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.

As cannabis sales in Alberta top the country, a Calgary professor says online sales could pose new challenges for countering fraudulent IDs and securing consumer data.

Currently, only Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis is permitted to sell cannabis online in Alberta.

But as the private sector plans to enter the market, verifying a customer’s identity online becomes a lot more difficult, said Thomas Keenan, a professor focused on data and cyber security in the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.

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.

Interested in a career in the cannabis industry, but don’t know where to start? Canadian colleges and universities have introduced cannabis-specific programs for careers in the budding industry. Here are some to consider for the fall semester.

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.

This year’s expo, the first since legalization in October 2018, will feature Canada’s first legal cannabis competition, the Hempfest Cup, and organizers’ expectations are high.

“What we’re kinda going after is something like the SIP awards in the liquor industry, where craft alcohol producers can send in a bottle and be judged, so that’s what it’s trying to model,” expo organizer Sacha Hockenhull said. “Cannabis producers can now enter a competition that ranks them against each other.”

The competition, which will run alongside the expo on Oct. 11 and 12 at the Big Four building at Stampede Park, is open to any Canadian who can legally grow cannabis, from personal-use growers to licensed producers (LP).

On Saturday, two new cannabis retail locations opened up shop in the ‘Gas City’ including Choom Cannabis on 3rd Street Southeast and Spiritleaf on Trans-Canada Way.

That’s brought Medicine Hat’s marketplace to double-digits, with 11 locations approved to sell recreational cannabis in the city.

Mayor Ted Clugston said he’s heard from a handful of these owners who say the market is becoming over saturated.

“I’ve had some business owners come to me that actually own retail outlets say, ‘I think there’s too many,’” said Clugston. “We took the approach here at City Hall that it will sort itself out.”

Among Alberta’s nine largest cities, Medicine Hat has the most cannabis stores per capita with one retailer for every 5,750 residents.

Only one cannabis-impaired driving charge has been laid in Calgary since legalization last October, according to police.

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) believes that number will go up with more officer training and as roadside screening devices advance in technology, but one of the city's top impaired driving defence lawyers says he's not so sure that will be the case.

"There's no charges, there's no wave of cannabis impaired drivers, there's just a big nothing so far," says Tim Foster, whose firm gets about 30 impaired driving cases every month with almost all being alcohol-related.

It's always been illegal to drive while high, so Foster says he wasn't expecting an influx of charges after legalization.

 Choom™ (CSE: CHOO; OTCQB: CHOOF), an emerging adult use cannabis company that has secured one of the largest national retail networks in Canada, is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire The Green Room, a popular cannabis retail store chain which has operated since 2016.