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Construction & Cannabis Industries Intersect with views from Bruce Linton
By: Peter Szecsodi, Publisher, Canadian Building Trades Magazine

Peter Szecsodi: Final thing is opioid weaning. For those people who didn't want to
Bruce, Canada’s Building Trades Unions appreciate your input on keep taking them but can't stop. Studies using cannabinoids, and
the cannabis space and taking the time to speak with us. Members Ibogaine which is another hallucinogenic product which has been
of the Building Trades work in physically demanding jobs, in a prohibited, studies using those plant-based options to mitigate and
cyclical industry. The sometimes-sporadic nature of work combined migrate people from opioids, I think are showing early promise.
with the physical nature of it, may mean that members work in pain.
Peter Szecsodi:
Opioids are usually prescribed for pain and they can, if used
Our CBTU members and specifically our signatory contractors have
improperly, result in substance dependency. How do you see
benefited greatly from the cannabis space in the last five years.
cannabis replacing that style of medication?
How do you foresee the continuation of that growth and what will
Bruce Linton: the benefits be?
Despite the fact that we can read every day about how many
Bruce Linton:
overdoses and deaths have occurred, front-line and free is the
So, for sure there was a building boom. And that resulted in very
advantage opioids are given. And that's in Canada. So, there's
high end EUGMP, which really means a lot of HVAC, certainly a lot
going to be three things that happen. One is you're going to start
of control, cleanable surfaces, really high-end finishes. And the
to see cannabis trials. Read data. And they're going to indicate what
effect has been, literally billions of dollars, multiple, many billions,
dosage and what format might be used for what styles of say, pain
spent over the last three to four years creating these facilities. I
or sleep or anxiety. And so, in the category of pain, I think they're
don't care if you're a roofer to any trade, they've been in those
going to find that for a lot of people this may be better first line and
buildings. I think the boom is over because the capacity is there.
it doesn't matter if it's because of repetitive injury, like they need
But the designs and expertise exist. And, so there may be a
a knee replacement or a hip replacement, or an actual traumatic
residual that transfers to other geographies.
event injury. There could be for many of them, first-line front-line
and free cannabis. And the reason they want that is, the addiction But the next piece that's coming for the cannabis space is going to
profile and the danger profile and the absence of overdose, is key. be pharmaceutical manufacturing, large bottling plants. Places that
are taking the crop and turning it into finished goods. And most of
Next thing that will happen is, I think you might see over time
those finished goods can't utilize necessarily existing infrastructure
cannabinoids, which are the active ingredients in cannabis that
because they have to be done to a GMP standard. I think the
cause us to have the responses of pain mitigation, happiness,
evolution is going to be to those high-end finished products, higher
hunger, etc. Those ingredients which may diminish anxiety, could
standards than food grade. And it's probably one of those few
become blended in a product with opioids, so the people who have
places, like where the members want to be if necessary, a front-
long-term chronic injuries don't become, or are less likely to
line patient.
become, addicted in that they managed their anxiety over pain and
the diminishing effect of the opioids. They take them more And so, it's been an unusual alignment where a lot of the best work
frequently, they're not anxious contemplating it. And that is a very has come from this area and they've been unable to actually get
important profile because overdose means, too much, too the contracts to allow them to have as a first-line and free option
frequently. instead of opioids. As that alignment occurs, they're supporting the
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