In just a few weeks people in Ontario will be able to legally buy marijuana for the first time and we're learning more now about exactly how the new system will work.

The Ontario Cannabis Store announced Monday the names of 26 licensed producers for its online retail platform, the province's only online retailer for recreational pot this fall.

Jay Rosenthal, co-founder and president of Business of Cannabis, a research and analysis group, spoke with the CBC's Conrad Collaco about what people in the province can expect when the online doors finally open on Oct. 17. You can read an abridged and edited version of the interview below or listen to the full audio interview by hitting the play button above.

Carol Francey waxes nostalgic when she thinks back to the first time she tried pot.

The year was 1966, the place was Toronto's hippie-packed Yorkville neighbourhood, and she was 17-and-a-half-years-old.

The Victoria resident has been using pot ever since, she says -- some 52 years. And for most of that time, she did it in secret.

"I worked for the government most of my life, I was a school teacher, I was teaching elementary school," says Francey, who now uses cannabis for recreational and medical reasons. For a long time, she even kept the secret from her son.

The Canadian minister of agriculture, Lawrence MacAuley, told the Canadian Press that cannabis will shortly be administered like any other crop—which makes cannabis growers in Canada eligible for aid, grants, assistance, encouragement of innovation and protection of the environment, and everything else that growers of soy, corn, zucchini, or apples get.

When Canada's marijuana legalization bill received 

Municipalities in Ontario say they are skeptical about the Ford government’s timeline for rolling out private cannabis stores.

On Oct. 17, 2018, it will be legal to purchase and consume recreational cannabis in Canada.

In a recent survey of Mercer’s employer clients and Canadian employees, we found 78 per cent of respondents believe the legalization of recreational cannabis is a concern for human resources leaders. In addition, nearly half (45 per cent) of respondents believe it’s a concern for the C-Suite more broadly, and nearly 40 per cent believe it’s a concern for boards. When considering the scope of the changes that will be required to adjust to legalization, these findings aren’t surprising.

The online retailer says it will sell a variety of products, including dried flower, cannabis oil and cannabis seeds, when pot becomes legal on Oct. 17. The Ontario Cannabis Store says it has partnered with 26 licensed producers for its online retail platform.

The store, which will be Ontario’s only online retailer when recreational marijuana is legalized in the fall, said Monday that the supply agreements with Health Canada-authorized producers were competitive. The online retailer says it will sell a variety of products, including dried flower, cannabis oil and cannabis seeds, to customers 19 and older when pot becomes legal on Oct. 17.

Business-owner Don Briere says he is about to secure leases on several storefronts across Toronto to fuel an aggressive expansion of his B.C.-based Weeds Glass and Gifts chain, which lists four locations as currently operating in Ottawa and Vancouver.

Ontario’s dispensary operators are facing an existential dilemma: Shut down in the hopes of securing a coveted cannabis retail licence from the province by next April or continue selling a drug they say should be made easily available now more than ever.

Dealing with Health Canada bureaucracy to get a permit to grow medical cannabis at home is a “complete nightmare,” says a man taking the government to court alleging lengthy processing delays that he says violate his Charter rights.

Jeff Harris, 49, an accountant in Burnaby, B.C., has been using medical cannabis since 2010 and has a designated grower to cultivate his medical marijuana for him.

It’s a “nightmare” trying to navigate government bureaucracy and learn about how far along your own application is, Harris tells iPolitics. “All they’ll tell you is they got your paperwork and they’re working on processing it.”

Ontario delays debut of private-sector cannabis