New Abacus Data Poll Reveals that Most Canadians See Cannabis as a Key Pillar of Canada’s Economic Future

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New Abacus Data Poll Reveals that Most Canadians See Cannabis as a Key Pillar of Canada’s Economic Future

2025-04-16 18:01 Last Updated At：18:10

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 16, 2025--

Organigram Global Inc. (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI), (the “Company” or “Organigram”), Canada’s #1 cannabis company by market share, today released new public opinion data showing strong national support for growing Canada’s economy through homegrown industries, including the legal cannabis sector.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250416457263/en/

The national survey, commissioned by Organigram Global and conducted by Abacus Data between April 3–8, 2025 1, arrives at a pivotal moment for Canada’s economic and political future. With U.S. trade threats escalating under President Donald Trump and federal election day in Canada imminent, Canadians are calling for bold, homegrown strategies that build resilience and secure prosperity. Increasingly, they see the legal cannabis sector as part of the solution.

“Canadians want their country to thrive through innovative, homegrown industries - and cannabis is firmly on that list,” said Beena Goldenberg, CEO of Organigram. “The message from Canadians is clear: Canada’s next Prime Minister must remove barriers and support sectors that deliver jobs, growth, and economic resilience.”

The survey reveals a national appetite for economic renewal rooted in Canadian innovation. Nearly nine in ten Canadians say it’s time to find new ways to grow the economy, and a similar majority believe the country must seize emerging opportunities before they pass us by. Support for eliminating interprovincial trade barriers and creating better paying jobs at home also scored near-universal agreement.

Within that broader economic vision, cannabis is gaining recognition as a serious contributor. 57 percent of Canadians surveyed already see cannabis as important to today’s economy, while 62 percent believe it could play an even more significant role in the future. The highest levels of support are found in regions with deep cannabis industry ties, including Atlantic Canada (65 percent), the Prairies (64 percent), Ontario (62 percent), and British Columbia (61 percent). In Alberta and Quebec, majority support also holds firm.

Perhaps most telling is the forward-looking optimism around the cannabis industry’s potential. Nearly two-thirds of Canadians surveyed (64 percent) say they are open to the federal government doing more to help the legal cannabis sector grow. This position is backed by clear majorities in every age group. Support is strongest among younger Canadians aged 18 to 29 (73 percent), but even among those aged 60 and over, 57 percent favour a more supportive environment for the sector.

Ten years after Canadians elected a government that legalized cannabis, public opinion has shifted from cautious acceptance to strategic endorsement. Amid global uncertainty and a potential trade showdown with the United States, Canadians are embracing the idea of domestic sectors that can fuel resilience, employment, and innovation. The data sends a powerful message to all political parties: Canadians expect economic leadership, and they see cannabis as a proven and under-leveraged advantage.

Economic Contribution of Legal Cannabis to GDP

Since legalization, the Canadian cannabis industry has contributed more than $43 billion to GDP 2 and supports over 80,000 jobs across the country. In 2024 alone, it added $7.4 billion to Canada’s GDP 3 – a number that is expected to grow in 2025. By contrast, breweries contribute $2.6 billion annually 4; forestry and logging contribute $3.3 billion annually 5; and, wineries and distilleries $1.2B to GDP 6.

About Organigram

Organigram Global Inc. is a NASDAQ Global Select Market and TSX listed company whose wholly owned subsidiaries include Organigram Inc., a licensed cultivator and processor of cannabis and manufacturer of cannabis-derived goods in Canada.

Organigram is focused on producing high-quality cannabis for adult recreational consumers, as well as developing international business partnerships to extend the Company's global footprint. Organigram has also developed and acquired a portfolio of legal adult-use recreational cannabis brands, including Edison, Holy Mountain, Big Bag O’ Buds, SHRED, SHRED’ems, Monjour, Tremblant Cannabis, Trailblazer, BOXHOT and DEBUNK. Organigram operates facilities in Moncton, New Brunswick and Lac-Supérieur, Quebec, with a dedicated edibles manufacturing facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Company also operates two additional cannabis processing facilities in Southwestern Ontario; one in Aylmer and the other in London. The facility in Aylmer houses best-in-class CO2 and Hydrocarbon extraction capabilities, and is optimized for formulation refinement, post-processing of minor cannabinoids, and pre-roll production. The facility in London will be optimized for labelling, packaging, and national fulfillment. The Company is regulated by the Cannabis Act and the Cannabis Regulations (Canada).

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes” or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events, or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events, performance or achievements of Organigram to differ materially from current expectations or future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained in this news release. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information include market regulatory changes, consumer demand and preferences and factors and risks disclosed in the Company’s most recent annual information form, management’s discussion and analysis and other Company documents filed from time to time on SEDAR+ (see www.sedarplus.ca ) and filed or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR (see www.sec.gov ). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The forward-looking information included in this news release is made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Man sentenced to 53 years in prison in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American boy, mother

2025-05-03 02:35 Last Updated At：02:42

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy's mother in a brutal hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Czuba to 30 years in the boy's death and another 20 years consecutively for the attack on Shaheen. The judge also sentenced him to three years imprisonment for hate crimes. The length of the sentence makes it all but certain he will die behind bars.

Czuba did not speak during the sentencing. His attorney, George Lenard, didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The boy's great-uncle, Mohmoud Yousef, was the only family member who spoke during the hearing. He said that no matter the sentence length it wouldn't be enough. The boy's parents had plans for him and Czuba robbed them of that, he said.

Yousef asked Czuba to explain why he attacked the boy and his mother, asking him what news he heard that provoked him, but Czuba did not respond, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.

Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.

Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.

“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict.

The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room. Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified at trial in English and Arabic though a translator.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

Yousef told reporters after the hearing that Czuba was a grandfather figure to Wadee and the family doesn’t understand what “fake news” Czuba may have heard about the war in Gaza that caused him to attack the boy and his mother. People need to understand Muslims before judging them, he said.

“Some people are bringing this war to this country,” Yousef said. “We cannot do that. We can’t bring the war here. We cannot bring hatred to this country . . . we need that to stop.”