A Morin Heights drug trafficker who supplied several kilograms of cocaine and cannabis to dealers in Newfoundland ended up with the lightest sentence meted out to people involved in the network because a Montreal judge determined he has already rehabilitated himself.

Alexandre Préfontaine, 37, was all smiles and patted his lawyer, Christian Gauthier, on the back Wednesday after they left the courtroom where Quebec Court Judge Linda Despots decided the repeat offender should only be required to serve a 90-day sentence on weekends beginning Feb. 8. The prison term will be followed by three years of probation. Préfontaine is also required to perform 200 hours of community service.

Ontario’s plan to allow cannabis producers to sell their products on site is already experiencing growing pains.

The Cannabis Act currently states that Ontario growers can only sell their products to the provincial wholesaler, the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), and that retailers are only allowed to stock their shelves through purchases from the same place.

Now that the government is allowing growers to open farm-gate stores to sell their wares on-site, it was thought the OCS’s role in the supply chain might change. So far, that has not been the case.

Medical cannabis vaping devices have received reimbursement approval for Canadian veterans.

There are lessons to be learned north of the border when it comes to marijuana. Unfortunately, for Canadians, many have to do with what you should not do. 

Since Canada legalized adult use marijuana in October 2018, that nation has experienced a host of problems that offer insight for both entrepreneurs and government officials. Forewarned is forearmed, and the United States has plenty to learn with national legalization in Canada.

Windsor police say arrests were made for cannabis-related offences at an Erie Street East cafe on Wednesday — just one week after the same location was raided for similar cannabis-related offences.

In what has become an open clash between law enforcement agencies and illicit cannabis sellers, four people were taken into custody at Envy Cafe at 188 Erie St. East on Jan. 22.

Envy Cafe was one of two places that Windsor police, Essex County OPP, and members of the Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Enforcement Team shut down on Jan. 15.

Windsor police said officers investigated the cafe again on Wednesday after they noticed that property closure signs put there on Jan. 15 had been removed.

After a challenging few months, the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club might have a future after all.

Local council has agreed to help the medical cannabis compassion club stay open through a motion voted on earlier this month, reports Mugglehead.

“Council’s motion was to advocate for an exemption, to help the Buyers Club’s efforts to get one – it is the province of B.C. that will need to provide an exemption,” said Bill Eisenhauer, head of engagement at the City of Victoria.

The difference between cannabis prices on the illicit and legal markets in the fourth quarter of last year widened slightly from the prior three-month period, according to new figures from Statistics Canada published Thursday.

The average price of cannabis in the illicit market during the fourth quarter of 2019 was $5.73 per gram, slightly higher than the $5.65 reported in the prior quarter but below the $6.44 mark tallied in the year-earlier period, data from StatsCan showed in its quarterly release of crowdsourced pricing information.

The average price of legal cannabis purchased by Canadians in the fourth quarter was $10.30, edging higher from the $10.12 observed in the prior quarter and up from the $9.69 in the fourth quarter of 2018, the data showed.

It might be time to build a few bridges instead of walls.

Toronto’s efforts to shut down illegal cannabis dispensaries last summer by placing giant concrete slabs in front of the doors reportedly cost the city more than $350,000.

Alex Burke, Toronto’s senior communications advisor, told the Toronto Star that the $361,459.49 bill included the cost of labour to install (and reinstall after they were removed) the concrete slabs, security costs and the engineering tab. The funds did not come from the city’s budget, Burke said.

When recreational cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018, some imagined the country would become a utopia for weed-lovers: Canadians could be sparking up doobs with impunity, drunk — or stoned — on the fact that they can do whatever they liked with the once-prohibited plant.

Not exactly. The Cannabis Act didn’t legalize cannabis in all its forms; it changed the way the plant was regulated. Thus, there are still a significant number of cannabis laws and bylaws that, when it comes to enforcement, range from largely frowned-upon by police to straight-up illegal – each with its own set of potential consequences.

2019 was a hard year for cannabis stocks. As the industry struggled to start showing profitability, companies tried their best to strengthen their presence in the U.S. with a great wave of consolidation through M&A.

Although the impressive market potential of cannabis remains undisputed, hurdles along the way have caused many cannabis investors to become disenchanted with the industry and its short-term yields. 

In 2020, expect many of those same issues to continue -- but the new year could also bring new opportunities that could turn the tables for some sectors in the industry.