The tally of cannabis seizures at the Peace Bridge running between Canada and the U.S. increased yet again last week when U.S. border officers in Buffalo discovered a commercial shipment with more than a ton of weed.

Two years ago Canada became the second country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana sales.

Since then, the country has also made way for the legal sales of edibles, cannabis-infused beverages, and vape pens, but the newly legal cannabis market has faced its fair share of difficulties despite initial investor frenzy surrounding marijuana stocks. 

As Canada is the first major country to have fully legalized weed, governments around the world watched on with great interest these past two years as the legal pot market began to develop there, taking notes for when the time might come to allow marijuana to be sold for recreational use in their respective countries. 

Over the weekend, Canada celebrated the two-year anniversary of recreational cannabis being legalized. A lot has changed since the opening of the recreational market and our readers need to be aware of this. Many companies that were once considered to be leaders are on the verge of bankruptcy and this is a trend that has raised eyebrows

Today, we have highlighted seven Canadian Licensed Producers (LP) that have recorded transformational changes since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada. We believe that some of the companies that were highlighted will survive the current market environment, while others will fail.

A new report from the Cannabis Council of Canada, which represents some of the country’s largest licensed producers, including Canopy Growth, Tilray, and Cronos Group, has graded the government’s performance over the first two years of legalization with a ‘C’ average.

A new survey has demonstrated barriers in the legal medical cannabis system that are forcing patients to self-medicate without the support of a healthcare professional.

Medical Cannabis Canada (MCC) has published the results of its first Medical Cannabis Patient Survey (MCPS), which found that systemic barriers in the legal medical cannabis system are pushing patients to unregulated and recreational markets without the support of a healthcare professional.

Medicinal marijuana patients with proper medical documentation still feel they are being pushed toward recreational and unregulated markets to find relief for what ails them, and the situation is worse for patients without documentation.

Marijuana should be one of fastest-growing industries in North America this decade. There are currently tens of billions of dollars in cannabis sales conducted annually in the black market. If these sales can gradually be moved to legal channels via legalization, large-scale players should see plenty of profit potential.

However, our neighbor to north has completely face-planted in its attempt to be a global marijuana leader.

Although employment in cannabis manufacturing started to slide in March and continued shrinking through June as some of Canada’s largest producers announced layoffs, not all the official data is downbeat.

Alcanna Inc.'s pot shops will stop selling cannabis products made by Canopy Growth Corp. amid Canopy’s rapid retail expansion into Western Canada, according to a company executive.  

Marcie Kiziak, the head of Alcanna's cannabis retail division, told BNN Bloomberg that its pot stores will stop selling Canopy's wide range of products including dried flower, pre-rolls, vapes, and infused drinks following recent moves onto its home turf.

Canopy said in August it plans to open 10 new stores in Alberta under its Tweed and Tokyo Smoke banners.