Canada's Canopy Growth, North America's largest cannabis enterprise, is quitting the sports drink sector by putting its BioSteel Sports Nutrition arm into bankruptcy protection from its creditors. The company will no longer fund BioSteel and has fired or given working notice to the sports-drink company's 181 employees. Canopy said that putting BioSteel into bankruptcy protection would potentially help it find a buyer for the sports drinks arm. The BioSteel offshoot accounted for 60% of the group's first quarter losses this year and the move should lower its debt by CN$95 million over the next two quarters. The debt reduction programme will be welcomed by Canopy's biggest shareholder, America's Constellation Brands, which has invested more than US$4 billion in a 37% stake in Canopy and has already written off more than US$1bn of that investment. Canopy has been grappling with liquidity issues for several years and has taken numerous steps to move towards profit, including quitting some international markets and selling off its retail outlets across Canada.