By Ashley Wiebe

City of Brooks curious, optimistic about cannabis facility

Jul 30, 2018 | 4:40 PM

BROOKS, AB — The City of Brooks may be known for the meat packing plant, but will soon be home to something greener.

Residents are getting a chance to ask questions about a new cannabis production facility, which was announced earlier this month.

Natural Health Alliance is looking to build what could be an 800,000 square foot cannabis production and processing facility in the South Industrial Park.

Phase one will see a 30,000 square foot facility built on roughly 28 acres of land. Plans include expanding overtime and adding an additional 50 acres to their plot.

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Inside, marijuana will be grown and sold at the commercial level. Other staffers will focus on researching the elements of cannabis and developing cures for different illnesses.

“I think this is opening up a big opportunity for health,” said Deputy Mayor Dan Klein.

“We believe that cannabis and certain elements of cannabis, CBD in particular, are medicine,” said President and CEO Ken Faulkner.

“There’s a number of areas in the medical field that deserve attention. I mean, they all do, however, areas such as PTSD, pain management, people with migraines, there’s so many uses for this product,” said CTO George Routhier.

Faulkner believes the facility itself, doing commercial sales and research/development, will be one of the largest, if not the largest of its kind in the country.

“It really is a broad spectrum of people that they’ll be able to employee,” Klein added, saying the public is optimistic and curious to see what it could all mean for Brooks.

“The city and the area took quite a hit with the downturn in the oil and gas and this brings some good jobs back to the city,” he said.

NHA say they’re committed to using local contractors during the build and hiring on local residents once they’re operational.

“We’re going to have jobs for trimmers, we’re going to have jobs for PhD’s, technicians,” said Routhier. “It’s going to bring in a lot of opportunity to everybody in Brooks, not just one specific economic group.”

“The bottom line is, that we’re here to stay,” Faulkner added. “We’re happy and proud to be a part of the Brooks story. The community has been overwhelmingly supportive.”

Klein said the researching aspect is what has him the most intrigued.

“Personally I think there are a lot of benefits. I have known a few people that have taken medicinal marijuana and it’s helped them for different things, so that’s what I see is exciting.”

NHA is still awaiting the appropriate provincial approvals to come in before they break ground.