Cobourg’s former Kraft plant is about to be transformed into a multi-million-square-foot medical marijuana facility that could generate as many as 1,200 jobs in five years.

FV Pharma Inc. secured a licence from Health Canada to legally grow medical marijuana on Friday, said founder and CEO Thomas Fairfull. The Whitby-based company wants to harvest its first crop, 4,000 kilos of marijuana, as early as February 2018. It aims to employ 150 people by the end of next year and “keep going as we add space,” said Fairfull.

FV Pharma intends to purchase the entire 15-acre property, now called the Cobourg Innovation Centre, and has a closing date set for December.

“I don’t like leasing, it sounds temporary,” Fairfull said, adding he’s here to stay.

“I got some investors involved, brought more money in and thought, ‘we will make this operation the biggest and best marijuana facility in the world.’”

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The plan is a long time coming. FV Pharma has been leasing space in the former Kraft plant, 520 William St., for five years. It has 25,000 square feet ready for production and in the next year will expand by an additional 300,000.

In next five years, Fairfull envisions equipping the facility with four million square feet of growth space across five levels.

“The plan is to convert the whole facility into medical marijuana production,” he said.

Kraft Canada closed its Cobourg plant in 2008, cutting about 250 jobs. In 2009, the new owner converted the facility into a business park, with space for up to 15 businesses.

Currently, tenants occupy “a very small portion of the property,” but they will move out once their leases expire, Fairfull said.

Cobourg Mayor Gil Brocanier declined to comment on FV Pharma’s plans until the official announcement is made on Monday.

Fairfull was drawn to the property because of its location — right off Hwy. 401 and only 120 kilometres from downtown Toronto — and became interested in producing medical marijuana because of his personal experience managing the symptoms of his Type 2 diabetes.

He’d suffered negative side effects, including suicidal thoughts, when taking a prescription drug to help with neuropathy occurring in his feet, but experienced pain relief and no “ridiculous” side effects when ingesting medical marijuana.

“Medical marijuana can be lucrative, but it can also help a lot of people,” Fairfull said.

He wants to create a lecture hall in the facility to host presentations and conferences for the medical community to educate them on the health benefits of marijuana.

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When the federal government legalizes marijuana for recreational use as early as July 2018, FV Pharma plans to produce “some” marijuana for that market, but concentrate most of its efforts on the medical side, said Fairfull.

FV Pharma is among 37 licensed Ontario medical marijuana producers. Ontario has the most out of all the provinces and territories, followed by B.C., which has 15.

Another Canadian cannabis producer, Aphria, is in the process of expanding its facility in Leamington to one million square feet worth of greenhouse space, tripling its production capacity.