The Manitoba government is opening up the retail cannabis market in seven rural communities.

The province will license non-medicinal cannabis stores in Flin Flon, Niverville, Swan River, Virden, Altona, Lac du Bonnet and the rural municipality of Russell Binscarth, CBC News has learned.

The retailers will be chosen randomly from a list of nearly 100 pre-qualified applicants who responded to the province's second call for pot shop proposals last summer. The expansion aims to bring recreational cannabis sales to areas underserved by the initial distribution rollout, following the legalization of marijuana last October.

One aspect of the provincial budget is always the projected revenue from taxes and this year one of those is the tax from legal cannabis sales.

But the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union says the revenue projection seems low.

“We think the government has grossly missed the mark when it comes to the sale of marijuana in this province,” President of SGEU Bob Bymoen told CTV News following the budget’s release Wednesday.

The provincial budget shows roughly $5 million as the projected revenue this year from legal cannabis sales.

“The $5 million isn’t going to be enough to even offset the training and education, enforcement and dealing with the societal issues that stem from making marijuana legal,” Bymoen said.

From skin-care lotions to bottled water, cannabis companies are rolling out a growing array of consumer products infused with a chemical found in marijuana called cannabidiol, or CBD.

The compound doesn't have the ingredient that gives marijuana users a high. Instead, CBD product makers say they promote general health and well-being.

The U.S. retail market for CBD is projected to swell from an estimated US$2 billion last year to US$16 billion by 2025, according to a report by equity analysts at Cowen.

A key factor in that forecast is the growing variety of CBD products that companies are bringing to market, such as drinks, capsules, gummies, topical lotions and tinctures, which are liquid extracts.

Right now, northern Ontario's first cannabis store is part high end retail outlet, part construction site.

Crews are busy getting the Highlife on Marcus Drive in Sudbury ready to open to customers on April 1. Company spokesperson Eddie Grinberg says they expect to hire as many as 30 people, with a few extra for the first few weeks when long lines are expected.

Highlife already has 17 stores in southern Ontario, but this New Sudbury location in an old shoe store near the Silver City movie theatres will be the first licensed to sell cannabis, rather than just smoking accessories.

"We never thought it would be in Sudbury," Grinberg says.

Highlife put its name into the cannabis license lottery held in January, but it didn't get pulled.

The owner of Thunder Hill Bakery in Grand Bay-Westfield is planning a reinvention of her signature cupcakes and muffins — with a cannabis twist.  

Jenn Guimond plans to open a second business, one that will showcase recipes using marijuana extracts that she makes at home.

Her new line of baked goods will include both the non-psychoactive CBD oil as well as THC, which does cause the "high." 

Sometimes she takes her cooking classes on the road and teaches neighbours what they can legally do in their own kitchens with their own pot.  

She says most of the interest is coming from people over 65. 

"It's other people's grandmothers," said Guimond, icing a tray of sugar-free, gluten-free, keto-friendly vanilla bean cupcakes infused with CBD. 

Peter Horvath does not particularly like the idea of a cannabis cafe. He does not like a lounge either — or a bar, or any place to buy and sit and use cannabis.

“It sounds like a repulsive experience to me,” the chief executive of Green Growth Brands, a cannabis producer with a burgeoning retail division, said over the phone from Columbus, Ohio.

Low-margin cafes and smokey consumption lounges, Horvath said, are just impractical. “So how do you make money?” he asked. “It’s like saying, ‘I want to own bars.’ Have you ever watched a Bar Rescue episode? What a mess bars are.”

The CBD retail boom is upon us.

As cannabis-infused products find their way into major retailers, analysts believe the trend will provide a significant catalyst.

"We have seen a high level of interest in cannabis beauty from retailers over the past month based on our store checks and incremental launches. We expect further retailer developments in the coming months,” noted analysts at Piper Jaffray, as quoted by CNBC.

All as people around the world wake up to the health benefits of cannabis, including the treatment of insomnia, stress, anxiety, pain, and even chronic issues.

It’s been a bumpy first few months for cannabis retailers in Canada, with product shortages and regulatory uncertainty dominating public discussion.

As Ontario’s first wave of bricks-and-mortar stores get ready to open on April 1, the Financial Post’s Vanmala Subramaniam spoke to four people on the front lines about what’s working, what isn’t and the biggest lessons they’ve learned so far. The following interviews have been edited and condensed.

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Krystian Wetulani, a former grey market operator, is the owner of City Cannabis Co. and runs two licensed cannabis stores in Vancouver.

What’s been the biggest problem you’ve encountered so far? 

From the classic pot brownie to cannabis-infused cotton candy, there is no shortage of options for edibles at an illicit dispensary in downtown Toronto.

Among the people lining up to browse and buy, one 34-year-old IT worker chooses gummy bears for what he says is his first-ever edibles purchase. The Toronto man, who did not want to be named, said he preferred edibles over smoking cannabis because he can avoid the pungent smell and partake indoors.

"These are more convenient," he said, adding that among his friends who are cannabis users, half of them say edibles are their form of choice even though they aren't legal in Canada yet.

Cannabis has been legal in Canada for nearly six months, but educators and parents still have plenty of questions about how to talk about toking with teens.

It's a topic that Dr. Muffy Greenaway, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, deals with all the time in her practice. Since legalization of marijuana last October, she's noticed a difference in the kinds of conversations surfacing.

"There is much more open discussion about cannabis both from the kids and the parents," said Greenaway, who's also a clinical instructor for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia..

"I've also noticed that kids are using much more."