SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- New Brunswick's provincial budget doesn't include a decision about the potential privatization of Cannabis NB, but the province's finance minister said an announcement would be coming soon.

"I'm not going to comment on Cannabis NB other than to say Cannabis NB will be coming up in cabinet this Thursday," said Finance Minister Ernie Steeves on Tuesday. "I would suggest that shortly after that you'll get a sense of what's happening."

Later in the day, Steeves said it was his own personal preference to sell Cannabis NB in an interview with CTV's Steve Murphy.

Meanwhile, industry officials and municipalities are urging the New Brunswick government to keep Cannabis NB under provincial control.

The tide has changed for cannabis in the U.S., and the beverage alcohol industry is noticing—and increasingly, getting in on the game. Cannabis sales in the U.S. are expected to reach $16.2 billion in 2021, with cannabis beverage sales comprising $1 billion of that, according to BDS Analytics. 

For the cultivator looking to achieve the highest efficiency, most consistent yields, and most predictable revenue results, this year has been a real challenge to say the least.

“It’s a new landscape with COVID-19,” says Derek Oxford, CEO and Founder of Total Grow Control, an engineering and manufacturing company that builds reliable nutrient delivery systems and water filtration solutions. Like many companies serving the cannabis industry, Total Grow Control thrives on in-person relationships and traditional sales processes. Hence, social distancing dealt a heavy blow.

Yet, Total Grow Control (TGC) adapted. They changed how they managed vendors and how they set up the manufacturing facility. What’s more, all TGC’s latest systems have built-in cameras.

It’s no secret the cannabis industry has enjoyed unprecedented growth these past few years — from a market perspective and a political one.

Consider the political and policy changes we’ve seen in recent months. The House of Representatives recently passed historic legalization legislation (the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act).

Health Canada is investigating complaints alleging inaccurately-labelled potency levels for some products sold by licensed pot producers, including industry leader Canopy Growth Corp. 

The Smiths Falls, Ont.-based cannabis producer was called out by a rival in a complaint submitted to Health Canada's Cannabis Compliance Directorate last month. According to a copy of the document obtained by BNN Bloomberg, the complaint centres on sales of Canopy’s TWD brand that displays a flat 20-per-cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) potency for 18 separate batches of its cannabis products. 

The head of Ontario's cannabis business plans to step down later this month, the third such departure in as many years, as the Crown corporation announces it will conduct a national search to find a new leader to oversee the organization. 

The Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), which oversees the Ontario Cannabis Store e-commerce site and the province's wholesale marijuana distribution, said that interim Chief Executive Officer Thomas Haig plans to leave his role, effective March 23. 

Once the 2018 Farm Bill decriminalized hemp cultivation at the federal level, growers of everything from canola to tobacco started seeing green in the idea of dedicating acreage to the cannabis plant—which, as the source of cannabidiol (CBD), also happens to be the source of one of the most hyped botanicals to hit the health-and-wellness sector in years.

But as often occurs when entrepreneurial spirits rush in to satisfy what they suspect will be stratospheric demand, these newly minted hemp farmers overshot the mark and grew more hemp than the market could absorb.

A centre of excellence focused on developing new cannabis products is planned in Moncton as part of a tobacco company's purchase of a nearly 20 per cent stake in Organigram.

Organigram announced Thursday that the centre of excellence, focused on "developing the next generation of cannabis products with an initial focus on CBD," will be located at the company's indoor facility in Moncton.

It's part of a deal with British American Tobacco, which purchased $221 million in Organigram stock as it looks to diversify its existing line of cigarette and tobacco products.

What happened

Many marijuana stocks saw market-crushing gains on Thursday.

These included Aphria (NASDAQ:APHA), with a 12% jump, HEXO (NYSE:HEXO) climbing 11%, and Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) and cannabidiol (CBD) specialist Charlotte's Web Holdings (OTC:CWBHF) both shooting almost 8% skyward. Big news from a peer inspired those pops.

Loyalty programs, long a staple of consumer marketing strategies, have found a place among regulated cannabis retailers in the United States and Canada. By offering perks such as discounts, points, special offers and new-product notifications, retail operators say loyalty programs can be a useful tool for:

• Boosting basket sizes.
• Increasing the frequency of customer visits.
• Offering targeted marketing opportunities to age-verified shoppers, even when government regulations restrict marijuana promotions.

Offering those perks isn’t free, but loyalty-program operators say the benefits can easily outweigh the costs.