Hamilton’s legal cannabis market is going to get crowded in the coming months with retail applications pending across the city.

Forty-eight retail licence applications are being processed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Four of those potential stores are in the process of receiving public scrutiny, the other 44 have passed that stage and are undergoing review by the AGCO.

If all applications are granted, there will be 56 pot shops spread out through Hamilton, from Ancaster to Winona and Waterdown to Binbrook.

New locations are good news for customers in areas of the city that were shut out when the government was granting licences through the lottery system.

If you were wondering: No, the marijuana industry hasn't lost its allure. Although the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF fell 36% in the past year, some pot stocks have reported impressive sales. With national elections on the horizon and marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot in few U.S. states, investors are optimistic about the industry's room to grow. Medical cannabis is already legal across Canada, in 33 U.S. states, and the District of Columbia. The market should expand even more as marijuana-related therapies offer patients benefits that conventional therapies have failed to provide.

Are These Pot Stocks Worth Considering for Your Portfolio?

FDA action taken this month offers clues a big clue as to what we might expect out of the burgeoning yet still uncertain picture of hemp CBD.

At first it might seem unrelated—the FDA sent a warning letter to a supplements company selling N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), which is a common amino acid found in many supplements that’s been on the market since 1975.

In that letter, the FDA asserted that NAC had been approved as a pharmaceutical drug back in 1963 and, under the so-called exclusionary clause in the federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act, NAC does not fit the definition of a dietary ingredient because it was first declared a drug by the FDA.

How Will These Two Leading Canadian Pot Stocks Do Next Month?

Licences are pending for seven new cannabis stores in Muskoka. If approved by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the stores will open later this year and in early 2021.

Licence applications are in process for one cannabis store each in Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, and five stores in Huntsville. Bud Heaven at 77 Manitoba St. in Bracebridge is currently Muskoka’s only authorized cannabis store.

Are These Two Marijuana Companies Pot Stocks to Watch?

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) approved the use of BotaniGard Maxx (pyrethrin + a fungicide, Beauveria bassiana) to control insect pests in hemp. Pyrethrins are broad-spectrum insecticides that are toxic to honey bees and other pollinators. Best Management Practices (BMPs) should be followed to reduce the risk of bee exposure to BotaniGard Maxx when producing hemp.

While most cultivated hemp are non-pollen producing female plants, seed feminization is never 100% true and males (picture at right) will be present in the field. Males shed a lot of pollen, making them attractive to native bees and honeybees.

How to Protect Bees when using BotaniGard Maxx in Hemp:

If you grow marijuana for a dispensary or personal use, you should know these tips. This guide lists 7 marijuana growing tips every grower needs to know.

Very simply, marijuana legalization is not some wild experiment that has never been done before. And now, of course, we are beginning to see the same experience in some places in the United States.

In the midst of the pandemic, there is much uncertainty about almost everything, but one thing does seem certain: America is going to be much poorer. Or, to put in a global perspective, America and a few other countries will be much less rich and the rest of the world will be much, much poorer, and no wall or welfare program will protect us.