Embattled Canadian marijuana firm CannTrust lays off 180

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Scandal-plagued CannTrust, an Ontario-based cannabis grower, laid off 180 employees, or 20% of its workforce.

“We have made the extremely difficult decision to restructure our workforce to reflect the current requirements of our business,” Robert Marcovitch, CannTrust’s interim CEO said in a news release.

The layoffs are expected to save the company about 9 million Canadian dollars ($6.8 million), according to the company.

CannTrust also will incur CA$2 million in severance costs.

The majority of the affected employees were in cultivation and customer service support roles, the company said.

CannTrust was sanctioned by Health Canada for conducting unlicensed cultivation and providing inaccurate information to the federal regulator.

“Over the past two months, we have moved swiftly to assess and address the Health Canada report indicating areas of noncompliance in our operations, as well as the findings of the Special Committee’s independent investigation,” Marcovitch said in the release about the layoffs.

The scandal, which made CannTrust the least-trusted cannabis company in Canada, is weighing on the reputation of the entire industry, according to a new survey by market research firm Leger.

CannTrust trades as CTST on the New York Stock Exchange and as TRST on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

For more on CannTrust’s layoffs, click here.