Yellowknife is still lacking licensed, private cannabis stores – and even, sometimes, any cannabis itself – almost 18 months after the drug's legalization in Canada.

In the NWT, the process of licensing new stores falls to the Department of Finance. On Monday, finance minister Caroline Wawzonek acknowledged the process was taking longer than expected.

"There certainly has been a delay," said Wawzonek.

At the moment, cannabis is only legally sold in the Northwest Territories through government-controlled stores.

The process of allowing business owners to operate private cannabis stores began last spring, when hopeful Yellowknife entrepreneurs were invited to respond to a request for qualifications.

Be careful what you wish for, especially when placing an order for weed online. Returning it can be a challenge, with policies varying from province to province.

Here’s what the shipping and return policies look like across the country.

British Columbia 

Bought a product that’s defective, shipped in error or recalled? The BC Cannabis Stores will take them back, but returns must be initiated within 15 days of the purchase.

October 17, 2019, marks the first anniversary of the legalization of cannabis federally in Canada, and the date when the second phase of products — edibles, extracts, topicals and some other alternative cannabis products also become legal. 

Each province and territory were handed the reins for rolling out legalization, and the results in terms of access to legal marijuana are very different for Canadians depending on where they live. This has also had an impact on consumption patterns.

Canadians with simple cannabis possession convictions will be eligible for record suspensions, but advocates and experts say it won't be so easy.

Bill C-93 came into force this month, and allows people to get fast-tracked record suspensions at no cost. A record suspension prevents a criminal record or pardon from appearing in the National Repository of Criminal Records.

The legislation waives the previous $631 application fee and ends the application wait period of up to 10 years. 

"What it doesn't get rid of, is the lead-up costs," said Samantha McAleese, a PhD candidate in sociology at Carleton University who researches recent changes to Canada's pardon system.

A Yellowknife chef says he's the first nationally certified cannabis sommelier in the N.W.T.

Robin Wasicuna recently completed a two-level course on the subject and said he wanted to learn more as the sale of edible cannabis products will be legal in Canada in mid-December. 

"It's a lot knowledge crammed into two days, you learn quite a bit of stuff," he said.

"I can look at any bud of a cannabis flower now and just by looking at it, touching it and smelling it, I can tell you whether that plant was grown at a high elevation or a low elevation, whether it comes from the southern hemisphere or the northern hemisphere and what the genealogy of that plant is." 

Police chiefs in McHenry County have concerns about residents driving under the influence and how to properly enforce the law now that Illinois is poised to become the 11th state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana.

Yellowknifers are getting closer to legally buying cannabis products somewhere besides the liquor store.

At a city council meeting Monday, councillors discussed the regulatory framework for retail cannabis sales. Recreational cannabis became legal in the Northwest Territories on Oct. 17, following federal legislation, but the uptown liquor store is only retail location in the city. 

That framework could include a 100-meter buffer zone between shops selling cannabis and certain areas, such as elementary, junior and high schools, the Fieldhouse, the Yellowknife aquatic centre and arena, Stanton Hospital, medical centres, and daycares.

This map shows where cannabis could not be sold if the buffer zone is approved:

Wednesday marks six months since cannabis was legalized in Canada. At least one entrepreneur in the Northwest Territories hoped to be selling cannabis in a retail location by now, but he's not.

"April 17th, they were supposed to start handing out licences, we thought — or we hoped — in the city [Yellowknife], but nobody seems to know," said Luke Wood, president of Releaf NT.

"It could be months away yet."

Releaf NT is a cannabis accessory shop that opened last weekend in Yellowknife. Wood said the company has applied to sell cannabis and filed an expression of interest to do so with the territorial government, but they are still waiting to hear what their next step will be.

The price of cannabis in the Northwest Territories and across Canada has risen since legalization says Statistics Canada.

A Stat Can report states the average price of legal and illegal cannabis has risen from $6.85/gram to to $8.05/gram after legalization.

In the Northwest Territories, a gram of cannabis cost an average $12.71 before legalization. Consumers are now paying $14.45/gram. This is a close to $2 – over 13 per cent – increase.

The NWT has the highest price of cannabis after legalization across the country, however, there is no post-legalization price for Nunavut as no answers were submitted. Nunavut had the highest pre-legalization average price of $15.24/gram.

If Yellowknife's Jason Harker is successful in his quest to get a licence to produce cannabis, he'll become one of the first people to enter the industry in the Northwest Territories, if not the entire North. CBC News looked into what exactly a person needs to do in order to receive approval to run a grow-op in Canada.

What do I need to do to get licensed?

Shirley Toms, a regulatory consultant who works for Cannabis Compliance Inc., compares the process to a "4D matrix." Here's what's in that matrix: