St Austell football scholarship lad is running a cannabis company in Canada

A Cornish lad who moved to Canada as a student on a football scholarship is now heading a cannabis company with orders from one of the largest online retailers already rolling in.

As a keen football player, Adam Bromley, from St Austell , was never really into drugs. Even when he moved to Winnipeg, the idea of growing weed on an industrial scale never entered his head.

Yet, as it is now legal to grow and use cannabis in Canada, Adam is heading up a new company which has picked a 35% purchase order from Namaste, the cannabis industry’s answer to Amazon.

“I was very negative toward marijuana,” Adam, a former Penrice Academy student, said. “As a student athlete we were subject to routine drug tests. I never got near the stuff until three years ago.

“I was very judgmental as a 21-year-old lad moving across the pond. This perception was certainly built on negative connotations that were drilled into my mind as young man growing up in Cornwall. The naughty kids would smoke marijuana behind the bike shed.

“The demand for marijuana is much higher in Canada. I found it fascinating when I moved over here to see parents share cannabis with their children. It is a much less taboo subject in Canada.”

He added: “I decided not to tell my parents anything about the project for quite some time. My parents were not really pleased I was even using marijuana, let alone quitting my steady marketing job to start growing and selling it.

“My dad was actually worried the riot police would knock his door down but after talking to them about the project they could see I was passionate about the subject. I think that’s all my parents really want me to do. Work toward something I believe in.”

Adam was 16 when he left school. After going to Cornwall College for a year he realised education was not for him and ended up working for the Royal Mail out of the Holmbush depot for three years.

Adam played for many years in the Cornwall and Devon Football circuit, for clubs like AFC St Austell, Foxhole Stars and Newquay FC.

He said: “Myself and a friend discovered that across England different companies were putting on showcase matches. At these showcases there were coaches from across America and Canada.

“The University of Winnipeg was starting their soccer programme in 2010. They were the only school that essentially promised a full academic scholarship. I was lucky enough to captain the team for the many of the years I was eligible.”

For someone not too keen on education, he graduated with a Double Major in Kinesiology and English Literature from Winnipeg University.

Confined to the campus on a student residency permit, Adam spent time in the community running football clinics. After acquiring his off-campus work permit he worked at a sportswear shop before bar tending for a few years.

In 2012 his football schedule became pretty intensive because the team had been promoted to the USPORTS division here in Canada.

He said: “I found a job that fit in with my work schedule, it happened to be a telephones sales centre. From there my life began to change a bit. I went from working the phones, to account manager, senior account manager and eventually vice president of client services at Graspy Media, a marketing company in the education sector.”

Jesse Denton, a good friend from his university football playing days approached him when he was setting up Kief Cannabis Co, in the days pre-legalisation, to use his name on an application for a marijuana company.

The federal Cannabis Act came into effect on October 17, 2018 and made Canada the second country in the world, after Uruguay, to formally legalise the cultivation, possession, acquisition and consumption of cannabis and its by-products.

Adam said: “I had no interest in the subject at the time but I was more than happy to help a friend. As time went on I realised that I was not going to stay in a marketing company for the rest of my days.

“Fortunately Jesse was able to offer me a position within his company, primarily as an operations manager.

“Now I am getting a taste of working within a brand new sector as well as being part of a start up company but to be honest I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be working in the cannabis industry.”

Based in Selkirk, Manitoba, Kief Cannabis offers premium craft cannabis rather than medical or recreational marijuana including raw cured flowers as well as extracts, resins, food products, pre rolls as well as vape pens. Over the coming years it is hoping to produce 1,300Kg of dried flowers.

“We are only now getting started,” Adam said. “It’s been a really long road for the team. Jesse has been working on the project for around seven years now. Our facility will be completed this month and we hope to be inside sometime soon.

“The whole process is government regulated. Everything has to be passed through municipalities and mayors, years in advance of actually acquiring a permit to grow.

“The government’s regulations and requirements are constantly changing with the introduction of legalisation. The barriers to entry in the industry are extremely severe and only seem to be getting more stringent.”

He believes there is a massive cultural difference towards cannabis between Britain and Canada where they grow the plant, which is a class B drug in the UK, to suit people’s needs.

The business, now employing four people, is looking to grow up to 20 staff at one facility with further expansion on the cards too.

“I strongly believe cannabis will be decriminalised back home in my lifetime. The world is changing and many other countries are already looking to follow suit.

“The potential revenue injection for any country making marijuana legal is quite significant. Provided Kief Cannabis Co can produce the highest grade marijuana products available in our own custom laboratories; there is no reason why we cannot look to produce in foreign countries including the UK.”