April 2014 BCBusiness 19 ADAM & KEV
A New High
Ross Rebagliati, Canada's snowboarding gold medallist
at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, has a name that's
synonymous with pot, after having his medal stripped
(and then reinstated) for testing positive for marijuana
at the Games. Now he's ready to capitalize on that
reputation
by Matt O'Grady
I
n the 15 years following "the
incident" at the Nagano Win-
ter Games, Ross Rebagliati has
maintained an uneasy rela-
tionship with his own reputa-
tion: on the one hand, embracing
his role as spokesperson for the
pot-in-sports movement (appear-
ing on
NBC to defend Olympic
swimmer Michael Phelps after
Phelps was photographed with
a bong), but on the other hand
struggling to establish a career
for himself post-Olympics. When
two U.S. states voted to legalize
marijuana in November 2012,
however, Rebagliati smelled a
business opportunity, and with
changes to Canada's laws coming
into effect this month allowing
for large-scale production of
medical marijuana, Rebagliati
Gold Enterprises Ltd.—his new
Whistler-based company—is vying
to be among those rolling in the
profits.
So explain to me how your
new product line, Ross's Gold,
will work. You're essentially
a marketer and distributor,
outsourcing production to
some of the hundreds of com-
panies hoping to get licences
to grow medical marijuana as
of April 1. Correct?
Right. Our producers can unload
their entire crop on us on a regular basis
and not have to deal with the distribu-
tion, not have to deal with the patients
at all, and just focus on growing. We've
partnered with over a dozen producers
across Canada, who've invested in their
infrastructure and have gone through
all the red tape with Health Canada.
Until those producers get their
licence, though, you can't do much.
We're not allowed to do anything right
now, but we've got all of our ducks in
a row and are working on different
r E t a i l
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