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TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emblem Corp. (TSXV:EMC) (EMC.WT) (“Emblem” or the “Company”), on behalf of its health and education subsidiary GrowWise Health Limited (GrowWise), and Durham College (DC) are pleased to announce their signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to begin integrating cannabis-related learning into many of DC’s post-secondary programs and building professional development courses. The MOU is the first-ever agreement in the province of Ontario between a cannabis education service and a post-secondary institution.

“This is an incredibly exciting opportunity, both for GrowWise and for Durham College,” says Adam Saperia, President of GrowWise Health. “GrowWise is already a leader when it comes to education for patients. As interest in the cannabis industry grows, so too does the need for education, and GrowWise is ideally positioned to meet these professional educational demands for healthcare professionals and the wider market.”

The agreement builds on the college’s highly successful Medical Cannabis Fundamentals for Business Professionals course which was introduced in 2017 by DC’s School of Continuing Education in collaboration with GrowWise.

Today’s announcement paves the way for more cannabis-focused courses to be offered. It will also allow for DC to begin offering its students work placements with cannabis industry partners and opens the door for eventual applied research opportunities within the industry.  

“As an institution we are continually striving to develop and deliver leading-edge learning solutions,” says DC President, Don Lovisa. “As a proven developer of education and training for organizations of all types, today’s agreement will allow us to design and develop co-branded courses, both online and in-class, that will be offered directly to healthcare professionals, patients and other stakeholders in Canada’s emerging cannabis space.”

In addition to providing subject matter expertise as well as funding, GrowWise and Emblem will work collaboratively with DC to identify applied research and experiential learning opportunities both in the medical and recreational cannabis industries.

About GrowWise Health

GrowWise Health, a subsidiary of Emblem Corp., provides patients and healthcare providers with personalized education to make informed choices about medical cannabis treatments. With education centres across Ontario and British Columbia, prospective patients can learn more at www.growwisehealth.com.

About Emblem

Emblem Corp. is a fully integrated licensed producer and distributor of medical cannabis and cannabis derivatives in Canada under the ACMPR (Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations). Led by a team of cannabis experts and former health care and pharma executives, it has three distinct verticals – cannabis production, patient education centers, and pharmaceutical dosage form development. Emblem trades under the ticker symbol EMC on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSXV).

About Durham

At Durham College (DC), the student experience comes first. With campuses in Oshawa and Whitby and a learning site in Pickering, the college offers more than 12,000 full-time post-secondary and apprenticeship students access to more than 140 full-time and eight apprenticeship programs in a number of different disciplines, enabling them to develop the skills required to meet the demands of today’s job market. The college is also set to launch its first four-year degree program, the Honours Bachelor of Health Care Technology Management, in September 2018.

The Oshawa campus features the state-of-the art Student Services building and will soon feature the Centre for Collaborative Education, a legacy project tied to DC’s 50th anniversary in 2017. The new facility will bring together local, Indigenous and global communities, providing a new home for several of the college’s most innovative and ground-breaking programs.

The Whitby campus features the award-winning W. Galen Weston Centre for Food, which includes Bistro ’67, a full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant, and Pantry, a retail store featuring food prepared by students in the college’s culinary programs.

For more information, visit www.durhamcollege.ca or call 905.721.2000.

For further information contact:

Ali Mahdavi
Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations
Emblem Corp.
416.962.3300
alimahdavi@emblemcorp.com

Melissa McLean
Communications specialist, Communications and Marketing
Durham College
905.721.2000 ext. 2952
melissa.mclean@durhamcollege.ca 

Forward-looking statements

This news release may contain “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (together, "forward-looking statements"). All statements and information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual financial results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, which may cause the Company's actual performance and results to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks identified in the Company's annual information form dated October 18, 2017 which has been filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and is available on www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise such statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise.

Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. This news release contains information obtained by the Company from third parties and believes such information to be accurate but has not independently verified such information.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.