Sad but inevitably true: summer is officially drawing to a close. Away go the swimsuits and flip flops and out come the hoodies and flannel pajama pants. But on the plus side, you’re probably gearing up to enjoy a long weekend, courtesy of Labor Day. Workers of the world, chill out!

Whether you’re fielding summer blowout picnic invitations right and left, wondering what to bring to your friend’s beach house as a thank you gift or just looking for something to do with your time off, we suggest trying out one of Cannabis Now’s classic infused recipes for a surefire THC-fueled good time. Check out our picks below.

Few in the cannabis community would argue the fact that one of the biggest stories in the movement in the last 5 years was the legalization of adult-use marijuana in Canada. The first large, developed country to legalize on a federal level, Canada was poised to set the tone for legalization around the world.

But, as I feared, Canada’s government has created an industry that is so restricted it has no hope of competing with the black market. Restrictions have created supply issues which have, in turn, kept prices high.

New data suggest pet poisonings from cannabis are on the rise, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association says.

The Pet Poison Helpline, a U.S.-based animal poison control centre that also serves Canadian pet owners and veterinarians, tracked 179 cases of pets being exposed to cannabis in Canada between the start of 2016 and June 30, 2019.

More than 90 per cent of those cases involved dogs, and no fatalities were recorded.

"Sixty-four instances were reported throughout 2018, whereas there were 54 reports during the first seven months of 2019 — suggesting 2019 will show a significant increase from the previous year," the CVMA said Thursday in a news release, noting not all cannabis exposures involving pets is reported.

Zero-tolerance policies towards employee cannabis use have been instituted by 40 per cent of Canadian employers surveyed for a recent Conference Board of Canada report.

The survey didn't explicitly define "zero-tolerance," meaning the term could have been open to respondents' interpretations, said Conference Board senior researcher Monica Haberl. But the think-tank's report defined zero-tolerance workplace cannabis policies as those that "(forbid) employees to have any cannabis in their systems." 

Those zero-tolerance policies were more common in safety-sensitive workplaces like transportation and warehousing, as well as the construction, manufacturing, and natural resources industries, the Conference Board found.

Tilray Inc. is buying marijuana retailer 420 Investments Ltd. of Calgary for $110 million, the British Columbia-based cannabis researcher and distributor said.

The all-stock deal through a Tilray subsidiary, High Park Holdings Ltd., is expected to close early next year, according to a statement by Tilray. The first $70 million in stock is payable on the close of the deal with the remaining $40 million subject to performance milestones.

Statistics Canada data shows B.C. sold $19.5 million worth of legal pot from October 2018 through June 2019. The only province that sold less was P.E.I., which took in $10.7 million with only a fraction of B.C.’s population.

In its annual report, the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch said problems with supply and slower than anticipated provincial and municipal approvals resulted in the province’s cannabis industry evolving at a slower rate.

“Managing inventory levels in an environment of product shortages and unknown customer demand is very challenging,” the branch said. “The LDB is currently building inventory levels in anticipation of future public and private retail stores.”

Although cannabis has been legalized in Canada for almost a year, rumbles persist about supply shortages in both the recreational and medicinal markets. While recently released data from Health Canadashowcases strong growth in cannabis sales across the country, consumers provinces-wide continue to gripe about inefficiencies and dissatisfaction with regard to quality, product availability, pricing and delivery.

The province has sold 2,084 kilograms of cannabis in the first six months of legalization, so just who is buying legal pot online in B.C.?

People in Chemainus, Gold River and Smithers — but Vancouver, not so much.

The government has sold more than $18 million worth of cannabis since legal sales began in B.C. last October. But Lower Mainland sales were slow compared to smaller towns, according to provincial data.

When it comes to legal pot sales, receipts show that transaction levels, per capita, are lowest in bigger cities close to Vancouver.

Even though some may consider having a bad trip as normal, wouldn’t it be amazing if a person could learn how cannabis affects them before they even tried it?

Statistics Canada recently released the conclusions of a yearlong study examining levels of various illicit drugs, and cannabis, in the wastewater of Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.

The pilot test study drew samples of the water in the period between March 2018 and February 2019. The research, one StatsCan claims is “the largest ever conducted in North America in terms of population covered,” was carried out in collaboration with Yargeau Laboratory of McGill University’s Department of Chemical Engineering.