Ontario is on pace to see 40 new pot shops licensed this fall as the province’s cannabis retail store regulator announced it is doubling the number of licenses it issues. 

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), responsible for regulating cannabis retail stores in the province, announced it will double store authorizations at the government’s direction. So far, the AGCO issued 164 licenses, 150 of which have opened shop in Ontario. Some 900 applicants are currently waiting to open cannabis retail shops.

In Toronto, Ontario’s capital and largest city, over a hundred pot shops are waiting to secure approval, while 53 have already opened. 

The last few years have been a roller coaster ride in terms of cannabis regulation, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of consistency. Now, with the scheduled vote on WHO drug scheduling coming up, the fate of CBD hangs in the balance.

So, who exactly is this WHO which makes designations as to which drugs are narcotics and which are not? The World Health Organization is an agency belonging to the United Nations and is responsible for public health globally.

Councillors in Prince Edward County are looking to have a little more control over cannabis production facilities in the municipality.

An interim control by-law for the entire municipality that prohibits the expansion or creation of cannabis production facilities was approved during a committee of the whole meeting at Highline Hall in Wellington on Thursday.

Planner James Griffin couldn’t tell councillors how many current operations are located in Prince Edward County as Health Canada does not have to give notice to the municipality when they issue a licence.

Griffin did note staff were in conversation with Health Canada with neighbouring municipalities discussing odour controls, setbacks and what municipalities can control during the meeting.

Several prominent Canadian cannabis retailers are asking the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to take a hard look into Weedmaps to stamp out illicit marijuana operators on the popular online platform. 

The letter, co-signed by the heads of eight cannabis retailers including High Tide Inc. and Superette Inc., said that more work needs to be done to shut down the proliferation of illicit cannabis dispensaries and delivery services across Canada. The signatories focused their attention on Weedmaps, a website that operates as a platform for both legal and illicit dispensaries and delivery services in the letter delivered on Monday to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Michael Duheme. 

Pesticides can be found on pretty much anything that’s grown these days. There’s an ongoing battle brewing regarding the dangers of these sprays to human health, with a growing collection of evidence in the negative category. Where does cannabis fit into all this? And what can you expect to have sprayed on your buds?

Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have committed to share legal cannabis revenues with local governments, and in their fourth year of asking, B.C. municipalities expect their province to do the same.

In a first for Canada’s nascent legal cannabis industry, recent labour action by Dominion grocery store workers has shuttered over a third of Newfoundland and Labrador’s brick-and-mortar cannabis stores.

A Manitoba man is gearing up to take on the provincial government to make growing weed at home legal.

The double blow of collapsing oil prices and the COVID-19 crisis have pushed Alberta into a historic deficit of $24.2 billion - more than triple what the United Conservative government projected in its February budget.

“We are continuing to deal with an incredible amount of pandemic uncertainty and economic uncertainty,” said Finance Minister Travis Toews, who delivered his first-quarter economic update Thursday.

“There will be some very difficult days ahead and the road to recovery will be slow.”

Toews reeled off a litany of gloom. Government debt is expected to hit $100 billion by the end of the fiscal year next spring. Overall government revenue is anticipated to drop by $11.5 billion - nearly one-quarter.

A Manitoba man plans a constitutional challenge that says the province needs to catch up with the rest of Canada and legalize at-home cannabis production.