ATLANTIC

Trailer Park Boys to be brand ambassadors for N.B. marijuana producer

THE CANADIAN PRESS Published Thursday, November 24, 2016 2:35PM AST Last Updated Thursday, November 24, 2016 3:38PM AST

The Trailer Park Boys John Paul Tremblay, as Julian, left, Mike Smith, as Bubbles, centre, and Robb Wells, as Ricky, right, pose for a photograph in Toronto on Nov. 27, 2008. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

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MONCTON, N.B. -- Some of Canada's most notorious dope-smoking louts will be brand ambassadors for a New Brunswick marijuana producer.

OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (TSX:OGI) says TV's Trailer Park Boys have chosen the Moncton company as their exclusive Canadian cannabis producer, business partner and brand developer.

OrganiGram, a licensed producer of medical marijuana, says it will work with the Trailer Park Boys' production company to develop branding and packaging targeted toward recreational users.

"This relationship solidifies one of our strategic building blocks as we plan for the legalization of recreational use in Canada," Ray Gracewood, chief commercial officer at OrganiGram, said in a release.

The company did not reveal the financial value of the five-year deal.

Louis Thomas, president of Sonic Entertainment Group, said they felt OrganiGram was a good partner from their first meeting.

"We had been monitoring closely to best understand how we might be able to enter the cannabis space in Canada," Thomas said in the release. Sonic represented TPB Productions Limited -- the Nova Scotia company controlled by the three actors who play the Trailer Park Boys and own the copyright -- in the transaction.

The federal government has promised to introduce marijuana legislation next spring, and a committee report on the process is expected at the end this month.

"We remain firmly committed to producing and supplying world-class cannabis for our increasing patient base; and we plan on maintaining that commitment in the future at OrganiGram," said Gracewood. "But we also need to be strategic about the opportunities that will be afforded to us with the advent of recreational use in Canada."