• 30,000 sq. ft. expansion entirely dedicated to the extraction, production, packaging and distribution of finished cannabis products
• Accelerates Cannabis 2.0 product strategy while exponentially increasing Company’s extraction, production and packaging capacity
• Facility purpose built to meet EU-GMP certification requirements

TORONTO, May 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aleafia Health Inc.’s (TSX: ALEF, OTC: ALEAF) (“Aleafia Health” or the “Company”) wholly owned subsidiary Emblem Cannabis Corp. (“Emblem”) has secured a Health Canada Licence Amendment for its Paris Facility’s 30,000 sq. ft. Phase II expansion, entirely dedicated to the extraction, production, packaging and distribution of finished cannabis products.

“The Phase II expansion, our crown jewel, permits an exponential increase in our ability to produce and sell high-margin cannabis health and wellness products in the medical, adult-use and international markets,” said Aleafia Health CEO Geoffrey Benic. “The Paris Facility’s state-of-the-art expansion, purpose built to meet EU-GMP standards, creates a unique competitive advantage with significant barriers to entry. Coupled with our ultra-low-cost outdoor cultivation, it sets us apart in the cannabis industry. This means greater breadth of formats, greater scale and automation, and ultimately higher margins as we utilize cannabis grown outdoors through our integrated production ecosystem.

“This breakthrough also accelerates our Cannabis 2.0 strategy and will allow us to produce new differentiated product formats. We have been preparing for months and have ordered equipment, completed formulations and have built up a large inventory of cannabis extracts to be used as input material for new formats for immediate use in the new facility. Now it’s time for execution.”

The Paris Facility licence amendment, granted on May 1, 2020, authorizes cannabis production in the entire expanded building. The Company expects to commence production and packaging operations at the Phase II expansion in the next two weeks.

PRODUCTION ECOSYSTEM

The expansion will allow the Company to process and package all flower cultivated at its Port Perry outdoor cultivation site and its Niagara Facility. The expanded production facility increases the Company’s licensed extraction, packaging and processing area from 2,500 sq. ft. to 20,000 sq. ft. It features multiple automated packaging lines and rooms dedicated to the production of new product formats, along with in-house Quality Control analytical testing and R&D.

The expansion is purpose-built to meet European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (“EU-GMP”), which represents the highest standard of pharmaceutical-grade production in the world, and as a result provides the greatest possible access to global markets. Members of Aleafia Health’s senior management have previously led the build-out, certification and operation of multiple EU-GMP pharmaceutical production facilities.

For Investor & Media Relations:

Nicholas Bergamini, VP Investor Relations
1-833-TSX-ALEF (879-2533)
[email protected]
LEARN MORE: www.AleafiaHealth.com

About Aleafia Health:

Aleafia Health is a vertically integrated and federally licensed Canadian cannabis company offering cannabis health and wellness services and products in Canada and in international markets. The Company operates medical clinics, education centres and production facilities for the production and sale of cannabis.

Aleafia Health owns three significant licensed cannabis production facilities, including the first large-scale, legal outdoor cultivation facility in Canadian history. The Company produces a diverse portfolio of commercially proven, high-margin derivative products including oils, capsules and sprays. Aleafia Health operates the largest national network of medical cannabis clinics and education centres staffed by MDs, nurse practitioners and educators and operates internationally in three continents.

Innovation, the heart of Aleafia Health’s competitive advantage, has led to the Company maintaining a medical cannabis dataset with over 10 million data points to inform proprietary illness-specific product development and its highly differentiated education platform FoliEdge Academy. The Company is committed to creating sustainable shareholder value; the TSX Venture Exchange named Aleafia the 2019 top performing company prior to its graduation to the TSX.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “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 which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company or its subsidiaries to be materially different from any 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, including risks contained in the Company’s annual information form filed with Canadian securities regulators available on the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. 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 are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities legislation.