The next few years will continue to be busy for hemp industries, and we expect there to be dramatic changes across the board, both good and bad. Here are our top four predictions for 2020.

Lightning-fast. High-speed. Breakneck. 

This is how quick the modern cannabis experience is changing — and nobody knows this better than the consumers who are witnessing this rapid growth firsthand. From dispensary shelves filled with products you’ve never seen before to the increasingly serious push for legal cannabis nationwide, to cannabis consumption lounges opening up in a few lucky locations, we are living through the cannabis renaissance. And yet, more expansive change is still on the horizon.  

s of Jan. 1, 2020, the legal age to buy or possess cannabis in Quebec is 21, giving the province the highest minimum age for cannabis use in Canada.

Elsewhere in Canada, cannabis is permitted at age 19, except in Alberta, where the legal age is 18.

The Quebec law, passed by the Coalition Avenir Québec government on Nov. 1, also means people under 21 aren't allowed on the premises of any Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) outlet.

The government rules state that people under 21 will be prohibited from possessing cannabis, even if they bought it legally before the new year.

Deepak Anand is a recognised thought leader in the global cannabis space and brings 15 years of leadership experience in the health, charitable and non-profit, and private sectors in Canada.

Deepak Anand of Materia Ventures shares his thoughts on how the rest of the world can learn from the challenges Canada has overcome.

Lily Kisilevich and her two best friends travelled to Montreal from Toronto over the holidays to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city — and also to buy pot.

Kisilevich, Meaghan Smith and Rylee Restoule are all 18, and in Ontario, the legal age to consume cannabis is 19.

So on Monday, despite a nasty weather cocktail of freezing rain and sleet, the trio waited patiently in a long line outside the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) store on Ste-Catherine St.

Heading into 2020, we’re marking the first full year of cannabis legalization in Canada. And since every provincial and territorial government seems to have set up a different iteration of how the regulated weed market should operate, it makes sense that some were more successful than others – to say the least.​

Here are a few of our picks for the winning — but mostly, losing — regulated cannabis markets of 2019.

A ban on the promotion of vaping products in convenience stores and gas stations comes into effect across Ontario on Wednesday, as the province mulls further changes to keep the items away from young people.

The regulations were announced by the Progressive Conservatives in the fall, in response to research that shows vaping is on the rise among young Ontarians.

The new rules will bring vaping regulations in line with the current ban on in-store tobacco advertisements, but will still allow the products to be promoted in specialty shops open to those 19 and older.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a statement that the government intends to take further action in 2020, but did not provide additional details.

Despite more measures to deter drug driving being in place than ever before in B.C., stats released by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) show no meaningful reduction in impaired driving-related fatalities since immediate roadside prohibitions (IRP) came into force just shy of a decade ago.

Alberta has emerged as the exception to the national trend of a struggling legal cannabis market. It has almost as many retail stores licensed as all other provinces combined, with sales that rival those of Ontario or Quebec despite having a fraction of their population.