabis Act, because it evokes certain imagery of lifestyle and health, so any animal depictions are not permitted, because they find that it's appealing to kids, any imagery showing lifestyle, daring adventure — it's fairly restrictive. if you look at the packaging of cannabis as well, the packaging of cannabis really speaks to it, they're always plain packaging, with no imagery other than the marijuana leaf indicating that it's a cannabis product, and even then the packaging has restrictions as well, like there's no windows on the packaging, so I can't see what's inside, it can't be shiny or metallic. so promoting a product with the use of imagery is really similar — so how do you get around that? I mean, there are ways around it, you're now sort of brand building, so if you look at some dispensaries in Canada, they've done quite a nice job doing that, whether it be Tokyo Smoke — you go to their stores and they evoke a certain lifestyle without really hitting on those points — or you look at Hobo, their stores are very distinct from other stores, so they are selling cannabis, but they do, through design, speak to certain lifestyle elements while still being in compliance with the Act.

Ilan: yeah, and I think what I take away from this, right, when in doubt, I would certainly encourage the audience here to engage Segev, and just make sure that some of these broader definitions of imagery, right, are not stepping on landmines for you down the line, so that would be my encouragement for you there.

Eduardo Silva: thank you guys for that answer, and let's move right along here, so are we

Are We Allowed to Show a Logo That Looks Similar to a Cannabis Leaf in Our Online Ads?

Eduardo Silva: allowed to show a logo that looks similar to a cannabis leaf in our online ads, it kind of bridges right into the last conversation.

Ilan: yeah, I don't see why not, I mean the short answer is you can, as long as you're not mixing it with one of the restrictions, so if it's being held by a koala bear, you can't strike a point home, so, yeah, as long as you're in compliance with the Act, by not combining that with one of the descriptions, you should be good.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, thank you for the definition, as well as the very clear example there, no imagery for that that potentially could be misconstrued as advertising to children, right, very important there.

Ilan: yeah, yeah, and, you know, for that matter, it's not just — we're focusing a lot on kids because that's an easy one to distinguish — but also health benefits, so if you're using, you know, a little old lady in a wheelchair holding a cannabis leaf, and she's smiling, that wouldn't fly as well, so there are more subtle restrictions, because that would convey some sort of health benefit.

Eduardo Silva: gotcha, gotcha, Stefan, anything you wanted to add there?

Stefan: ah, I could — I guess, you know, you could certainly use a leaf in your promotions, but you could not use it in a way that implies, like, a testimonial or endorsement, so it couldn't be being held by a celebrity, you know, you can't have LeBron James holding your leaf, or even Snoop Dogg, even though we're certainly accustomed to seeing those types of images from elsewhere.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, absolutely, and I think there are some questions here that we are going to be engaging very momentarily that do address, you know, the whole aspect of celebrity as well within the industry. what's

What's the Difference Between Providing Information and Being Promotional?

Eduardo Silva: the difference between providing information and being promotional, right, so another broad question.

Stefan: yeah, so providing information, you're focusing more on sort of the factual nature of the product or the service, so I can provide information regarding the THC content and strain, and sort of the terpene profile, that's fine. promotional is going beyond the fact, and entering into more of a subjective realm, so if you're certainly promoting the experience of the high, or promoting — again, parking back to lifestyle and some of these restrictive advertising techniques — that's not factual in nature. I can even advertise the price at the point of sale, that's factual, there's nothing wrong with advertising how much it costs, it's factual in nature. so I guess that's sort of the test, is it objective — if it's objective and factual you can advertise it, if it's not factual, in other words, my perception of the product might differ than your perception of the product, and it starts feeling like an opinion, then you're starting to enter into the promotional realm.

Ilan: that's exactly right, yeah, things like terpene profiles, or THC content, that's something that can be tested objectively, things like, is it potent, or is it smooth, or is it enjoyable, those kinds of subjective — that would be considered promotional.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, here's a question pertaining to celebrity once again, right, we were chatting about this just

Can I Pay a Celebrity or Influencer to Promote My Product?

Eduardo Silva: moments ago, can I pay a celebrity or influencer to promote my product? I think that's an easy one for us.

Ilan: yeah, no, the answer is no, you cannot, not here in Canada, that type of testimonial or celebrity endorsement is not permitted.

Stefan: yeah, that's right, I mean it's really black and white, there has been some creative ways around it, for example, Drake, with his partnership in Canopy Growth, he's now creating "More Life Growth" company, so we've got sort of an international superstar like Drake, who isn't directly promoting the product or the company, but the association with the company is likely enough to have sort of that star appeal, and that's fine, it's actually quite clever, because you've got it in the Financial Post and other newspapers, and online media, there's quite a lot of talk about Drake's involvement in Canopy, and Drake's launching this new company called More Life Growth, so, just by association, I suspect you might get more of that. I know Seth Rogen is launching his product line too, so you can advertise by association, but you can't have a celebrity like Snoop Dogg going on and on about how great the product is, and the experience, that would be outside.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, I think, gentleman, that does answer our next one, which puts it pretty plainly there, by association, right, as a celebrity, that becomes somewhat a byproduct, the influence, if you will, becomes a byproduct of that association or partnership. so, great question, how does

How Does Segev Verify Compliance?

Eduardo Silva: Segev verify compliance?

Ilan: yeah, so this would be really on a case-by-case basis, if a client approaches us and says, this is sort of what we want to do, some sort of promotional activity, we would review it, and if it passes the test we'd greenlight it, if it doesn't, we don't just say it won't fly, we look at sort of the mechanic of the activity, and we offer suggestions, like tweaking the promotion in a manner where it would comply. I mean, some things are just black and white, like if someone came to me and said, I want to start a loyalty rewards program, I would tell them, you can't do it, it just doesn't work, other items are much more fluid in nature, which we would work with the client hand-in-hand, in a pretty tight strategy, to make sure that compliance would be with the legislature.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, all right, you guys touched on this in the beginning of our presentation here, but I think it's important to go into a little bit more depth, because I feel like the anti-spam law is definitely something that a lot of clients are always concerned with, right, how do I promote to my existing customers while remaining compliant. so, if we could just take a stab at this one, what

What Is Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL)?

Eduardo Silva: does Canada's Anti-Spam Law say, maybe with a little bit more definition, I think this will be great.

Ilan: yeah, so CASL regulates a bunch of things, I'll just sort of list them off — it regulates the sending of commercial electronic messages, the alteration of the transmission of data, it deals with installation of computer programs, but that's neither here nor there for us, use of false or misleading representations online in promotion of products or services, collection of personal information through accessing a computer system, and collection of email addresses with the use of computer programs. so that's what it regulates, it's fairly broad, but for our purposes, what we really are looking at is collecting customer email, and then sending customers promotional emails, or communication to customers, to keep them abreast of the product that we've got. I understand that certain edibles are in short supply, vapes hit the shelf and disappear within a day, so blasting out a message to your existing client base about a product arriving on the shelf is permissible, but you need consent of the customer prior to being able to include them on an email list. the method of obtaining consent is pretty explicit, they have to opt in, a customer has to opt in to receiving those commercial electronic messages, so they have to provide not implied consent, but express consent to receive those emails, and the way you can do it is at the point-of-sale terminal — if you have a first-time customer, when they're making a payment, you can have them opt in at the time, we've all seen it where you check a box on a POS terminal and you enter an email address, and that would be sufficient consent to then include them in a newsletter and send out emails. there are some examples of implied consent that I won't get into, but generally it's easy enough to get express consent just by asking people for their email address at the point of sale, and then you can add them to your list. that consent is good for a period of two years, and then it has to be renewed, you can send a customer an email prior to that two-year expiry asking them if they wish to continue receiving those newsletters, and that email can be sent separately, and if they opt in, then you buy yourself another two years. what's important to be mindful of — the best practices that you should be mindful of — are: one, keep evidence of all express consent, so you should have some sort of database confirming that express consent has been given, if you have implied consent you want to make sure to convert those to express consent, so implied consent would be, for example, I reach out to a store asking for information, and that store sends me a newsletter, that would be implied consent, so when I respond to that customer at that time I would ask them, would you like to be included in our newsletter or promotional weekly mail-out, and that would be converting implied consent to express consent. you should also track the expiry of those consents, and avoid relying on oral consent, so if you've got a customer coming into the store and an associate says, hey, would you like to be updated on product as it arrives in our store, and the customer gives verbal consent, that would be — you need to train your staff to convert that verbal consent into a written express consent, by filling in the required form, checking a box, providing an email address, that sort of stuff.

Eduardo Silva: very good explanation there, thank you so much, Ilan, for that, and I think this goes back to the earlier conversation we were having, surrounding what you do with your customer, or what the value of the customer consent can be to your business, right, it is, in many ways, considered equity, as to the value of your business, once you look at potentially even selling it or going through an acquisition, and so ensuring that you do have documentation that states that the customer list that you have has consented to communication will certainly ensure that you're carrying forward that equity of your business.

Ilan: yeah, absolutely, and if you're looking at acquiring another business in the retail space, that would be part of the due diligence, the buyer's lawyer would be making sure that — the buyer would make sure that the target, or the selling business, is compliant with the privacy legislation and CASL legislation, so it's pretty important to have that stuff in check.

Eduardo Silva: absolutely, and one of the things that we also do for our customers is ensuring that they do acquire correct consent as well, by having proper opt-in procedures in place, as well as carrying forward documentation that the customer has consented to being communicated by your business, so very important there. so moving right along here, guys, thank you so much for that explanation, and does

Does CASL Apply to Digital Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: CASL apply to digital marketing?

Ilan: yeah, I mean, it does, it's actually specifically designed for electronic communications, so it does, in order for you to directly market to your customers by text message or email, you need to get their consent.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, does CASL apply

Does CASL Apply to Text Message Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: to text message marketing, so SMS?

Ilan: absolutely, yep.

Stefan: yeah, simple yes on that one.

Eduardo Silva: guys, so definitely applies to your communication with your customer digitally, right, despite the medium. can we

Can We Do Delivery?

Eduardo Silva: do delivery, so delivery of cannabis in Canada, is that something that's allowed, guys?

Ilan: so in British Columbia that's not allowed, you can only sell cannabis from the retail location, the pandemic has changed things slightly, where the regulators have been a little bit more lenient, you can do click-and-collect and curbside pickup, I understand that Ontario now has, or will be very shortly, allowing delivery, I don't know what that looks like, as I mentioned, every province's regulation governing retail sales is different, but I understand Ontario has either now permitted delivery or is about to, but curbside pickup is available, click-and-collect is available, however you want to call it, but in BC there is no delivery.

Stefan: I would maybe just add, not sure if this is what was intended by delivery, but the government can deliver by mail in British Columbia, but that wouldn't apply to private retailers.

Eduardo Silva: great point there, Stefan, very interesting one. I want to field one of the questions here from the audience now, just take a quick break from the questions that we've had submitted prior, one quick moment here — here's a great question, are there any daily consumption limits for recreational, medical, and do they vary by province, or across all, or the same across all? so, in other words, is there a daily consumption limit for recreational, medical, and is it different from province to province, or is it the standard, if you will, across the entire country?

Ilan: yeah, so I guess we should probably distinguish between recreational and medical, because they're different regimes, but as far as the recreational regime goes, there is a Canada-wide possession restriction — I think the question said consumption, and I don't know if the consumption is really regulated, but as far as what you can have with you, you're permitted to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, or the equivalent in non-dried form, whether it's fresh cannabis, liquid product, concentrates, or seeds. and the Cannabis Act has an equivalency table that states that one dry gram of cannabis is equivalent to five grams fresh, 15 grams of edibles, 70 grams of a liquid product, a quarter gram of concentrates whether solid or liquid, or one cannabis seed.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, they really broke it out, that's great, you know, it actually makes it pretty easy, right, if they break it down into those different quantity categories.

Ilan: yeah, yeah, that specific.

Eduardo Silva: moving right along here, this is another great one we get quite often, can we

Can We Offer Daily Deals or Fire Sales?

Eduardo Silva: offer daily deals or fire sales?

Ilan: yeah, it would be wonderful if you could, and — Stefan, correct me if I'm wrong — but I don't believe that you can offer any daily deals or fire sales on cannabis or related products.

Stefan: yeah, yeah, that's right, I mean, from the BC perspective, you've got minimum pricing regulations, so you can't sell below the liquor distribution branch wholesale price, or the liquor distributor, or the suggested retail price, whichever is lower — in British Columbia it's the liquor distribution branch that governs sale of cannabis, every province has a different governing body, this happens to be ours, so they do set minimum pricing, in short, what it means is you can only go as low as your wholesale cost, that's it, so there's no fire sales.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, so keep that in mind, to the audience here, right, no fire sales out there, can't move a massive amount of products in that fashion, not allowed, keep that in mind as you create your strategy for your business. can we advertise

Can We Advertise Our Deals on Social Media?

Eduardo Silva: our deals on social media?

Ilan: so if by "deals" you mean pricing, the answer is no, we've already covered that, you can't advertise discounts or blowouts or fire sales, but you can advertise your brand on social media, so if you've got one store, or a chain of stores, you can advertise, as long as the advertising is in compliance with the Cannabis Act.

Eduardo Silva: there you go, and that was also one of the questions from one of our attendees here today, in terms of being able to advertise your business on social media, so as long as you are within compliance, right, no promotions, as in discounts, or your pricing, on social media, remain compliant when advertising your business, if you will, on social media, is the answer, that's what —

Ilan: yeah, that's right, which is pretty powerful advertising, I mean, building brand awareness is really strong, and you don't need to do that by just advertising your price, for that matter — you look at a lot of the established, successful companies, they don't even advertise a product anymore, everybody knows what the Nike swoosh means, so if you create a really engaging logo and a brand name and a brand presence, to the point where all it takes for you is to constantly put that brand presence in the public's eye, that's pretty powerful stuff.

Eduardo Silva: on their function, on their phone, can we offer an incentive to capture customer information, so I think this goes back to

Can We Offer an Incentive to Capture Customer Information?

Eduardo Silva: CASL, right, the idea of being able to receive consent from the customer, and incentivizing them in some way so that you can retain more customer information, if you will, and grow that business presence.

Ilan: well, you know, this is a good question, actually, I think it's sort of nuanced, so you can't hand out a product or a discount in exchange for getting their email address and their consent, but what you can do is provide them with other incentive — "if you're on our email list you will be notified as soon as we receive a certain product that you like," or "we'll update you with new product as it arrives from time to time," which is an incentive, in that, you know, I'm first to know when product hits the shelf, but you can't — there's no trading, right, I can't give you a 10% discount on your next purchase, or a t-shirt, or anything like that.

Stefan: that's exactly right, so you cannot do that.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, great answer there, thank you so much for clarifying that, certainly some nuances there, right, that you want to abide by, and once again, if you have questions in particular surrounding how to attract customers and remain compliant, I certainly encourage you to reach out to the Segev group, get those fine lines, if you will, defined for you, so that you can go out there and capture more customers in a compliant manner, and avoid potential challenges there. so how do we

How Do We Compliantly Capture Customer Information (Name, Phone Number, Email)?

Eduardo Silva: compliantly capture customer information, name, phone number, and email? I think we just addressed this one here, right, so you definitely want to follow the regulations, once again, if you have a specific idea in mind on how you want to promote that business, or how you want to entice that prospective customer, right, certainly reach out to us, and we'll — Segev group will certainly help you navigate those waters. how do we ensure our

How Do We Ensure Our Website Is Compliant With the Cannabis Act? What Pages and Popups Are Needed?

Eduardo Silva: website is compliant with the Cannabis Act, what pages and pop-ups are needed, that's a pretty good one.

Ilan: yeah, you know, for starters you need the age verification tool before you access the website, when someone confirms that they're over the age of majority and they click on it, you enter into the website, and then the same thing applies with respect to marketing on the website as it does to promoting your product outside the website. so, same idea, when I log onto a website I can't see any advertising that would make me think there's a health benefit, a lifestyle benefit, or anything like that, I can advertise pricing, it's factual in nature, I can't advertise product strain, terpene profile, all that sort of stuff. it seems pretty bland, but it doesn't have to be, you can use imagery from your store, imagery of the product, beautiful photography, that's still very engaging. in terms of testimonials, you can include client reviews, as long as those reviews have not been paid for, so if you have a forum on the website, and that content is produced by customers, and that content has not been paid for, you can include that on your website.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, I do have a question here from the audience that takes us a little bit backwards to some of the questions that we had earlier, but I think it is important, and it's pertaining to that whole pricing conversation, gentlemen, that we were having a little earlier — you know, we did define that discounting is obviously a fine line, right, you cannot sell below wholesale costs, but one of the questions we received here is, can you advertise percentage discounts on your products?

Ilan: yeah, you can do that in the store, right, so, at the point of sale you can advertise, you can't advertise it outside of the store, so there's that distinction.

Stefan: that's a good question actually, and it's a distinction that needs to be drawn, so when I'm in the store I can show product is discounted, as long as I'm in compliance with the pricing regulation, and it should also be noted the pricing regulation that I'm referring to is the British Columbia regulation, and that might differ province to province.

Eduardo Silva: there you go, if you need some further definition on that, this is a great one to engage Segev and/or us, so we can help you define those parameters for how you engage the customer with discounts, right, and create the differentiation there. thank you so much, gentlemen, for covering that. I think we answered this question here, right, can

Can a Website Be Deemed Noncompliant?

Eduardo Silva: a website be deemed non-compliant, and I think the answer is a resounding yes, there are many different ways you can make your website non-compliant, and I think we already addressed this, so be mindful of how you promote, the product, the imagery you use, to ensure that you are not breaching some of those compliance issues, right, whether that is lifestyle, the actual product health benefits, things of that nature, to ensure that you're compliant, and then, once again, engage the Segev group, if you want to really have a fine-tuned website that speaks the message, the brand that you want, but remain compliant, so you can avoid some challenges there. is

Is SEO a Compliant Strategy and Why?

Eduardo Silva: SEO a compliance strategy and why? so search engine optimization, right, the ability to create more authority within the web world, if you will, for your website, through the means of search engines — is that something that is compliant, and if so, how do you ensure that that strategy is compliant? I think this is a little bit of a challenging question, right, because website SEO is a combination of many different things, do you guys have an easy answer for this one?

Ilan: yeah, I think there is a fairly easy answer, and that is, search engine optimization is compliant, so long as the way that you're optimizing is otherwise compliant, so, say you're providing information on your website, you're building the content so that search engines index it more effectively, and your website floats to the top of different searches for different content, then, yes, that's absolutely a fantastic way to advertise and to remain compliant, so you want to make sure that your copywriting uses the keywords that people are looking for, the information that they're searching for, and that's a fantastic way to promote your business and comply with the regulations at the same time.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you for answering that one, so SEO, yes, allowed, it can increase your overall traffic to your website, the authority of your website, but remain compliant, and take the proper steps to ensure that the content you're generating is compliant. and then, can we

Can We Display Our Menu Online and Accept Pre-Orders?

Eduardo Silva: display our menu online and accept pre-orders?

Ilan: yeah, you can, so if I log onto the website, you can display the product that you currently have, you can again show product information, pricing, can you accept pre-orders — you can, provided that you comply with the ID requirements and point-of-sale payment requirements, and it differs province to province, in British Columbia, for example, I can complete an order online, but ultimately payment has to be made in store, and the ID verification has to be made at the point of sale, and that will therefore vary province to province.

Eduardo Silva: interesting one there, for sure, especially since BC allowed the pre-ordering recently, since the coronavirus crisis that we're experiencing, certainly important, right.

Ilan: right, and I expect, as the industry starts maturing, and the regulators understand what works and what doesn't, we're gonna see changes in the regulation and how these businesses operate.

Eduardo Silva: absolutely, and this is interesting, gentlemen, because there is the ability, obviously, to share with the customer specific discounting on a product in store, but what if it's their online store, right, is that something that they can do there as well?

Ilan: yeah, that's a good question, actually — Stefan, you have any thoughts on that?

Stefan: that is a good question, yeah, I don't see why not, I mean, you're certainly permitted to provide information about the price at the time people are paying, and if there is a means for them to pre-order online, I don't see why the price couldn't be conveyed.

Ilan: yeah, I would tend to agree with that, I think, when it's on the website or on the online store, I think that's acceptable, I think it would be unacceptable to blast out sales outside of that marketplace, where you're actually placing the order.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, and this goes back to yet a few other questions that have been asked here by our audience members throughout the podcast today, about taking credit card payment, right, is credit card payment allowed within Canada, or is it province-to-province regulated?

Ilan: yeah, credit card payment is allowed, there's been lots of discussion on credit card payments, and the reason for — I'll use the word "controversy" — relating to credit card payments, it has to do with the credit card companies being owned by, or American-owned — cannabis, recreational cannabis, is not federally lawful in the US, there was lots of concern that credit card transaction information would be available to US federal authorities, and if I'm crossing the border to the States, as a customer of a regulated, lawful dispensary here, and I'm crossing down into the States, federal authorities might have access to my information and I might have issues, so there's some controversy arising out of that. I have never heard of a firsthand account of someone being stopped because they used a Visa or MasterCard up here, but that was some talk that was prevalent about six, seven months ago, I haven't heard that since. having said that, though, a large percentage of purchases are still done in cash, which is not the norm compared to other industries, maybe it comes from this paranoia, I don't know.

Eduardo Silva: I suspect it's very common, right, you hear all the stories of industry dispensary owners and their cash flow. so I think we have time for one more question, and then we're going to be summarizing our podcast here today by providing some takeaways. so what are the requirements to accept online pre-orders? I think we've already established this one, so we'll move forward to the next one — can we accept payments online?

Ilan: the answer to this question is no, it has to be done at the POS, locally, and correct me here if I'm wrong, right, that's how I would — so that's correct for British Columbia, but that may differ province to province.

Eduardo Silva: okay, there you go, so it may differ province to province, for British Columbia that is correct, it cannot, but in other locations that could be different, so keep that in mind. can we

Can We Advertise Using Google Ads?

Eduardo Silva: advertise using Google Ads?

Ilan: yeah, you can, really similar to our discussion on SEO, as long as it's compliant with the Cannabis Act — you can't, if your advertising is in contravention of the Act, then you can't, so it's not so much the medium, it's the message.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, so there it is, it is the message, so keep that in mind, and that is absolutely an area of expertise here for us, just to highlight, we have been successfully hosting Google advertisement within the cannabis industry, both in the United States as well as in Canada, for the last four and a half years, going on five years, you know, obviously it varies from state to state depending on the regulation, both in the US and Canada, but certainly one of the areas of expertise that we bring to the table is how to actually advertise online, to get you the presence and attention you need from your customers, while remaining compliant.

Closing Remarks

Eduardo Silva: and with that, I do want to share a quick takeaway, I want to thank the team here, Ilan and Stefan, for joining us today so graciously, providing us so much information, right, and I want to just highlight one of the ways that you can get in touch with the team, is either phone number, email, or navigating to their website, but I want to turn it back over to Segev, Ilan, and Stefan here, for any closing remarks, but I want to thank you for your time today.

Ilan: yeah, thanks, thanks, Eduardo, I guess sort of the big picture here is, we're in a really new industry here, and because of that we're still working in an environment that doesn't have a lot of direction, so we don't know yet how the legislation has been interpreted, we don't know how it's been enforced, which is exciting, and that we're first in this market, but at the same time it does create some challenges. what it means is, you've got to be really mindful of the legislation, know what you can and can't do, and take a creative approach to carry on business, but at the same time being compliant. and, as the industry matures, we're more than likely to see how this legislation has been interpreted and enforced, and we will then have greater guidance, but until then, it really is helpful to make sure that the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you, team, once again, for taking the time and sharing some valuable insight with our audience here today. for those of you who are still on the line with us and have attended here today, this podcast is going to be provided also via our website, so feel free to navigate to our podcast page if you want to review some of these questions and answers here, and share this information also with anybody else within the industry that you feel could benefit from it, please feel free to share that link by navigating there. we'll also follow up with some additional information via email for those that have registered, but thank you once again, Ilan and Stefan, for your time, and feel free, once again, everyone on the line, to check out our podcast page, and we look forward to the opportunity of speaking to you again, have a great rest of your day.

Ilan: thanks, Eduardo, thank you.

‍

{}Canada Cannabis Advertising Compliance AMA with Segev

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, thank you everyone for joining us today, we will be covering a Canadian cannabis advertising compliance ask-me-anything with Segev LLP out of Canada, our wonderful partners from Canada who are an amazing legal team operating in Canada and helping our industry tremendously. with that, let's go ahead and move right along into our podcast today, a quick introduction on myself, my

Meet the Host and Panelists

Eduardo Silva: name is Eduardo Silva, I am the VP of sales, I will be your host for today, and a little bit about us, if you don't already know, we are the leaders in cannabis dispensary and delivery digital marketing, both in the United States and Canada, we have at any given point run digital marketing campaigns for 200-plus dispensaries throughout all of the states in the United States as well as Canada, and we're really happy that you've taken the time to join us today. for our presentation today, our partners Segev LLP will be joining us here, and I'm going to turn it over to the team to introduce themselves — Ilan, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps just give us a little bit of an introduction on yourself and your firm out of Canada?

Ilan: yeah, thanks, thanks for that quick intro. Segev is based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, we've got an office in the US as well, and an office in Beijing, China, we are a full-service business law firm with a specialty in cannabis law. cannabis law is fairly broad, in a sense that we are more than just specializing in how to comply with the regulations, we assist our clients with all manners of their business, so anything from tax issues, employment issues, supply issues, litigation, and then more pointedly, how to operate your cannabis business in a lawful manner, and how to market and promote your business lawfully, in compliance with the Cannabis Act. we've got experience assisting clients in the cannabis industry — we're talking retailers, licensed producers, cultivators, marketing companies — so we've got a fairly in-depth body of experience in the industry, which allows us to really spot most of the issues that you, as professionals in the industry, will likely encounter. I'll turn this over to my colleague, Stefan, who works with me and assists cannabis clients as well.

Stefan: thanks, Ilan, this is Stefan here, I am a lawyer with Segev in Vancouver, I don't have a whole lot to add, Ilan gave a great summary of the firm, and that pretty much captures my practice as well, I'm a business lawyer in general and a cannabis lawyer in specific, I've done a fair bit of cannabis M&A, mergers and acquisitions, I do cannabis regulatory law and advice on advertising issues.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you both very much for taking the time out of your day to help us with this podcast, and address some wonderful questions that our attendees have submitted prior to the podcast. so, everybody on the line, do follow along, we will be covering numerous questions that have already been pre-submitted, however, in order to become a little bit more familiar with the Zoom interface as well as our Q&A feature, please take a moment to just navigate to the top of your screen, where you will see a Q&A button. we do have moderators for our podcast here today that will be helping manage those questions as well throughout the podcast, so despite having several questions already pre-submitted, which we will be covering here momentarily, we would also like to hear from you, who have gratefully bestowed us with your time today to attend, and perhaps have some live questions as well, and/or clarifications that you would like. the podcast today will be approximately 50 minutes long, and we will be recording this podcast, which will be hosted on our website after it is complete, so later today it will be posted, feel free to share this with anybody else in the industry whom you feel could benefit from some of the legal advice here that you will be witnessing today. so, with that being said, Ilan and Stefan, thank you once again for taking the time to join us today, and to help our industry, if you will, with some of these questions that have been submitted, so let's get started with

What Are the Regulations That Dispensaries Need to Abide By in Canada?

Eduardo Silva: the overlying question here pertaining to the Canadian, you know, legal cannabis industry itself, and the regulation — so what are some of the regulations that dispensaries need to abide by in Canada, Ilan and Stefan?

Ilan: yeah, so the legislation that is most relevant to non-medical cannabis is the Cannabis Act, it's a federal piece of legislation that is applicable to all provinces, and then, in addition to that, each province has its own provincial legislation governing the retail sale of non-medical cannabis, which also includes how to operate the stores, how to market, how to promote, including digital marketing as well, so that's sort of the main piece of legislation. and, in addition to that body of legislation, we've got other legislation that will definitely impact your ability and your methods of carrying on business — you've got the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation, that deals with electronic communications, it's often known as CASL, and then we've got the Criminal Code of Canada as well, that deals with unlawful use and sale of narcotics, and then we've got privacy legislation, both provincial legislation, which differs from province to province, albeit they're often very similar in nature, and then you've got federal privacy legislation as well — it might not be apparent how this comes into play, but it does, when you're collecting customer data, and often customer data is a very valuable asset for any business, but there are regulations on how to collect the data, how to store it, and how to disseminate it.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, that is definitely great to know, there are several — so if we were to summarize that, it sounds like there are a handful of regulations that our attendees here, and the industry as a broad spectrum, have to pay attention to, and that is both how they obtain the customer information, how they communicate with a customer, as well as how they market to their customers, correct?

Ilan: yeah, that's right, absolutely, if you're collecting personally identifiable information, then you really do fall under the legislation, and there are quite a number of pitfalls that you need to be mindful of, to stickhandle. Stefan mentioned that we also deal with mergers and acquisitions in the space, people are buying, selling dispensaries — up until very recently, those were very lucrative, the asset that was being sold, for development permits, and sort of a location of a dispensary as well, but to a large extent they were customer lists, and a dispensary with forty thousand names is extremely valuable, so how do you go about selling that information? it falls within the jurisdiction of those privacy legislations.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, so to all of our attendees today, and to the attendees that will be watching this afterwards, pay close attention to your compliance when attaining customer information, because this can be of tremendous value to your overall equity of your business, as you work towards, if you will, an acquisition or a sale of your business. so moving right along here,

What Does the Cannabis Act Say About Digital Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: what does the Cannabis Act say about digital marketing, great question, Stefan, do you want to grab this one?

Stefan: yeah, the Cannabis Act doesn't really — and Ilan, feel free to jump in here — it doesn't really discriminate between digital marketing and other forms of marketing, so the Cannabis Act does have some things to say about marketing in general, but it doesn't really discriminate between different forms of marketing, digital, print media, other types of advertising that you can imagine.

Ilan: yeah, that's right, you can advertise digitally, as long as you're in compliance with the Act.

Stefan: exactly.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, perfect, all right, so our next question here, what marketing is and

What Marketing Is/Isn't Allowed Under the Cannabis Act?

Eduardo Silva: isn't allowed under the Cannabis Act, so Stefan, we'll let you jump into this one as well.

Stefan: sure, yeah, well, that's a good question, it's a fairly broad question as well, and I don't want to just read out the Cannabis Act for you, but basically the Cannabis Act starts by listing types of activities that are prohibited, and then carves out some exceptions to those prohibitions. so, obviously, you can't communicate or advertise in a manner that's appealing to youth, so things like cartoons, and things that appeal to youth, are not allowed, you can't actually, in general, advertise the price or information about distribution of cannabis, you cannot use testimonials or endorsements, you cannot depict people or characters or animals, real or fictional — so, no Tony the Tigers. you cannot advertise cannabis in a manner that appeals to a certain lifestyle, so things like a Marlboro Man type — "use this product and live this great, glamorous lifestyle" — so that being said, within those prohibitions, there are some types of promotion that are lawful, and basically the categories of those fall under three headings: you can provide factual information about your product, about the accessories that you're selling, you can provide point-of-sale promotion, where you advertise the availability of a certain product, or a price, and you can provide brand-preference promotion, where you highlight brand characteristics or elements of your product or your service.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, yeah, definitely a little bit more of a broad question, right, Stefan, and so I think some of the follow-up questions that we had here will definitely start getting a little bit more definitive, we will be able to answer a little bit more in detail. so let's keep it moving, this is great information, so what

What Punishments and Fines Can the Government Impose?

Eduardo Silva: punishment and fines can the government impose if, let's say, a dispensary is not abiding by some of these regulations?

Ilan: yeah, good question, I can get that one — under the Cannabis Act there are penalties that are explicitly set out, they fall under two categories, these are criminal penalties, so in Canada, criminal offenses fall into two categories, the more serious ones are called indictable offenses, so for indictable offenses under the Cannabis Act, the government can levy fines of up to five million, or imprisonment of up to three years, or both, and for summary offenses, the less serious types, the government can levy fines of up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or six months imprisonment, or both.

Eduardo Silva: mm, neither of which sound really fun, right, and at the end of the day we want to avoid that at all cost. great, and then I think you talked about this a little bit, Stefan, an earlier question there, but maybe we can get into a little bit more description on this, so what

What Imagery Is Restricted for Use Online in Canada?

Eduardo Silva: imagery is restricted for use online in Canada?

Stefan: right, right, oh, good question, yeah, imagery, I suppose, certainly, you can't depict people, characters, or animals, and no imagery that appeals to children, so, I mean, that's hard to pin down sometimes, what is directed at children and what might just be found to be appealing to children, but those are two types of things that are specifically prohibited. advertising — we're going to look at some more traditional marketing techniques, I often pull examples from — you look at the Marlboro Man, that would not be permissible under the Cannabis Act, because it evokes certain imagery of lifestyle and health, so any animal depictions are not permitted, because they find that it's appealing to kids, any imagery showing lifestyle, daring adventure — it's fairly restrictive. if you look at the packaging of cannabis as well, the packaging of cannabis really speaks to it, they're always plain packaging, with no imagery other than the marijuana leaf indicating that it's a cannabis product, and even then the packaging has restrictions as well, like there's no windows on the packaging, so I can't see what's inside, it can't be shiny or metallic. so promoting a product with the use of imagery is really similar — so how do you get around that? I mean, there are ways around it, you're now sort of brand building, so if you look at some dispensaries in Canada, they've done quite a nice job doing that, whether it be Tokyo Smoke — you go to their stores and they evoke a certain lifestyle without really hitting on those points — or you look at Hobo, their stores are very distinct from other stores, so they are selling cannabis, but they do, through design, speak to certain lifestyle elements while still being in compliance with the Act.

Ilan: yeah, and I think what I take away from this, right, when in doubt, I would certainly encourage the audience here to engage Segev, and just make sure that some of these broader definitions of imagery, right, are not stepping on landmines for you down the line, so that would be my encouragement for you there.

Eduardo Silva: thank you guys for that answer, and let's move right along here, so are we

Are We Allowed to Show a Logo That Looks Similar to a Cannabis Leaf in Our Online Ads?

Eduardo Silva: allowed to show a logo that looks similar to a cannabis leaf in our online ads, it kind of bridges right into the last conversation.

Ilan: yeah, I don't see why not, I mean the short answer is you can, as long as you're not mixing it with one of the restrictions, so if it's being held by a koala bear, you can't strike a point home, so, yeah, as long as you're in compliance with the Act, by not combining that with one of the descriptions, you should be good.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, thank you for the definition, as well as the very clear example there, no imagery for that that potentially could be misconstrued as advertising to children, right, very important there.

Ilan: yeah, yeah, and, you know, for that matter, it's not just — we're focusing a lot on kids because that's an easy one to distinguish — but also health benefits, so if you're using, you know, a little old lady in a wheelchair holding a cannabis leaf, and she's smiling, that wouldn't fly as well, so there are more subtle restrictions, because that would convey some sort of health benefit.

Eduardo Silva: gotcha, gotcha, Stefan, anything you wanted to add there?

Stefan: ah, I could — I guess, you know, you could certainly use a leaf in your promotions, but you could not use it in a way that implies, like, a testimonial or endorsement, so it couldn't be being held by a celebrity, you know, you can't have LeBron James holding your leaf, or even Snoop Dogg, even though we're certainly accustomed to seeing those types of images from elsewhere.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, absolutely, and I think there are some questions here that we are going to be engaging very momentarily that do address, you know, the whole aspect of celebrity as well within the industry. what's

What's the Difference Between Providing Information and Being Promotional?

Eduardo Silva: the difference between providing information and being promotional, right, so another broad question.

Stefan: yeah, so providing information, you're focusing more on sort of the factual nature of the product or the service, so I can provide information regarding the THC content and strain, and sort of the terpene profile, that's fine. promotional is going beyond the fact, and entering into more of a subjective realm, so if you're certainly promoting the experience of the high, or promoting — again, parking back to lifestyle and some of these restrictive advertising techniques — that's not factual in nature. I can even advertise the price at the point of sale, that's factual, there's nothing wrong with advertising how much it costs, it's factual in nature. so I guess that's sort of the test, is it objective — if it's objective and factual you can advertise it, if it's not factual, in other words, my perception of the product might differ than your perception of the product, and it starts feeling like an opinion, then you're starting to enter into the promotional realm.

Ilan: that's exactly right, yeah, things like terpene profiles, or THC content, that's something that can be tested objectively, things like, is it potent, or is it smooth, or is it enjoyable, those kinds of subjective — that would be considered promotional.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, here's a question pertaining to celebrity once again, right, we were chatting about this just

Can I Pay a Celebrity or Influencer to Promote My Product?

Eduardo Silva: moments ago, can I pay a celebrity or influencer to promote my product? I think that's an easy one for us.

Ilan: yeah, no, the answer is no, you cannot, not here in Canada, that type of testimonial or celebrity endorsement is not permitted.

Stefan: yeah, that's right, I mean it's really black and white, there has been some creative ways around it, for example, Drake, with his partnership in Canopy Growth, he's now creating "More Life Growth" company, so we've got sort of an international superstar like Drake, who isn't directly promoting the product or the company, but the association with the company is likely enough to have sort of that star appeal, and that's fine, it's actually quite clever, because you've got it in the Financial Post and other newspapers, and online media, there's quite a lot of talk about Drake's involvement in Canopy, and Drake's launching this new company called More Life Growth, so, just by association, I suspect you might get more of that. I know Seth Rogen is launching his product line too, so you can advertise by association, but you can't have a celebrity like Snoop Dogg going on and on about how great the product is, and the experience, that would be outside.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, I think, gentleman, that does answer our next one, which puts it pretty plainly there, by association, right, as a celebrity, that becomes somewhat a byproduct, the influence, if you will, becomes a byproduct of that association or partnership. so, great question, how does

How Does Segev Verify Compliance?

Eduardo Silva: Segev verify compliance?

Ilan: yeah, so this would be really on a case-by-case basis, if a client approaches us and says, this is sort of what we want to do, some sort of promotional activity, we would review it, and if it passes the test we'd greenlight it, if it doesn't, we don't just say it won't fly, we look at sort of the mechanic of the activity, and we offer suggestions, like tweaking the promotion in a manner where it would comply. I mean, some things are just black and white, like if someone came to me and said, I want to start a loyalty rewards program, I would tell them, you can't do it, it just doesn't work, other items are much more fluid in nature, which we would work with the client hand-in-hand, in a pretty tight strategy, to make sure that compliance would be with the legislature.

Eduardo Silva: perfect, all right, you guys touched on this in the beginning of our presentation here, but I think it's important to go into a little bit more depth, because I feel like the anti-spam law is definitely something that a lot of clients are always concerned with, right, how do I promote to my existing customers while remaining compliant. so, if we could just take a stab at this one, what

What Is Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL)?

Eduardo Silva: does Canada's Anti-Spam Law say, maybe with a little bit more definition, I think this will be great.

Ilan: yeah, so CASL regulates a bunch of things, I'll just sort of list them off — it regulates the sending of commercial electronic messages, the alteration of the transmission of data, it deals with installation of computer programs, but that's neither here nor there for us, use of false or misleading representations online in promotion of products or services, collection of personal information through accessing a computer system, and collection of email addresses with the use of computer programs. so that's what it regulates, it's fairly broad, but for our purposes, what we really are looking at is collecting customer email, and then sending customers promotional emails, or communication to customers, to keep them abreast of the product that we've got. I understand that certain edibles are in short supply, vapes hit the shelf and disappear within a day, so blasting out a message to your existing client base about a product arriving on the shelf is permissible, but you need consent of the customer prior to being able to include them on an email list. the method of obtaining consent is pretty explicit, they have to opt in, a customer has to opt in to receiving those commercial electronic messages, so they have to provide not implied consent, but express consent to receive those emails, and the way you can do it is at the point-of-sale terminal — if you have a first-time customer, when they're making a payment, you can have them opt in at the time, we've all seen it where you check a box on a POS terminal and you enter an email address, and that would be sufficient consent to then include them in a newsletter and send out emails. there are some examples of implied consent that I won't get into, but generally it's easy enough to get express consent just by asking people for their email address at the point of sale, and then you can add them to your list. that consent is good for a period of two years, and then it has to be renewed, you can send a customer an email prior to that two-year expiry asking them if they wish to continue receiving those newsletters, and that email can be sent separately, and if they opt in, then you buy yourself another two years. what's important to be mindful of — the best practices that you should be mindful of — are: one, keep evidence of all express consent, so you should have some sort of database confirming that express consent has been given, if you have implied consent you want to make sure to convert those to express consent, so implied consent would be, for example, I reach out to a store asking for information, and that store sends me a newsletter, that would be implied consent, so when I respond to that customer at that time I would ask them, would you like to be included in our newsletter or promotional weekly mail-out, and that would be converting implied consent to express consent. you should also track the expiry of those consents, and avoid relying on oral consent, so if you've got a customer coming into the store and an associate says, hey, would you like to be updated on product as it arrives in our store, and the customer gives verbal consent, that would be — you need to train your staff to convert that verbal consent into a written express consent, by filling in the required form, checking a box, providing an email address, that sort of stuff.

Eduardo Silva: very good explanation there, thank you so much, Ilan, for that, and I think this goes back to the earlier conversation we were having, surrounding what you do with your customer, or what the value of the customer consent can be to your business, right, it is, in many ways, considered equity, as to the value of your business, once you look at potentially even selling it or going through an acquisition, and so ensuring that you do have documentation that states that the customer list that you have has consented to communication will certainly ensure that you're carrying forward that equity of your business.

Ilan: yeah, absolutely, and if you're looking at acquiring another business in the retail space, that would be part of the due diligence, the buyer's lawyer would be making sure that — the buyer would make sure that the target, or the selling business, is compliant with the privacy legislation and CASL legislation, so it's pretty important to have that stuff in check.

Eduardo Silva: absolutely, and one of the things that we also do for our customers is ensuring that they do acquire correct consent as well, by having proper opt-in procedures in place, as well as carrying forward documentation that the customer has consented to being communicated by your business, so very important there. so moving right along here, guys, thank you so much for that explanation, and does

Does CASL Apply to Digital Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: CASL apply to digital marketing?

Ilan: yeah, I mean, it does, it's actually specifically designed for electronic communications, so it does, in order for you to directly market to your customers by text message or email, you need to get their consent.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, does CASL apply

Does CASL Apply to Text Message Marketing?

Eduardo Silva: to text message marketing, so SMS?

Ilan: absolutely, yep.

Stefan: yeah, simple yes on that one.

Eduardo Silva: guys, so definitely applies to your communication with your customer digitally, right, despite the medium. can we

Can We Do Delivery?

Eduardo Silva: do delivery, so delivery of cannabis in Canada, is that something that's allowed, guys?

Ilan: so in British Columbia that's not allowed, you can only sell cannabis from the retail location, the pandemic has changed things slightly, where the regulators have been a little bit more lenient, you can do click-and-collect and curbside pickup, I understand that Ontario now has, or will be very shortly, allowing delivery, I don't know what that looks like, as I mentioned, every province's regulation governing retail sales is different, but I understand Ontario has either now permitted delivery or is about to, but curbside pickup is available, click-and-collect is available, however you want to call it, but in BC there is no delivery.

Stefan: I would maybe just add, not sure if this is what was intended by delivery, but the government can deliver by mail in British Columbia, but that wouldn't apply to private retailers.

Eduardo Silva: great point there, Stefan, very interesting one. I want to field one of the questions here from the audience now, just take a quick break from the questions that we've had submitted prior, one quick moment here — here's a great question, are there any daily consumption limits for recreational, medical, and do they vary by province, or across all, or the same across all? so, in other words, is there a daily consumption limit for recreational, medical, and is it different from province to province, or is it the standard, if you will, across the entire country?

Ilan: yeah, so I guess we should probably distinguish between recreational and medical, because they're different regimes, but as far as the recreational regime goes, there is a Canada-wide possession restriction — I think the question said consumption, and I don't know if the consumption is really regulated, but as far as what you can have with you, you're permitted to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, or the equivalent in non-dried form, whether it's fresh cannabis, liquid product, concentrates, or seeds. and the Cannabis Act has an equivalency table that states that one dry gram of cannabis is equivalent to five grams fresh, 15 grams of edibles, 70 grams of a liquid product, a quarter gram of concentrates whether solid or liquid, or one cannabis seed.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, they really broke it out, that's great, you know, it actually makes it pretty easy, right, if they break it down into those different quantity categories.

Ilan: yeah, yeah, that specific.

Eduardo Silva: moving right along here, this is another great one we get quite often, can we

Can We Offer Daily Deals or Fire Sales?

Eduardo Silva: offer daily deals or fire sales?

Ilan: yeah, it would be wonderful if you could, and — Stefan, correct me if I'm wrong — but I don't believe that you can offer any daily deals or fire sales on cannabis or related products.

Stefan: yeah, yeah, that's right, I mean, from the BC perspective, you've got minimum pricing regulations, so you can't sell below the liquor distribution branch wholesale price, or the liquor distributor, or the suggested retail price, whichever is lower — in British Columbia it's the liquor distribution branch that governs sale of cannabis, every province has a different governing body, this happens to be ours, so they do set minimum pricing, in short, what it means is you can only go as low as your wholesale cost, that's it, so there's no fire sales.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, so keep that in mind, to the audience here, right, no fire sales out there, can't move a massive amount of products in that fashion, not allowed, keep that in mind as you create your strategy for your business. can we advertise

Can We Advertise Our Deals on Social Media?

Eduardo Silva: our deals on social media?

Ilan: so if by "deals" you mean pricing, the answer is no, we've already covered that, you can't advertise discounts or blowouts or fire sales, but you can advertise your brand on social media, so if you've got one store, or a chain of stores, you can advertise, as long as the advertising is in compliance with the Cannabis Act.

Eduardo Silva: there you go, and that was also one of the questions from one of our attendees here today, in terms of being able to advertise your business on social media, so as long as you are within compliance, right, no promotions, as in discounts, or your pricing, on social media, remain compliant when advertising your business, if you will, on social media, is the answer, that's what —

Ilan: yeah, that's right, which is pretty powerful advertising, I mean, building brand awareness is really strong, and you don't need to do that by just advertising your price, for that matter — you look at a lot of the established, successful companies, they don't even advertise a product anymore, everybody knows what the Nike swoosh means, so if you create a really engaging logo and a brand name and a brand presence, to the point where all it takes for you is to constantly put that brand presence in the public's eye, that's pretty powerful stuff.

Eduardo Silva: on their function, on their phone, can we offer an incentive to capture customer information, so I think this goes back to

Can We Offer an Incentive to Capture Customer Information?

Eduardo Silva: CASL, right, the idea of being able to receive consent from the customer, and incentivizing them in some way so that you can retain more customer information, if you will, and grow that business presence.

Ilan: well, you know, this is a good question, actually, I think it's sort of nuanced, so you can't hand out a product or a discount in exchange for getting their email address and their consent, but what you can do is provide them with other incentive — "if you're on our email list you will be notified as soon as we receive a certain product that you like," or "we'll update you with new product as it arrives from time to time," which is an incentive, in that, you know, I'm first to know when product hits the shelf, but you can't — there's no trading, right, I can't give you a 10% discount on your next purchase, or a t-shirt, or anything like that.

Stefan: that's exactly right, so you cannot do that.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, great answer there, thank you so much for clarifying that, certainly some nuances there, right, that you want to abide by, and once again, if you have questions in particular surrounding how to attract customers and remain compliant, I certainly encourage you to reach out to the Segev group, get those fine lines, if you will, defined for you, so that you can go out there and capture more customers in a compliant manner, and avoid potential challenges there. so how do we

How Do We Compliantly Capture Customer Information (Name, Phone Number, Email)?

Eduardo Silva: compliantly capture customer information, name, phone number, and email? I think we just addressed this one here, right, so you definitely want to follow the regulations, once again, if you have a specific idea in mind on how you want to promote that business, or how you want to entice that prospective customer, right, certainly reach out to us, and we'll — Segev group will certainly help you navigate those waters. how do we ensure our

How Do We Ensure Our Website Is Compliant With the Cannabis Act? What Pages and Popups Are Needed?

Eduardo Silva: website is compliant with the Cannabis Act, what pages and pop-ups are needed, that's a pretty good one.

Ilan: yeah, you know, for starters you need the age verification tool before you access the website, when someone confirms that they're over the age of majority and they click on it, you enter into the website, and then the same thing applies with respect to marketing on the website as it does to promoting your product outside the website. so, same idea, when I log onto a website I can't see any advertising that would make me think there's a health benefit, a lifestyle benefit, or anything like that, I can advertise pricing, it's factual in nature, I can't advertise product strain, terpene profile, all that sort of stuff. it seems pretty bland, but it doesn't have to be, you can use imagery from your store, imagery of the product, beautiful photography, that's still very engaging. in terms of testimonials, you can include client reviews, as long as those reviews have not been paid for, so if you have a forum on the website, and that content is produced by customers, and that content has not been paid for, you can include that on your website.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, I do have a question here from the audience that takes us a little bit backwards to some of the questions that we had earlier, but I think it is important, and it's pertaining to that whole pricing conversation, gentlemen, that we were having a little earlier — you know, we did define that discounting is obviously a fine line, right, you cannot sell below wholesale costs, but one of the questions we received here is, can you advertise percentage discounts on your products?

Ilan: yeah, you can do that in the store, right, so, at the point of sale you can advertise, you can't advertise it outside of the store, so there's that distinction.

Stefan: that's a good question actually, and it's a distinction that needs to be drawn, so when I'm in the store I can show product is discounted, as long as I'm in compliance with the pricing regulation, and it should also be noted the pricing regulation that I'm referring to is the British Columbia regulation, and that might differ province to province.

Eduardo Silva: there you go, if you need some further definition on that, this is a great one to engage Segev and/or us, so we can help you define those parameters for how you engage the customer with discounts, right, and create the differentiation there. thank you so much, gentlemen, for covering that. I think we answered this question here, right, can

Can a Website Be Deemed Noncompliant?

Eduardo Silva: a website be deemed non-compliant, and I think the answer is a resounding yes, there are many different ways you can make your website non-compliant, and I think we already addressed this, so be mindful of how you promote, the product, the imagery you use, to ensure that you are not breaching some of those compliance issues, right, whether that is lifestyle, the actual product health benefits, things of that nature, to ensure that you're compliant, and then, once again, engage the Segev group, if you want to really have a fine-tuned website that speaks the message, the brand that you want, but remain compliant, so you can avoid some challenges there. is

Is SEO a Compliant Strategy and Why?

Eduardo Silva: SEO a compliance strategy and why? so search engine optimization, right, the ability to create more authority within the web world, if you will, for your website, through the means of search engines — is that something that is compliant, and if so, how do you ensure that that strategy is compliant? I think this is a little bit of a challenging question, right, because website SEO is a combination of many different things, do you guys have an easy answer for this one?

Ilan: yeah, I think there is a fairly easy answer, and that is, search engine optimization is compliant, so long as the way that you're optimizing is otherwise compliant, so, say you're providing information on your website, you're building the content so that search engines index it more effectively, and your website floats to the top of different searches for different content, then, yes, that's absolutely a fantastic way to advertise and to remain compliant, so you want to make sure that your copywriting uses the keywords that people are looking for, the information that they're searching for, and that's a fantastic way to promote your business and comply with the regulations at the same time.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you for answering that one, so SEO, yes, allowed, it can increase your overall traffic to your website, the authority of your website, but remain compliant, and take the proper steps to ensure that the content you're generating is compliant. and then, can we

Can We Display Our Menu Online and Accept Pre-Orders?

Eduardo Silva: display our menu online and accept pre-orders?

Ilan: yeah, you can, so if I log onto the website, you can display the product that you currently have, you can again show product information, pricing, can you accept pre-orders — you can, provided that you comply with the ID requirements and point-of-sale payment requirements, and it differs province to province, in British Columbia, for example, I can complete an order online, but ultimately payment has to be made in store, and the ID verification has to be made at the point of sale, and that will therefore vary province to province.

Eduardo Silva: interesting one there, for sure, especially since BC allowed the pre-ordering recently, since the coronavirus crisis that we're experiencing, certainly important, right.

Ilan: right, and I expect, as the industry starts maturing, and the regulators understand what works and what doesn't, we're gonna see changes in the regulation and how these businesses operate.

Eduardo Silva: absolutely, and this is interesting, gentlemen, because there is the ability, obviously, to share with the customer specific discounting on a product in store, but what if it's their online store, right, is that something that they can do there as well?

Ilan: yeah, that's a good question, actually — Stefan, you have any thoughts on that?

Stefan: that is a good question, yeah, I don't see why not, I mean, you're certainly permitted to provide information about the price at the time people are paying, and if there is a means for them to pre-order online, I don't see why the price couldn't be conveyed.

Ilan: yeah, I would tend to agree with that, I think, when it's on the website or on the online store, I think that's acceptable, I think it would be unacceptable to blast out sales outside of that marketplace, where you're actually placing the order.

Eduardo Silva: yeah, and this goes back to yet a few other questions that have been asked here by our audience members throughout the podcast today, about taking credit card payment, right, is credit card payment allowed within Canada, or is it province-to-province regulated?

Ilan: yeah, credit card payment is allowed, there's been lots of discussion on credit card payments, and the reason for — I'll use the word "controversy" — relating to credit card payments, it has to do with the credit card companies being owned by, or American-owned — cannabis, recreational cannabis, is not federally lawful in the US, there was lots of concern that credit card transaction information would be available to US federal authorities, and if I'm crossing the border to the States, as a customer of a regulated, lawful dispensary here, and I'm crossing down into the States, federal authorities might have access to my information and I might have issues, so there's some controversy arising out of that. I have never heard of a firsthand account of someone being stopped because they used a Visa or MasterCard up here, but that was some talk that was prevalent about six, seven months ago, I haven't heard that since. having said that, though, a large percentage of purchases are still done in cash, which is not the norm compared to other industries, maybe it comes from this paranoia, I don't know.

Eduardo Silva: I suspect it's very common, right, you hear all the stories of industry dispensary owners and their cash flow. so I think we have time for one more question, and then we're going to be summarizing our podcast here today by providing some takeaways. so what are the requirements to accept online pre-orders? I think we've already established this one, so we'll move forward to the next one — can we accept payments online?

Ilan: the answer to this question is no, it has to be done at the POS, locally, and correct me here if I'm wrong, right, that's how I would — so that's correct for British Columbia, but that may differ province to province.

Eduardo Silva: okay, there you go, so it may differ province to province, for British Columbia that is correct, it cannot, but in other locations that could be different, so keep that in mind. can we

Can We Advertise Using Google Ads?

Eduardo Silva: advertise using Google Ads?

Ilan: yeah, you can, really similar to our discussion on SEO, as long as it's compliant with the Cannabis Act — you can't, if your advertising is in contravention of the Act, then you can't, so it's not so much the medium, it's the message.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, so there it is, it is the message, so keep that in mind, and that is absolutely an area of expertise here for us, just to highlight, we have been successfully hosting Google advertisement within the cannabis industry, both in the United States as well as in Canada, for the last four and a half years, going on five years, you know, obviously it varies from state to state depending on the regulation, both in the US and Canada, but certainly one of the areas of expertise that we bring to the table is how to actually advertise online, to get you the presence and attention you need from your customers, while remaining compliant.

Closing Remarks

Eduardo Silva: and with that, I do want to share a quick takeaway, I want to thank the team here, Ilan and Stefan, for joining us today so graciously, providing us so much information, right, and I want to just highlight one of the ways that you can get in touch with the team, is either phone number, email, or navigating to their website, but I want to turn it back over to Segev, Ilan, and Stefan here, for any closing remarks, but I want to thank you for your time today.

Ilan: yeah, thanks, thanks, Eduardo, I guess sort of the big picture here is, we're in a really new industry here, and because of that we're still working in an environment that doesn't have a lot of direction, so we don't know yet how the legislation has been interpreted, we don't know how it's been enforced, which is exciting, and that we're first in this market, but at the same time it does create some challenges. what it means is, you've got to be really mindful of the legislation, know what you can and can't do, and take a creative approach to carry on business, but at the same time being compliant. and, as the industry matures, we're more than likely to see how this legislation has been interpreted and enforced, and we will then have greater guidance, but until then, it really is helpful to make sure that the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

Eduardo Silva: wonderful, wonderful, thank you, team, once again, for taking the time and sharing some valuable insight with our audience here today. for those of you who are still on the line with us and have attended here today, this podcast is going to be provided also via our website, so feel free to navigate to our podcast page if you want to review some of these questions and answers here, and share this information also with anybody else within the industry that you feel could benefit from it, please feel free to share that link by navigating there. we'll also follow up with some additional information via email for those that have registered, but thank you once again, Ilan and Stefan, for your time, and feel free, once again, everyone on the line, to check out our podcast page, and we look forward to the opportunity of speaking to you again, have a great rest of your day.

Ilan: thanks, Eduardo, thank you.

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