CANNABIS

CANNABIS MedCare Farms founder joined weed biz by accident

After a traumatic motorcycle crash, Garin Heslop was prescribed powerful and energy-sapping pain meds G arin Heslop never saw it coming. Or, to put it more precisely, he did see it coming, but by then it was too late to do anything about by John Lucas it. In July of 2008, Heslop was riding home The number of people on his motorcycle. He came to an intersection, and so did a driver who was supposed who have died from to yield before making a le turn. cannabis is...zero.

“Right at the last second, he pulled out in front of me,” Heslop tells the Straight in – Garin Heslop a recent phone interview. “At that point I couldn’t go le, I couldn’t go right; I just went headrst straight into the back of a truck. I didn’t go over the truck, I just went straight into it.” In 2018 alone, almost 70,000 people died

Heslop continues: “I just remember from drug overdoses. It was a leading cause right before it happened, thinking, ‘No of injury-related death in the U.S. Two out matter what, I have no control of what the of three overdose deaths involved an opioutcome is at the end of this. ere’s nothoid such as heroin, prescription opioids, or ing I can do to change it: whether I’m dead, synthetic opioids (like fentanyl). whether I’m paralyzed, whether I’m okay, “e number of people who have died or whatever it might be.’” from cannabis,” Heslop wryly observes, “is NOT QUITE OKAY are out there: zero.” e successful Washington-state realtor the same as the number of unicorns that was neither dead nor paralyzed, but he HEARTS AND MINDS wasn’t quite okay, either. His arm was so In February, MedCare opened a retail badly injured that it required eight hours of storefront connected to its production fasurgery. Aer his discharge from the hoscility. It looks more like a high-end designpital, Heslop continued to struggle with er boutique than it does a seedy head shop short-term memory loss and back issues. of old. at, of course, is entirely the point.

His doctor put him on a cocktail of Heslop says his aim is to win hearts and powerful prescription pain meds. minds. Moreover, he would like to be seen “rough my recovery process, it just seemed like the doctor was more interKelly Heslop (right), a military veteran with a disability, was using cannabis medicinally when she advised husband Garin to try it as an alternative to prescription drugs. Photo by MedCare Farms. in the same light as any other respectable member of the local business community. ested in continuing to put a Band-Aid on “He ended up robbing banks to support Not long aer that, the Heslops pulled It seems to be working. Lake Elsinore’s it and prescribe me these drugs instead his OxyContin habit,” Heslop says. “He up stakes and moved to California. Today, mayor, Brian Tisdale, attended the store’s of really getting to the root cause and ended up going to prison for that. So it’s not the couple run MedCare Farms, described grand opening, and he even cut the ribbon. guring out how do we nd a solution?” just the person that’s addicted but it’s the on its website as “Southern California’s “We love the plant, and we focus on Heslop says. “How do we get past this and family members that are aected as well.” leading cra-cannabis, lifestyle managecultivation and we put so much work in,” get to pain mitigation and get to a better Heslop knows this rsthand; one of his ment company”. At their Lake Elsinore Heslop says. “So we want our retail, bequality of life?” own kin went down a similarly tragic path. facility, the Heslops produce strains such cause it’s customer-facing, to really rep

Heslop says he felt his zest for life slowly “My cousin ended up getting addicted to as the indica-dominant MedCare Kush, resent all that hard work and that dedislipping away. OxyContin as well and ended up shooting the sativa-forward Lemon Burst, and the cation and what it means to us. It’s about

“e prescriptions changed who I somebody in the back of the head over Oxyhybrid Cookies and Cream. changing the perception from a cultural was,” he recalls. “I get up at 5:30 in the Contin,” he says. “He’s in prison still today.” standpoint. at’s our mission. morning and I go work out. I’m very POWERFUL MEDICINE “We wanted to change the face of what passionate about life and energetic, you ENTER CANNABIS Heslop has a new mission in life: to spread cannabis is and how people perceive it,” know, and I just want to improve. It took Meanwhile, Heslop’s wife, Kelly—a disthe gospel of cannabis to everyone who he continues. “So when you walk into our that away from me. I just wasn’t happy: abled United States Army veteran—was needs to hear it. e little green plant, he store, our whole thing is to have people I didn’t have energy; I didn’t want to do using cannabis medicinally. Seeing her says, is powerful medicine. leave happier than they came and have the anything; I just wanted to take my pills husband’s struggles, she encouraged him “That was the founding principle of highest level of customer service. We’re and get through my day.” to do the same. When he did, Heslop recalls, his sleep MedCare Farms,” he says. “That’s why we chose the name MedCare. This has about creating customers for life, and we’re gonna earn it every day.” g TRAGIC PATHS improved, and so did his appetite. More true medicinal healing powers if you At around the same time, Heslop importantly, he began to feel like himself need something that’s a better alternawatched people in his life spiral into adagain. tive to the majority of everything else diction. He cites the example of one of “It didn’t just x everything, but it althat’s available to you and doesn’t have his best friends, a bank manager with a lowed me to get to a better quality of life,” these insane side effects.” wife and two children. After a bicycle accident, that friend got hooked on a widely prescribed opioid Heslop tells CannCentral. “Me being able to work out, me sleeping well, feeling better—it just helps everything, right? It all According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S. alone, more than 750,000 people died from a MORE CANNABIS ONLINE AT CANNCENTRAL.COM analgesic. owed in conjunction with each other.” drug overdose from 1999 to 2018.

Rapidly rising strata insurance needs to move near the top of British Columbia’s election agenda

by Trevor Hargreaves

Higher insurance premiums emerged as a serious issue for strata councils last autumn, and since then the provincial government has conducted research and sought input from stakeholders.

(is article is sponsored by the B.C. Real Estate Association.)

Strata Insurance: e Lower Mainland and other areas in B.C. have presented aordability challenges for years. Rent and real estate prices climb higher year over year, while food, car insurance, and the array of sundry life expenses creep ever-upward. Factored against low percapita wages and a steady inux of new residents drawn from across the country and around the world, British Columbia, and in particular Vancouver, presents clear economic challenges for residents. ese challenges have only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Layos, job loss, displaced oce environments, lost opportunity, and economic uncertainty abounds. At the same time, the rapid rise of strata insurance has caused further hardship by increasing monthly strata fees for many. For people on xed or limited incomes, and those facing sudden unexpected unemployment, the addition of hundreds of dollars out of their monthly housing budget can be simply too much to bear. Worse still, this is a complicated issue that could take years to x.

As we head into this provincial election, there are plenty of issues for politicians on all sides to debate. e British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) expects housing aordability to feature as an election issue. With more than 30,000 stratas in B.C. and approximately 1.5 million people living in these units, strata insurance should be part of the conversation. is is an issue that eects the living budget of thousands of British Columbians and many B.C. residents and housing advocates not only want, but need a quick x to this situation. Public dialogue oen results in calls for government intervention.

Unfortunately, this is a signicantly complex issue and there’s no quick x. It will take detailed research, and a multipronged approach to make strata insurance more easily available and to drive prices back down toward a more aordable level. For example, data from the insurance industry suggests that while the total number of water-related claims has remained relatively stable from 2017 to 2019, the average value per claim has increased dramatically, from just over $5,000 to over $15,000. Coupled with a reduction in the number of “players” in the market (insurance companies oering policies to strata corporations) this results in less competition and higher premiums.

Major increases to strata insurance rst appeared in fall 2019. e issue was further complicated and slowed by COVID-19 as everything was sidelined with an emergency on top of an emergency. To its credit,

Government and industry stakeholders need to work in a collaborative manner to seek immediate and practical solutions to this complex issue. — Darlene Hyde, CEO of the B.C. Real Estate Association

the provincial government moved quickly to gather industry stakeholders, and set about identifying the causes of the problem. e provincial government has done signicant research into the issue and made a series of interventions into insurance-industry commission structures and client notication practices as rst steps. e government continues to research the root causes of rising strata insurance costs. At this point, there appear to be several core issues, including fewer insurers providing their services to B.C. strata corporations, possibly a high percentage of water damage claims in buildings across B.C., and poorly maintained buildings.

Finding solutions to these challenges won’t be easy and it won’t happen quickly. But we believe the best way to do so is to work together, and that’s what we expect from the next government. Bring stakeholders together to understand the causes and then come up with ways to deal with the current high strata insurance prices and try to make sure they don’t happen again.

“Government and industry stakeholders need to work in a collaborative manner to seek immediate and practical solutions to this complex issue,” says Darlene Hyde, CEO of the B.C. Real Estate Association

Part of that solution is to educate strata council members so they can make solid decisions about how to maintain their buildings. Strata councils control a given see next page

The B.C. Real Estate Association believes that mandatory education for strata council members is required to help elevate their understanding and protect the financial interests of homeowners.

building’s nances, schedule maintenance, and have general responsibility to operate a building in a sustainable manner. is is oen a challenging balance of conicting priorities. Many buildings are made up of residents whose primary concern is keeping their strata fees low. is is a common theme and a logical one in a province with high living costs and many residents on low or xed incomes.

However, it still falls to a well-run strata to balance the needs of residents against the ongoing maintenance of the building. As buildings age, ongoing investment, capital expenditures and planned maintenance are critical to the long-term viability of the structure.

Failure to make prudent investment in critical infrastructure such as water pipes and roong can lead to costly repairs, which transfers the nancial stress to the insurers. While this certainly hasn’t been the sole contributing factor to the sudden increase in strata insurance, it is a likely contributor.

While there are multiple contributing factors at play here, let’s give some consideration to who makes up stratas across B.C. is is volunteer work made up of building residents or owners of varied backgrounds, many of whom have little to no business, nancial or building maintenance experience. Stratas are oen stocked by well meaning residents who are willing to donate their time and eorts to assure their building, or their property investment is being well run. Yet with such responsibility sitting upon their shoulders, it would be logical that in-depth oversight and training for these people should be rmly in place. While there is a variety of services available and on oer from the Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C. (CHOA), these services are not mandatory.

Serving on a strata council requires nancial acumen, experience, and skill. Without equipping strata council members across the province with these skills, it’s going to be largely impossible to ensure that buildings are better run in the future. Mandatory education for strata council

While the total number of water-related claims has remained relatively stable from 2017 to 2019, the average value per claim has increased dramatically, from just over $5,000 to over $15,000. Coupled with a reduction in the number of players in the market (insurance companies offering policies to strata corporations) this results in less competition and higher premiums. — B.C. Real Estate Association

members is necessary to signicantly elevate knowledge levels and best practices.

We’re not suggesting a signicant burden for those who already give up their free time to manage their buildings. Instead, a streamlined mandatory education process could be administered online, cost free and kept to a focused minimum of several hours.

In addition to education, the other area that requires strong governmental intervention is the oversight and regulation of the Strata Property Act. e Civil Resolution Tribunal handles disputes related to the act, but there’s no dedicated oversight body within British Columbia to monitor strata practices and ensure buildings are being run well.

In comparison, the Condominium Authority of Ontario provides detailed oversight of stratas across that province. It offers training, dispute resolution and other services to help improve strata living. It’s a much stronger environment in terms of consumer protection and it’s one that British Columbia should emulate. While there is cost and infrastructure involved here for government, it’s a necessary step to ensure better practices across the province. It is worthy of note that we are not hearing of issues relating to strata insurance cost increases in Ontario.

“is is a B.C. issue, it’s not a Canadian issue. e majority of the problem is taking place here,” says Hyde.

As the election dialogue heats up in coming days, the issues of mandatory strata education and a new regulatory oversight structure are topics that we all need to ask politicians about as part of a positive outcome in ensuring aordable strata insurance. g