A limited number of cannabis edibles is expected to be available at a dozen Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation stores across the province beginning two days before Christmas.

The Crown corporation's first orders to producers for the edibles was placed Monday, the first day possible. While edibles became legal in October, Health Canada required a 60-day review period for new products.

"We're hopeful that we'll have a very small offering in our stores on Dec. 23," said NSLC spokesperson Beverley Ware.

There are currently 12 NSLC stores that sell cannabis in Nova Scotia. Edibles will also be available online starting Jan. 6.

The sale of edible cannabis products becomes legal Tuesday across Canada, but they won't be on P.E.I. store shelves immediately.

P.E.I. Cannabis will begin sending out purchase orders to suppliers of cannabis derivatives on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson at the Department of Finance. Products, including edible food items, beverages, topicals and extracts, should begin to appear on store shelves in coming weeks.

In some other provinces, rollout of the legal sale of cannabis derivatives has been delayed due to regulatory issues, and products are expected on shelves next month.

Government is also putting out new health and safety messages, including short videos on social media.

If you're hoping to buy a next-generation cannabis product — like infused beer or gummy bears — as a gift for the holiday season, you may be out of luck.

It will be legal to buy derivative cannabis products — often referred to in the industry as "cannabis 2.0" — on Tuesday, but three of Canada's largest provinces won't have a single one available until January.

That's because the long-awaited expansion of sales for cannabis derivatives have gone through a gauntlet of regulatory checkpoints and cumbersome logistics, dashing hopes of last-minute gift purchases with its late arrival.

Statistics Canada is reporting nearly $1 billion in non-medical cannabis sales across the country in the first year of legalization in its latest report.

The report, called The Retail Cannabis Market in Canada: A Portrait of the First Year, summarized sales over Canada’s first year of cannabis legalization. 

It shows the industry made $908 million total in online and retail sales in the first year, or $24 per capita.

Ontario led all provinces in sales with $217 million between Oct. 2018 and Sept. 2019, followed by Alberta with $196 million and Quebec with $195 million. No other province reached above $100 million in sales.

If you want pot edibles in Canada, you’re going to have to go a long way east.

Monday marks the first day Canadians can legally buy a range of new cannabis formats including vapes, edibles and beverages. Newfoundland and Labrador, on Canada’s easternmost edge, was one of the only provinces that appeared to have some of those products available for sale.

CannabisNL, the province’s government-owned wholesaler, had chocolate squares and gummies from Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. brands Kolab and Foray available for sale on Monday morning. Many other choices were listed as “coming soon.”

Most other provinces were days if not weeks away from offering the new products, according to representatives:

For most marijuana stocks, 2019 has turned out to be a very disappointing year. Investors could be tempted to throw in the towel altogether. But there are still some marijuana stocks with plenty of room to run.

Things are finally brightening for the Canadian cannabis industry, but don’t expect it to show up in companies’ results anytime soon.

This week marks the earliest that newly legal formats including vapes, edibles and beverages can hit store shelves, although very few products will be available until early 2020, according to companies and provincial wholesalers.

Even once products are available, several provinces are placing restrictions on what can be sold. Quebec and Newfoundland have both banned sales of cannabis vapes, while Nova Scotia has prohibited flavoured vaping products. Quebec has also banned most edibles.

Officials at London City Hall said they expect a spike in new pot shops after Ontario moved to scrap its cannabis retail lottery system in favour of an open market. 

The province made the announcement Thursday, saying the new rules would come into effect in January of 2020, promising that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario would likely issue dozens of new retail licenses across Ontario this spring.

It's a stark contrast to the first year of legal cannabis in Ontario, where the availability of private retail stores in cities province-wide was hamstrung by low supplies of cannabis coupled with a limited number of available licenses.