Canadian cannabis producers and extractors are sitting on a massive stash of unfinished inventory that is growing so quickly that some analysts are concerned it could precipitate a price crash in the burgeoning industry.

Since January of 2019, the amount of unfinished inventory of dried cannabis has nearly tripled, reaching a staggering 328,000 kilograms at the end of August. That compares to roughly 118,000 kilograms eight months earlier, according to Health Canada data.

The Manitoba government is planning to caution people about edible cannabis products and ban consumption in public places.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said Tuesday the Progressive Conservative government will introduce a bill in the legislature before mid-December to ban the public consumption of recreational cannabis in all its forms.

Manitoba's current public-consumption law mentions only smoking or vaping, leaving the door open to oils, sprays and other forms of cannabis that have been available since legalization last year.

With the federal government paving the way for edible cannabis products such as cookies to be sold next month, Cullen said the province wants to restrict all forms of public consumption.

This past October,

HEXO (HEXO), one of the important players in the cannabis space, has been in the news for a while now.

The company reported its fourth-quarter earnings on October 28. HEXO’s preliminary results were disappointing with lower revenues.

In the fourth-quarter earnings call, the company discussed how it thinks that legal cannabis won’t solve the problem with the illegal market in Canada.

Let’s discuss what HEXO’s management said.

Cannabis sales in Canada expected to double next year to $3.16B: analyst 

With Statistics Canada reporting 578,000 new cannabis users in the last six months in its National Cannabis Survey, findings in a U.S. study are troublesome for those who buy CBD products online.

According to Statistics Canada, 28% of users claim they only purchase cannabis products from  government-sanctioned retailers. That means 72% of the more than 5 million Canadians, age 15 and up, who reported recently using marijuana are looking to illegal sources — online dispensaries, unlicensed dispensaries and dealers — for cannabis products.

It's been a little over a year since Canada legalized marijuana for recreational use. Oct. 17 also marked the opening of the new cannabis market in Canada that will include beverages and other derivatives, although products won't be available to purchase until at least December. While there will be some challenges ahead for the new segment of the cannabis market, it's hard to imagine the next 12 months will be as hectic as the past year has been.

Let's look at five of the biggest surprises that have weighed on the industry since legalization took effect in Canada.

The Saskatchewan government is opening up the market for new retail cannabis stores.

Prior to the legalization of recreational cannabis in Oct. 2018, Saskatchewan used a lottery to determine who would be able to open shops. In April 2018, the province received a combined 1,500 applications for 51 permits in 32 communities and First Nations.

Now the Saskatchewan government is scrapping the lottery system and the cap on how may stores can be opened.

"We believe opening the market to more retailers will help meet customer demand while also helping discourage competition from unlicensed stores," said Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Gene Makowsky in a news release.

Sherry Lee Ann Kohoko opened her cosy Rastafarian-themed dispensary Madashk on April 20, the international day to celebrate marijuana.

It’s one of a handful of unlicensed cannabis stores on Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation territory in the Ottawa Valley.

Kohoko says customers drive from Ottawa and across the Valley to buy dried weed, homemade cannabis cookies, gummy candies, tinctures, oils, lotions and other products.

Now she hopes to add a second shop on her property — this one licensed by the provincial government.

That’s a possibility since Kohoko is one of 26 applicants given the right by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to apply for cannabis store licences on First Nation territories.

The legalization of cannabis had an unintended impact on RCMP dogs, who are no longer trained to sniff out cannabis when conducting drug searches.

According to Dog Team Trainer Sergeant Robert Heppell, police dogs that were previously trained on anything marijuana-based, including hash and hash oils, were removed from the program, retired because of age, or were sold to other working agencies that wanted dogs with a marijuana-based narcotics profile.