Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis put a moratorium on cannabis store applications in November due to nationwide supply shortages of cannabis a little over a month after recreational pot became legal in October.

Applicants need a city-approved change of land use development permit before applying for a provincial licence, but those development permits also require a retailer to open for business within a year of approval.

Shutting down the marijuana black market will require more legal cannabis and more licensed producers, according to the provincial bureaucrat who works on Manitoba's cannabis strategy.

"Breaking the black market is a key aspect of legalization," said Michael Legary, a senior project manager with Manitoba's priorities and planning secretariat.

"You have to have a legal supply available to do that. And if we do not have legal supply, people will go to the previous channels they were using," he said.

John Arbuthnot, CEO of Delta 9 Cannabis, agrees there is not enough pot to go around. Both he and Legary were panelists at a cannabis industry event Wednesday organized by the Chartered Financial Analyst Society of Winnipeg.

Local police are coming across less impaired drivers on county roadways.

Comparing 2017 to 2018, Strathcona County RCMP experience a six per cent decrease in impaired driving offences, from 822 to 751 files.

Impaired operational offences include drunk driving, drug-impaired, and breathalyzer refusals.

“People know the consequences and the risks and possibilities about not only harming themselves, and somebody else, but also the legal and financial consequences of getting caught for impaired driving, so it’s really about education and having people finding alternate ways to get home, whether that be taxis, Uber, or some picking them up,” local Const. Chantelle Kelly explained the decrease.

Since legalized marijuana began to be sold throughout British Columbia last October, B.C. municipalities are still waiting to hear how much cannabis related taxation money they'll be able to use. 

Having legal cannabis means some cities have seen extra costs related to the recreational addition, and are wondering if they'll have funds to pay for it. 

The delay in determining a solid plan for revenue sharing between the provincial and local governments has been slow for a number of reasons. 

The Ministry of the Attorney General admits significant funds from marijuana aren't expected right away, given the associated start-up costs with legalization, and only a few stores in operation. 

The Government of Canada released its Budget 2019 on Tuesday, outlining their plans for spending in the coming year. While this year’s version offered incentives to first-time homebuyers, relaxed interest rates for student loans, and other new investment/spending programs, a series of updates were issued for the regime that controls cannabis taxation.

The Government of Saskatchewan is banking on pot sales to make a small contribution to this year's bottom line.

The 2019-20 budget estimates the province will make $5 million this year, the first full year of legalization.

The province expects PST on pot sales will bring in $2 million while federal excise tax is expected to account for $3 million.

For the province to generate $2 million in PST, total pot sales would need to equal $33.3 million. in the first three months of legalization, Saskatchewan trailed the rest of the country in sales, bringing in only $2.5 million.

Like many jurisdictions, Saskatchewan marijuana sales were hindered by supply problems in the first months of legalization, with many stores closed due to lack of product. 

Months after marijuana sales became legal, public approval has reached a new high.

Close to 70 per cent of Lethbridge residents in the 18-to-29-year category now agree with the policy change, along with 57.2 per cent of all the men and women surveyed.

And a new study shows more than 90 per cent supported the drug’s use for medical purposes.

Public support for recreational use has increased from 43.9 per cent just four years ago, observes political scientist Faron Ellis. Under his supervision, students at Lethbridge College conducted a comprehensive “public policy” study in February.

It also found public support rising on several other issues in Lethbridge, including doctor-assisted death, same-sex marriage and a woman’s right to seek an abortion.

Smoking weed will not make hair grow out of your eyes, or out of your ears. It won't make your neck grow to twice its length, and it obviously won't make a new set of ears grow on the top of your head. “But,” goes the crux of a new public education campaign created by the provincial government of Quebec, “the risks are real.”

Six Nations has set a new cannabis law saying eight per cent of sales have to go to community projects. The territory's elected council passed a law Feb. 25 saying permit holders who produce, process, distribute or sell marijuana have to contribute to the community.

Eight per cent of gross cannabis sales at the end of the month will go to the elected council, says the new law.

Council will use that money to help with roads, parks, post-secondary education, the swimming pool or bowling alley, or other projects that help youth or elders.

Six Nations Elected Council has passed a law to regulate cannabis in its territory.

The band office conducted community consultations before approving the law that lays out regulations for marijuana cultivation, distribution, sales and use.

The 22-page document says the law is meant to "protect the health and safety" of Six Nations, the most populous First Nation in Canada.

It also says the regulations, approved last month, are also meant to "prevent interference by external law enforcement into Six Nations domestic affairs."

The law stipulates eight per cent of a vendor's sales must be handed over to the band office at the end of each month to go toward community projects.