Canada’s publicly-traded marijuana companies saw their stocks dive Wednesday, after the Liberal government’s point man on legalization cautioned the government will take its time on the move.

Ontario-based Canopy Growth -- which bills itself as the world’s largest medical marijuana producer -- saw its market value plunge nearly 18 per cent between Monday’s close and Wednesday morning, to around $1.53 billion. That’s a market value loss of more than $300 million.

Most other marijuana stocks fell Wednesday as well, with Aurora Cannabis down 6.7 per cent, OrganiGram down 12.6 per cent and Supreme Pharmaceuticals falling 11.2 per cent as of 11:30 am ET Wednesday.

JUST a day after the Philippine House of Representatives approved the move to reinstate the death penalty for drug-related offences, the House committee on health endorsed the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

House Bill 180, according to ABS-CBN News, prescribes the rules for the proper use of medical marijuana, including the designation of a qualified medical cannabis physician, a medical cannabis patient who shall be issued an identification card, a qualified medical cannabis caregiver and a qualified medical cannabis compassionate centre.

The Alaska Marijuana Control Board met Tuesday afternoon in Anchorage, discussing everything from its on-again, off-again relationship with marijuana cafes to whether or not cultivators can keep rolling joints before delivering them to shops.

Here are the most important takeaways:

The board will try again to write rules for marijuana cafes.

The control board will try again to write rules for on-site consumption areas at marijuana retailers, a project that it shot down at its last meeting. 

As investors flock to Canada’s burgeoning marijuana sector, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is signaling recreational pot sales aren’t imminent.

Lawmaker Bill Blair -- the former Toronto police chief leading Trudeau’s legalization effort -- confirmed a bill is due in parliament this spring, but it won’t be the last hurdle as ample regulatory work remains. The federal government will take its time and work with provinces, territories and cities to build a framework and develop specific regulations, he said.

The U.S. cannabis market could generate $2.3 billion in state tax revenue from retail sales by the year 2020, according to New Frontier Data’s newly released annual report on the industry.

This figure was forecasted in the report – titled The Cannabis Industry Annual Report: 2017 Legal Marijuana Outlook – under the assumption that all currently legal states continue their projected growth.

“During this tough economy states are looking for any way to close their budget shortfalls and it appears that cannabis may hold an answer for them,” said New Frontier Data CEO Giadha Aguirre De Carcer in a statement.

In honour of International Women’s Day, the cannabis industry must take a good long look at how it will not only include and support women, but also raise them up. This will require forward thinking folks, and some fierceness on all of our parts.

There are initiatives from within the sector, but also significantly outside of the industry, that women would be well-advised to tap into.  The recent announcement by the Canadian and American federal governments of the creation of a Canada−United States Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders—a joint initiative meant to help businesses owned by women as a way to contribute to economic growth, competitiveness and the integration of the two economies—is a signal of what is to come for all women.

The momentum behind legalizing the cannabis industry has never been greater.  With 28 states and Washington, DC having legalized cannabis for either medical and/or adult-use, we are finally in a position where market-based facts and governmental and scientific studies are proving the cannabis industry is both responsible and thriving. 

We are relearning that cannabis is a healthy alternative to opioid pain pill prescriptions and the concerns of some are based on mis-information that produced outdated and unjustified policy. In fact, the more people learn about cannabis the more they support the end of its prohibition. 

Colorado officials say it could be necessary to prevent a federal crackdown.

Colorado lawmakers are pushing to restrict the number of cannabis plants cultivated at home for personal use.

According to the Associated Press, a House committee approved a measure on Monday in a vote of 11-to-2 intended to inflict a 12 plant limit on home grows in residential areas.

Presently, Colorado law allows medical marijuana patients to cultivate as many as 99 plants, while giving the recreational sector the freedom to grow up to six plants on personal property.

While the U.S. continues to squabble state-by-state over medical and adult use legalization, over the past year cannabis has quietly grown into a truly international industry.

House lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow people in South Dakota with a prescription to use a non-intoxicating compound found in marijuana if it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Members voted 54-13 Tuesday for the bill, which will be sent back to the Senate to consider changes made in the House.

The legislation would exclude cannabidiol, if it receives FDA approved, from the definition of marijuana in state law and classify it as a Schedule IV controlled substance that could be prescribed.

Republican Rep. Spencer Gosch, the bill’s main House sponsor, says it would allow cannabidiol to be available to children with seizure disorders.