A wave of illnesses and deaths in the U.S. linked to vaping products may dampen demand for soon-to-be-legal cannabis vapes in Canada later this year, industry watchers say.

An ongoing vaping probe south of the border -- where as many as five people have died and hundreds more have fallen ill -- may slow sales growth in what has been one of the fastest growing categories in the industry, said Jennifer Lee, Deloitte Canada's Cannabis national leader.

"It's going to create some hesitation in the market," she said in an interview. However, new users are more likely to be deterred than smokers who are looking to shift to reduced-risk products, Lee added.

Eleven Ontario cannabis retail lottery winners have filed a legal challenge against the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for disqualifying them from the lottery process, arguing the AGCO’s decision was “fundamentally wrong” and reached by a “procedurally unfair process.”

Seven of those eleven lottery winners — chosen on Aug. 20 — used addresses linked to legal cannabis retailer HighLife Cannabis Co. on their applications.

A Financial Post investigation days after the lottery draw found that over 100 different individuals used 14 HighLife-linked addresses to submit more than 650 applications to the AGCO, emerging with seven out of 42 lottery wins.

Canadian tourism bureaus use controlled substances such as alcohol to entice people to attend wine cycling tours or craft brewery events, but when it comes to cannabis tourism the same push is virtually non-existent. 

"I think we need to get on board or people are going to take their interests elsewhere," said Jessilin Deschamps, manager of Windsor River Cruise. "I think we're missing out on a huge market right now because certain people have biases against it."

The wine connoisseur in some ways is not different than the cannabis connoisseur.- Rick Moscone, Canadian Marketing Association's working group on cannabis

Marijuana is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet.

Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) CEO Patrick Ford is stepping down from the position, the agency announced on Thursday.

Ford has opted to resign after having spent approximately a year as the top brass at the provincial retail supplier and online cannabis store. He previously spent a long career in senior management with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

Manitobans who want to grow their own recreational cannabis may now have legal ammunition to use in any future court challenge of the province's home-growing ban.

The Quebec Superior Court struck down that province's ban on home cannabis cultivation on Tuesday. In its decision, the court ruled the provincial ban was unconstitutional because it infringed on the federal government's jurisdiction over criminal matters.

Manitobans may be a step closer to growing their own recreational marijuana plants.

A Quebec court ruled Tuesday a ban on possessing and growing pot plants for personal use is unconstitutional because Quebec's legislation infringed on the jurisdiction of the federal government, which has sole responsibility on criminal matters.

The decision means it's now legal to grow cannabis plants at home in Quebec, and the ruling could open the door for the law to change in Manitoba as well.

Jamie Jurczak is a partner at Taylor McCaffrey in Winnipeg, and has been following legal changes around cannabis legislation.

Statistics Canada

The rollout of cannabis legalization has been far from smooth, but as we approach legalization’s first anniversary it’s become abundantly clear that Alberta’s approach is heads and shoulders above the rest of the country.

What’s especially remarkable about Alberta’s success is that despite the acrimony between Alberta’s two main parties on just about every issue, they are more or less on the same page when it comes to legalization.