Ontario Premier Doug Ford has fired back at the cannabis industry after some leading executives complained that the lack of legal pot stores in the country’s most populous province resulted in weaker-than-expected sales within the first year of legalization.

In an interview on BNN Bloomberg Thursday, Ford said that pot producers didn’t have enough supply for Canadian retailers when recreational cannabis was legalized in Oct. 2018, which resulted in the province taking a more cautious approach to licensing marijuana stores.

“Maybe I’ll shoot back a little bit. They didn’t have the supply ready,” Ford said. “We’re doing it responsibly. We’re going to roll out the market and keep in mind it’s only been a little over a year and a bit and we’re opening up to the market.”

Ontario’s plan to allow cannabis producers to sell their products on site is already experiencing growing pains.

The Cannabis Act currently states that Ontario growers can only sell their products to the provincial wholesaler, the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), and that retailers are only allowed to stock their shelves through purchases from the same place.

Now that the government is allowing growers to open farm-gate stores to sell their wares on-site, it was thought the OCS’s role in the supply chain might change. So far, that has not been the case.

Windsor police say arrests were made for cannabis-related offences at an Erie Street East cafe on Wednesday — just one week after the same location was raided for similar cannabis-related offences.

In what has become an open clash between law enforcement agencies and illicit cannabis sellers, four people were taken into custody at Envy Cafe at 188 Erie St. East on Jan. 22.

Envy Cafe was one of two places that Windsor police, Essex County OPP, and members of the Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Enforcement Team shut down on Jan. 15.

Windsor police said officers investigated the cafe again on Wednesday after they noticed that property closure signs put there on Jan. 15 had been removed.

Rapid Dose Therapeutics (RDT) is going back to school.

The Ontario-based company has partnered with McMaster University — and secured a $540,000 grant from the Canadian government — to advance its drug delivery system by developing “novel biopolymer compositions” that facilitate the absorption of cannabis and other medications through oral dissolvable thin films.

It might be time to build a few bridges instead of walls.

Toronto’s efforts to shut down illegal cannabis dispensaries last summer by placing giant concrete slabs in front of the doors reportedly cost the city more than $350,000.

Alex Burke, Toronto’s senior communications advisor, told the Toronto Star that the $361,459.49 bill included the cost of labour to install (and reinstall after they were removed) the concrete slabs, security costs and the engineering tab. The funds did not come from the city’s budget, Burke said.

A team of Ontario researchers have discovered that a cannabis-derived

The Ontario Cannabis Store was entirely sold out of its new edible products about five hours after they went on sale online Thursday morning.

OCS said that at 8:59 a.m. it had roughly 3,000 customers in its "digital lobby" waiting for the new products to become available online.

"In less than half an hour, we were sold out of the soft chew category and other edible products were becoming very limited," OCS communications director Daffyd Roderick told CBC News in an email.

All edibles were sold out by around 2 p.m.

"We now have no edibles available, but still have reasonable stock of vape cartridges and batteries," Roderick said.

There’s an old problem for law enforcement when it comes to cannabis, and that is trying to prove impairment definitively. A simple blood or breath test just doesn’t work like it does with alcohol. The problem is now being tackled with very new technology, including one of the most advanced driving simulators in the world — in downtown Toronto.

Tracy Milner is a former occupational therapist and co-founder and CEO of BrainFX, an Ontario-based company. It has developed a proprietary, tablet-based cognitive testing system, often used on patients with neurological problems to assess brain function and aid in rehabilitation. Milner realized the technology’s potential beyond health issues.

As of 9 a.m. on January 16, Cannabis 2.0 products will be available for purchase through the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) for the first time. 

More than 50 products will be introduced, including edibles and vapes, but topicals, most drinks and extracts are still to come. Accessories like batteries and storage containers will also be available.

The new wave of products were legalized on October 17, 2019, but are just beginning to hit the shelves as licensed producers await product approval from Health Canada. 

The wait is finally over for cannabis users wanting to try THC-infused edibles.

The first shipment of cannabis gummies, chocolates, cookies and drinks arrived at pot shops across London Friday morning, with the new products ready for sale when the doors opened.

Legislation that allows for the sale of derivative cannabis products, dubbed "cannabis 2.0," went into effect on Dec. 17, 2019. And while many customers were hoping edibles would be available for Christmas, delays due to regulatory checkpoints and logistics set deliveries back.

At cannabis store J. London, located at 691 Richmond Street, there was a steady stream of customers perusing the new menu of treats and asking questions.