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SYDNEY RIVER, N.S. —

A Cape Breton man wasn’t nuts about a recent near purchase at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation’s Sydney River store.

George Poulain, 67, of Point Edward, said he was in the process of paying for two containers of cannabis when one was discovered not to have pot in it, but rather just some nuts and a washer.

“It had the government seal on it.”

Everything began Friday when he visited the store to purchase several grams of marijuana. While at the cash register paying for his two purchases, the cashier shook both containers.

“When you shake them you can hardly hear anything,” Poulain said. “The product is bud form and it’s very light.”

However when the cashier shook the second one, Poulain commented it sounded like marbles were in it.

“I said, “There’s something more than marijuana in that container.”

The cashier called the supervisor who came and opened the product.

“I asked if they minded if I stayed because I was curious of what was in it. “

The government seal was opened and broken by the cashier. The product was opened to find steel nuts inside. There was no marijuana in the container.

Poulain, who is retired, said without question the incident had to have occurred at the packaging plant with the government seal on the container.

Now he is concerned wondering if this is the first and only time this has happened and what would happen if someone actually got home with such a purchase. He wonders if someone found something other than marijuana in such a purchase and returned it to the liquor commission, if they would be believed.

"These are the things that come to my mind and I’m sure anyone else would think about the same thing.”

Two cans of cannabis product, similar to the ones George Poulain was purchasing at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation’s Sydney River store on Friday, when it was discovered it contained not marijuana, but rather nuts and a washer.

Although Poulain said this incident won’t affect his future purchases, it will always be on his mind when buying cannabis.

“Next time there could be nothing in the container or feathers in it.”

Beverley Ware, communications for the NSLC, said the package that’s in question was never sold to a customer.

Ware said on Saturday - shortly before noon - a customer came into the Sydney River store and requested two one-gram packages of a product called Houndstooth, which is a Tweed product from Canopy Growth of Smith Falls, Ont.

“The package size he requested was one gram, so he ordered two packages.”

When the employee picked up the product it felt unusually heavy and when she shook it, there was a rattle. Ware said the employee put the package aside and got another one for the customer. After the customer paid for his purchases, the employee opened the package in question.

“She found several bolts and a washer inside the package,” Ware said. “That’s what was making the noise.”

Ware said cannabis products are sealed at the licensed producer’s facility. The product is never opened by the NSLC, it remains sealed until the customer purchases it and then opens it.

The NSLC has contacted Canopy Growth, so the company is aware of the issue and is dealing with it, she said.

All of NSLC’s cannabis products come from federally licensed producers and their production is under strict federal regulations.

“We’re working with Canopy to investigate this situation and to identify the root cause and of course to prevent any future occurrences of this,” she stated.

Ware said they haven’t had anything like this happen before.

“It’s quite clear there was a particular issue with this package and we’re really happy the employee acted proactively and checked the product.”

Officials of Canopy Growth Corporation indicated they would respond but hadn’t by deadline.

On their website, Canopy Growth Corporation, formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc., is described as a medical and recreational focused marijuana company, based in Smiths Falls, Ont.

According to Wikipedia, Tweed was founded by Bruce Linton and Chuck Rifici in 2013 and renamed Canopy Growth Corporation in 2015. By April 2019, Canopy was the world's largest cannabis company, based on the value of all shares, or market capitalization.

Canada's first legal cannabis sale was made at midnight by the company CEO Bruce Linton at a Tweed store in St. John’s, N.L.

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