Heading into 2020, we’re marking the first full year of cannabis legalization in Canada. And since every provincial and territorial government seems to have set up a different iteration of how the regulated weed market should operate, it makes sense that some were more successful than others – to say the least.​

Here are a few of our picks for the winning — but mostly, losing — regulated cannabis markets of 2019.

Despite more measures to deter drug driving being in place than ever before in B.C., stats released by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) show no meaningful reduction in impaired driving-related fatalities since immediate roadside prohibitions (IRP) came into force just shy of a decade ago.

Che' LeBlanc started growing marijuana before he sat at a desk in high school. He learned the craft at the foot of his father, who was also a pot grower.

"One of my first memories are in fact crawling up the rows of plants with the bright lights hanging above," said LeBlanc.

LeBlanc lives south of Nelson, B.C., near the U.S. border, and growing pot has been a passion for him his entire adult life.

He's not the only person in this mountainous region of B.C. who is skilled at growing marijuana. "The Kootenays have some of the best growers I've ever seen," he said.

"There is a reason B.C. bud is recognized internationally. Part of it is the climate and the rest is the community."

Operators of pot shops in Vancouver and Squamish have found themselves in the crosshairs of civil forfeiture proceedings by the B.C. government.

In claims filed this month in B.C. Supreme Court, the province’s Civil Forfeiture Office seeks to seize a pair of mortgaged properties in the Squamish and Pemberton areas valued at $1.93 million and more than $830,000 in cash seized at marijuana shops in Squamish and Vancouver.

The civil forfeiture claims allege the marijuana shops are illegal as they are not licensed to distribute or sell marijuana or cannabis to any person or entity.

The B.C. government says the first batch of legal marijuana edibles, extracts and topical will be available soon for purchase, two months after they were legalized in Canada.

The province says it received its first shipments of the products on Wednesday and has made them available to private and public retailers through its wholesale operation. The province’s liquor control branch is the only wholesale distributor of non-medical cannabis in B.C.

British Columbia's government says the first batch of legal marijuana edibles, extracts and topical will soon be available for purchase, two months after they were legalized in Canada.

The province says it received its first shipments of the products Wednesday and has made them available to private and public retailers via its wholesale customer portal.

The Ministry of Attorney General says consumers can expect to see them on store shelves by the end of the month, based on shipping schedules.

The province's liquor control branch is the only wholesale distributor of non-medical cannabis in B.C.

Even though cannabis edibles, extracts and topicals have been legal in Canada since Oct. 17, Thursday will be the first day British Columbians will be able to buy them.

The newly available products include edibles, such as baked goods and drinks; extracts, such as oils and vape liquid; and topicals, such as cannabis-infused creams or lotions, according to the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB).

Despite the sale of the new products being legalized two months ago, the items weren't available for sale due to Health Canada requiring a 60-day notice from licensed producers looking to sell them. 

If you're hoping to buy a next-generation cannabis product — like infused beer or gummy bears — as a gift for the holiday season, you may be out of luck.

It will be legal to buy derivative cannabis products — often referred to in the industry as "cannabis 2.0" — on Tuesday, but three of Canada's largest provinces won't have a single one available until January.

That's because the long-awaited expansion of sales for cannabis derivatives have gone through a gauntlet of regulatory checkpoints and cumbersome logistics, dashing hopes of last-minute gift purchases with its late arrival.

People with chronic pain who use cannabis daily are far less likely to use illicit opioids, including fentanyl, a University of B.C. study shows.

The findings, based on self-reports over three years by 1,152 people about their drug use and pain, suggest cannabis might serve as a proxy for illicit opioids. The researchers did the study among marginalized residents of the Downtown Eastside, some of them injection drug users, to see if cannabis might be a potential alternative for opioids in a neighbourhood that’s been hit hard by the overdose epidemic.

The findings were reported in the publication PLOS Medicine.