Tantalus Labs

Tantalus Labs was a Canadian Licensed Producer of cannabis. Based out of British Columbia and established in 2012 by Dan Sutton, Tantalus Labs cultivated in their cannabis greenhouse, SunLab which was the first purpose-built cannabis greenhouse in North America. In June 2023, Tantalus Labs announced it would cease operations and began laying off the majority of its employees.[1][2]

History

Tantalus Labs was founded by Dan Sutton and incorporated on October 29, 2012. Having seen a consultation document outlining the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulation (MMPR), he recognized the opportunity to rethink how cannabis was being grown in BC and engaged agricultural experts to design a more efficient methodology. The result was the planning and design of SunLab, the first purpose-built cannabis cultivation facility in North America.

On May 29, 2017, Health Canada approved the company's submission for a Medical Marijuana License allowing them to acquire materials and commence planting seed crops, making them the 45th Licensed Producer in Canada and the 10th in British Columbia.[3]

August 17, 2018, the company announced it had received its sales license from Health Canada, allowing it to begin on-boarding patients and ship cannabis products.[4]

September 12, 2018, Tantalus Labs launched Tantalus Prime, its e-commerce membership program that provides door-to-door delivery directly from SunLab to registered customers. The five inaugural strains includes Blue Dream, Serratus, Skunk Haze, Harlequin, and Cannatonic.[5]

In June 2023, Tantalus Labs announced that it would cease operations and began laying off the majority of its employees.[1][2]

Controversies

On May 22, 2015, prior to receiving their Medical Marijuana License, 150 residents of Maple Ridge protested the development of SunLab stating concerns around well water depletion and proximity to residential neighbourhoods.[6] In response, Tantalus Labs licensed their well access with the BC Ministry of Forestry and committed to rainwater as its primary water source for irrigation.

Environmental issues

Executive Dan Sutton has identified the carbon footprint associated with modern indoor growing techniques that rivals heavy industrial manufacturing.[7]

Political advocacy

Tantalus Labs and Hanway Associates produced and shared a policy guidance document with 19 BC Ministries and representatives on September 18, 2017. This document provided context and recommendations around the legal age of consumption, Retail Licensing, Supply Chain Management, Transparency and Reporting, and Ancillary Industries. Receiving no response, Tantalus Labs published this document so that the citizens of British Columbia can hold elected officials to their obligation to foster the cannabis industry and its impactful cultural history. This was the second policy guidance document produced in collaboration with Hanway Associates.[8][9]

References
  1. MJBiz Daily. "Cannabis producer Tantalus Labs restructures, lays off workers".
  2. Alegre, J. P. (2023-06-30). "Tantalus Labs Files for Restructuring, Lays Off Most of Staff". the deep dive. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  3. "Vancouver's Tantalus gets Health Canada medical marijuana license". Vancouver Sun. 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  4. GmbH, finanzen.net. "Tantalus Labs Receives Sales Licence | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  5. "Tantalus Labs introduces flagship product line and opens to the public". The GrowthOp. 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  6. "Protest held over medical marijuana grow-op in Maple Ridge". Global News. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  7. Kane, Laura (2018-01-08). "Ottawa urged to consider environmental impacts of legal marijuana". British Columbia. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  8. "'Time is running out' for British Columbia on cannabis plans". Marijuana Business Daily. 2018-07-03. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  9. Brown, Jessica (2018-08-14). "Craft cannabis producers should be able to sell direct to consumers". Daily Hive. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
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