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www.canadianlawyermag.com 51 quality control, pharmaceutical regulation and who are properly licensed are a huge asset to a cannabis operation, Weinrib says. "It's hard to find a ton of people with a great regulatory background. And, so, this is one way to assist in that process," she says. Transitioning those employees for the new business could also have employment- law implications, depending on what province you're in and what the employment contracts of transitioning employees look like, says Satin. "You would want to be mindful of . . . "With a lot of the pharmaceutical companies spinning off and moving their manufacturing processes — outsourcing them — they are selling off their facilities. . . . Cannabis is another logical buyer." Cheryl Satin, Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP fundamentally changing jobs because it may be viewed, by an employee, as one thing to be producing pharmaceuticals . . . versus now all of a sudden being in the cannabis industry," she says. There is a variety of opinions from municipal governments as to where facilities in the cannabis industry are allowed. When doing due diligence for the acquisition of a cannabis facility, because the industry is in its infancy, it is not always clear in which municipal-zoning category a cannabis facility will fall, says Paul Logan, a real estate lawyer who assists clients on the purchase of old facilities that are being converted into cannabis processors. Lawyers are spending more time figuring out zoning, than in other areas of real estate, says Logan, who's a partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP in Calgary. "There's probably more time spent on looking at zoning municipal approvals and making sure that the proposed uses, during the conversion, are available and you're compatible with the local land-use bylaw," he says. Another reason to have a cannabis operation in a facility with a Health Canada track record is because the government is launching a consultation on a new category of cannabis — cannabis health products, says Weinrib. Previously, marketing for recreational cannabis could not infer health-related benefits — a realm preserved only for doctor- prescribed, medicinally used cannabis. The new cannabis health products would be regulated under the Food and Drug Act and the Cannabis Act. CANNABIS PROCESSORS COULD REVITALIZE STRUGGLING BUSINESSES It is October and a new list of cannabis products is about the hit the shelves, including edibles, extracts and topicals. Paul Logan, a real estate lawyer at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, says there are "natural synergies" available between these new products and many types of facilities that manufacture: • lotions • pills • sprays "Maybe there's something that's not being put to its highest and best use or could be economic or productive for these other things," he says. "There might be this revitalization of certain properties or businesses."