There are currently 52 licensed medical marijuana producers in Canada and three of them are in Hamilton.

Bill Panagiotakopoulos bought a piece of land off Highway 6 a decade ago. He initially set up solar panels and sold the energy to the city. Four years ago, he decided to go even greener industry: medical marijuana. His business partner, Roger Ferreira, has a PhD in physiology from the University of Toronto and is excited about some of the health benefits.

The publicly traded company is now the third licensed marijuana producer in Hamilton. When they started, Panagiotakopolous says Hamilton was the only city ready to give them a chance. He now wants to build a 200 000 square foot facility elsewhere that he says could create over 100 jobs.

But first, Beleave has to build up some product. Receiving it’s producing licence in May, there’s still tests to pass before they hit the market.

“Once we’ve demonstrated that our product meet quality assurance metrics after being tested in the lab then we may apply to Health Canada for a sales licence.”

Once Beleave obtains their sales licence, which they predict will be around the fall, credited patients could buy their medical weed from them online and receive it in the mail. In terms of recreational sales, the team is waiting until the official legalization of the drug set for next summer.