Creative Edge Nutrition, Inc. (OTCMKTS:FITX) Sinks Like a Stone
Wednesday’s market session was a memorable one for Creative Edge Nutrition, Inc. (OTCMKTS:FITX) and its shareholders. The company’s stock tanked hard, shedding over 43% on its biggest volume for the past six months. Nearly 260 million FITX shares changed hands as the stock fell to its stop at $0.016 per share.
The fuel that sent FITX crashing and burning was the latest Lakeshore town council meeting in relation to the zoning bylaws of the city. A fraction of the local population was fervently opposed to the construction of marijuana facilities on land zoned for agricultural use. FITX has a marijuana facility constructed on Manning Road / North Rear Road in Lakeshore, on land zoned for agricultural use. The city’s council has now decided that marijuana facilities should be located on industrial and employment zoned land only.
The Lakeshore council decision can be read in full on the town’s website. The piece mentions the FITX growing facility specifically and states that growing and processing medical marijuana would not be permitted under the current zoning and the applicant will need to apply for re-zoning. The company’s facility is not ‘grandfathered’, meaning it is not exempt from the amendment. The zoning bylaw amendment voted on Nov 4 will still need to be approved by the county of Essex. A CEN Biotech representative stated the company is not ruling out a move to other municipalities.
This whole debacle put FITX in a very uncomfortable position, especially considering the past statements made in official PR announcements. On September 29, after investors expressed their concerns about the zoning status of the facility, the company came out with a press release stating that for over a year zoning had not been an issue and was still a ‘non-issue’. In light of Tuesday’s events, it would appear that this is no longer the case.
FITX published a press release to calm the spirits, quoting instances where the minister of agriculture actually overrode similar attempts for re-zoning. This did not have much of an effect, considering the free-fall mode session yesterday. Confidence in FITX which has been slowly wearing thin as the wait for a Health Canada license stretched for months. The news for the re-zoning commotion in Lakeshore seems to have dealt a heavy blow to the faith investors had in the company. It remains to be seen how and if FITX recovers from the abysmal 60% drop over the last two sessions that brought the price to a 9-month low.
FITX opened with a 10% gap down today and is currently trading 17% in the red.
