People in Canada are cheering, enduring long lines and honking their car horns in support as the country's first marijuana dispensaries open their doors Wednesday.

The number of Albertans receiving prescriptions for medical cannabis continues to grow by leaps and bounds, new statistics show, but the number of physicians prescribing it has flatlined.

In 2017, 25,766 Alberta patients received a medical cannabis prescription, statistics released this week by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) show.

That represents a 50 per cent increase over 2016, when 17,195 Albertans received a prescription for some form of the drug.

During that same time period, though, the number of physicians prescribing medical cannabis dropped to 357 from 358.

lberta was the first province to begin its policy development for cannabis legalization. In June 2016, the government began by commissioning a massive evidence synthesis — the Cannabis Evidence Series — covering five key topics: health effects and harms, medical cannabis, advertisement and communication regulations, experience with legalization in other jurisdictions, and the current Canadian context. It was published in December 2016. This fed directly into the Alberta cannabis framework, which is the beginnings of the proposed legislation that will eventually regulate cannabis production, sales and use.

Sylvan Lake is getting ready for cannabis shops.

With recreational marijuana set to be legalized in October, municipalities have been busy updating their bylaws and business licence regulations in preparation.

Sylvan Lake, like many communities, has decided that distinct licensing requirements be put in place for cannabis retailers.

The City of Calgary is looking at four potential public cannabis consumption sites and wants public feedback.

The sites are meant to address a legislative shortfall, where cannabis is legal but it's not allowed to be consumed in public, in condos and apartment buildings or in hotels. 

In short, unless you own a house or are a guest in someone's house, you're out of luck when it comes to partaking in legalized marijuana. 

Under Calgary legislation, a ward can be considered for a site only if it's requested by the local councillor. In this case, all four areas are in the ward of Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, the only one of 14 council members to make a request.

Jasper's municipal council says it won't put any limits on the number of cannabis retailers allowed within the mountain resort community.

Council voted Tuesday to make a series of recommendations on commercial regulation.

Under the proposed bylaws, pot stores would be allowed to operate until midnight, and there would be no limit on the number of stores in town, or how close pot retailers can be to each other within the commercial district.

"We're not in the business of passing moral judgment," Mayor Richard Ireland said in an interview.

"We've never restricted any other business before, so why would we suddenly restrict this one?

Hemp producers across Western Canada will potentially gain access to lucrative new markets thanks to changes for this year’s harvest.

For the first time, hemp growers are allowed to harvest their plants’ buds, leaves and flowers, after receiving an exemption from Health Canada.

The market opportunities will be significant, said Ted Haney, executive director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance.

“It is the beginning of a new and significant and important source of income to the industrial hemp sector. Absolutely no question about that,” he said.

Today, Fire & Flower, an independent corporate cannabis retailer shared that it has received conditional approval from the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC).

Under the conditional approval, Fire & Flower is being considered for final approval for its 37 store licenses in the province of Alberta once the remaining approvals are obtained from all orders of government.

"This a monumental achievement for our company," shared Trevor Fencott, Fire & Flower's Chief Executive Officer. "Receiving conditional approval from AGLC is a key step in Fire & Flower being among the first to market as a cannabis retail shop in Alberta. We look forward to welcoming our guests at our shops across the province in October."

An Alberta-based cannabis company has opened a marijuana concept store as Canadians prepare for cannabis legalization.

Cannabis seller Fire and Flower has set up the store in Edmonton, after being one of the first companies to receive conditional approval from the province.

While they cannot yet sell cannabis, the company hopes their concept store will give them an advantage as they apply to open more stores across the province. “For us, creating the store you see around you today was really important, it shows our regulators what a store will look like,” Fire and Flower CEO Trevor Fencott told CTV Edmonton.

The City of Calgary is starting its review of 261 applications it has received so far for retail marijuana stores and hopes to have the initial process wrapped up by Aug. 10. 

It's unlikely all those who applied to open a store will get the green light. 

"Similar to other municipalities, we will be making decisions based on the order in which the applications were received, but that is our standard business practice here at the City of Calgary," said Brandy MacInnis, senior special projects officer with the city.

Rules limit where the stores can go, with established distances from schools, emergency shelters, pawnshops, payday loan operators, places of worship and other marijuana retailers.