On Friday, November 12, comedian and host Leonard Chan and a crew from CBC Television filmed a segment on cannabis at Niagara College for the comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
The segment – filmed at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake – marked the three-year anniversary of cannabis legalization in Canada and aired on Tuesday, November 16 at 8 p.m. on CBC Television. The video is available on CBC Gem.
While the three-minute comedy segment starred faculty and students from the Commercial Cannabis Production (CCP) program, researchers from NC’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute Innovation Centre were also interviewed about their work on cannabis edibles.
Inside the Cannabunker, Chan met with Bill Macdonald, Program Coordinator of the CCP program, Laurie Zuber, Horticulture Technologist, and Stanley Leggett, Instructor, where he donned a signature white lab coat and personal protective equipment. Chan got a lesson on all thing’s cannabis, from pruning plants to trimming new stems, learning about cannabis from seed to destruction (as per the Colleges’ Health Canada research license). Macdonald and Zuber showcased the plants in different states, from vegetative to flowering, and the different lights used to grow cannabis.
Chan interviewed CCP program students Ethan Belton-Dalpee and Peter Brewer on their academic backgrounds, highlights from the program, and the reaction of friends and family to their career aspirations of growing cannabis professionally.
On the Research & Innovation side, Dr. Ana Cristina Vega Lugo, Scientific Manager at NC’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute Innovation Centre, and Culinary Innovation and Food Technology program students and Research Assistants Umar Sher and Hannah Curle, invited Chan into the food chemistry labs to learn about cannabis-infused edibles.
Chan assisted as the researchers made cannabis-infused icing for cupcakes and learned that no cannabis whatsoever is consumed on campus as part of NC’s edibles research.
Leveraging their expertise in chemistry and food science to develop recipes for cannabis-infused food and beverage, the researchers study concepts like dispersion to ensure the cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the chemical compounds in cannabis – are incorporated evenly throughout a product. They also monitor the stability and degradation of cannabinoid compounds over time during shelf-life studies by using state of the art equipment such as HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) and environmental control chambers. There is great industry demand for this type of applied research which is critical to the development of safe, stable and consistent cannabis edibles.
President Sean Kennedy caught up with Chan and the CBC crew for a few laughs outside of Benchmark Restaurant.
Scout the NC cat also made an appearance on set, and the film crew spoiled him with love and attention.
Thanks to the staff, faculty and students from the School of Environment and Horticulture, Research & Innovation, Niagara College Cannabis Institute, and the Canadian Food and Wine Institute Innovation Centre for their collaboration.
You can watch the This Hour Has 22 Minutes segment featuring NC on on Tuesday, November 16 at 8 p.m. on CBC Television. It will also be available to stream on CBC Gem.
Watch the segment on YouTube or CBC Gem at this link: gem.cbc.ca/media/this-hour-has-22-minutes/s29e10 (NC is at timestamp 7:35).
