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LEAMINGTON, Ont. — With provinces and producers warning of likely supply shortfalls once marijuana becomes legal for Canadian adults on Wednesday, one of the country’s biggest licensed producers, Aphria Inc., is rapidly scaling up to meet demand.

The company’s current annual production rate of about 35,000 kilograms, only achieved last spring with a tripling of previous capacity, is set to nearly triple again by the end of this year. Aphria will then more than double that production level again by next spring, bringing its total annual cannabis output to 255,000 kg by May 2019.

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Some perspective — Aphria sold only 2,700 kg of product in the first half of 2018.

Photo by Dax Melmer / Windsor Star

Aphria is growing so fast that it can’t wait for public utility Hydro One to keep pace — the company is building its own on-site power plant capable of generating enough energy to power a small town.

“Every morning, I look at what we’re doing and I ask myself: ‘What happened?'” Cole Cacciavillani, Aphria’s co-founder and vice-president of infrastructure and technology, told the Windsor Star on a recent tour.