VANCOUVER, June 11, 2019 /CNW/ - Pasha Brands Ltd. ("Pasha") (CSE: CRFT), Canada's largest organization of craft cannabis brands, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Brigitte Simons as its new Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Simons will bring extensive knowledge of chemistry, pharmaceutical drug development, and laboratory testing to the brand to strengthen the value chains accessed by craft cannabis growers, while ensuring proper compliance with Health Canada regulations. Dr. Simons aims to bridge the learning gap for craft growers who are navigating product lot release, quality control, genetics breeding programs, and product development, especially in future edibles and beverage markets. In addition, she will provide advanced expertise in scientific asset development for the international distribution of craft products.

"I have visited many cannabis cultivation and processing facilities across Canada, and I resonate with the passion that producers pour into their relationship with their plants to deliver highly recognized cultivars that are in demand," said Dr. Simons. "I wish to help make their craft cannabis a commercial reality, and build strong brands where quality is an experience by the consumer and backed by traceable science."

Dr. Simons pulls craft cannabis ahead in its discovery for data-driven intelligence through analytical chemistry, using state-of-the art instrumentation such as mobile mass spectrometry and sampling robotics. She is revered as one of the few experts in technical quantitative reporting using mass spectrometry, a technology that is used to deliver accurate potency and testing of cannabis products. For over 16 years, she operated mass spectrometers for the National Institutes of Health (USA), and contracted partners of Canadian federal and provincial government agencies. Her experience covered drug toxicology, product health, and environmental safety, and was essential to the construction of the framework of Bill C-45 for Good Production Practices of Cannabis. She has guided studies with the Canadian Food Inspection, Agriculture Canada, Environment Canada and Health Canada – where she spent over six years working in the government's analytical testing facilities. Most recently, Dr. Simons was Vice President of Laboratories and Operations at Molecular Science Corp., a Health Canada-licensed laboratory services company specializing in analytical testing with a mobile lab to service the cannabis industry.

"With Dr. Simons' rich experience in mass spectrometry and laboratory services combined with her passion for cannabis, there was no better choice when it came time to name a Chief Scientific Officer for Pasha," said Patrick Brauckmann, Executive Chairman of Pasha. "Dr. Simons spent a year getting to know us and played an invaluable role with Pasha is educating farmers throughout BC over the past few months."

In addition to her lengthy list of qualifications, including a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from the University of Ottawa, as well as finished post-doctoral fellowships in the United States, Dr. Simons is currently enrolled in the Kellogg-Schulich Executive Master of Business Administration program – making her the first and only eMBA candidate with a thesis on the globalization of cannabis.

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the proposed role and activities of Dr. Simons. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Pasha disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

About Pasha Brands

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Pasha is a vertically integrated, prohibition-era brand house firmly rooted in BC's craft cannabis industry, which boasts an international reputation. With proven capabilities in cannabis cultivation, genetic research and development, product processing, and retail, Pasha is uniquely positioned in the new legal cannabis market through its network of hundreds of craft cannabis suppliers under the Pasha umbrella.

Pasha's subsidiary Medcann Health Products Ltd. is a Health Canada approved licenced producer which includes a cultivation, processing and sales license in a facility on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Pasha's common shares trade on the CSE under the symbol "CRFT".

For more information, please visit www.pashabrands.com

SOURCE Pasha Brands Ltd.

For further information: Media & Investor Relations Contact: Emerald Asuncion, [email protected], (236) 521-5135