Illegal trade linked 'several' homicides, Waterloo regional police Chief Bryan Larkin says

There may be dozens of cannabis stores authorized in Waterloo region, but police say that doesn't mean the illegal cannabis market has gone away. 

In fact, Waterloo regional police Chief Bryan Larkin recently told the police services board that cannabis legalization has had "unintended consequences" — such that the service now has a whole team dedicated to investigating illegal, online cannabis sales. 

EDMONTON, AB, Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Aurora Cannabis Inc. (the "Company" or "Aurora") (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB), the Canadian company defining the future of cannabinoids worldwide, today announced a manufacturing agreement with The Valens Company Inc. ("The Valens Company" or "Valens") a leading manufacturer of cannabis products, to manufacture a new seasonal offering in the mint category.

If you're looking for legal weed in Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood, you don't have far to travel.

There's the Prohibition era-themed High Ties at the corner of Bank Street and Second Avenue, one of the company's seven Ottawa-area dispensaries.

Locally owned The Good Cannabis Company occupies the former Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's toy store between Third and Fourth avenues.

You'll find Superette's second Ottawa location near the busy corner of Bank Street and Fifth Avenue.

A mere 130 metres to the south, Plateau's tiny storefront stares across Bank Street at the much larger One Plant dispensary, due to open soon on the ground floor of a new seniors' complex.

Experts, shop owners, police say the influx of cannabis shops in Windsor is helping weaken the black market.

Windsor is seeing a steady rise in the number of cannabis stores opening up in the city — with sometimes two, three or four stores located within a couple hundred metres of each other.

The first legal weed shop, J Supply Co., opened in Windsor about 18 months ago. Since then, the number has ballooned to thirty — with more eleven more awaiting approval.

J Supply general manager Haley Colenutt said they have to rely on branding to set themselves apart from competitors.

"There is a lot of saturation in the market. We've seen it. Lots of people are still expanding, building more and more stores.

Razor-thin profit margins, supply chain hoarding and licensing fees are pricing legal retailers out of the market.

Three years after legalization, the reality of Ontario’s cannabis industry for retailers is far darker than our wildest imagination.

Ontarians rejoiced at the prospect of being able to enter the market in its infancy when the Ford government announced plans to allow privatized retail sales of cannabis. What nobody realized was how corrupted the industry would turn out to be.

By all appearances, the cannabis industry is absolutely booming in Ontario, with new storefronts popping up around cities like Toronto seemingly every day.

With multiple pot shops per block in some neighbourhoods, many are wondering if parts of the province are facing over-saturation at this point, with the government marking the opening of our 1000th authorized weed retailer at the end of August.

By that time, Toronto alone already had more than 250 cannabis stores and counting, comprising more than a quarter of Ontario's total.

As anyone who's walked a downtown thoroughfare knows, there are indeed a shocking number of dispensaries, many within very close proximity to one another, begging the question of how some of them are profitable.

Jennawae McLean, Executive Director of NORML Canada, poses inside one of her Kingston businesses. (Supplied Photo)

A Kingston woman now holds the top executive position at a national cannabis reform advocacy group.

McLean said she’s excited to take on the role and hopes to help remove taxes for medical cannabis patients, as well as reduce the amount of packaging for recreational products, which she and other cannabis enthusiasts have called “wasteful.”

The seizure of more than a ton of weed is now under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations in the U.S.

Officers found 2,302 packages of vacuum-sealed marijuana. / PHOTO BY U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

Criminal organizations are still focused on trying to get illegal drugs through border points, as evidenced by a recent seizure of 2,554 pounds (about 1,160 kilograms) of cannabis in Buffalo, N.Y.

More than an estimated $1.7 million dollars worth of cannabis plants have been seized by the OPP in Burk’s Falls.

Officers searched a commercial building on High Street on Wednesday and seized 1726 cannabis plants.

Two Toronto men have been charged with: Cultivate, propagate or harvest any cannabis plant at a place that is not their dwelling-house, contrary to section 12(6)(a) of the Cannabis Act (CA) and Possession for the purpose of distributing, contrary to section 9(2) of the Cannabis Act.

Both accused were released from police custody and are scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on Thursday November 25, 2021 in Sundridge.