There's more good news for Ontario's legal weed business, as provincial officials report a huge decrease in the number of illicit dispensaries, writes Calvin Hughes.

Police in the city are now investigating only nine unlicensed cannabis stores, said Toronto Director of Investigation Services with Municipal Licensing and Standards Mike Sraga.

June 27 marks the first-ever Post-traumatic stress disorder Awareness Day in the province of Ontario.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that is catalyzed by a traumatic occurrence an individual has witnessed or experienced. The memories or impressions of these events can have a serious and long-lasting impact on an individual’s life.

Even if cannabis users in Ontario might not be able to smoke pot with Seth Rogen, they’ll now be in a position to smoke his weed.

Seth Rogen, a Vancouver-born actor, and his fellow scriptwriter Even Goldberg are the founders of Houseplant. Houseplant recently announced that it would be bringing its unique marijuana products brand to Ontario this summer. At the moment, the brands’ products are only available in the two comedy film mogul’s B.C home province.

Houseplant’s cannabis is supplied by Canopy Growth Corp, which happens to be a Canadian industry giant. Houseplant sativa brand will be available for sale online and in Ontario regulated retail stores this summer.

Sir Sam’s Inn & Spa has been around for many years, but the luxury retreat located on Eagle Lake in Haliburton has recently announced that they’re trying to keep up with the times.

Sir Sam’s is set to become Ontario’s first “cannabis friendly” hotel, allowing guests to smoke weed on the premises.

The Inn has signed up with HotelCannabis.com, a travel site for those looking for marijuana-friendly accommodations.

They are the first Ontario-based establishment to do so.

Under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, cannabis can be smoked anywhere cigarette smoking or vaping is permitted.

Only registered guests would be allowed to partake, and only on balconies or designated outdoor areas.

Canadians looking to buy cannabis-infused brownies or lotions will find a “limited selection” in legal stores in mid-December at the earliest, the federal government says, but industry players expect the full rollout of next-generation pot products to come in 2020 or later.

Health Canada on Friday released its final regulations governing the new classes of cannabis-infused goods, including topicals and vaporizable concentrates, and indicated the rules will come into force on Oct. 17 — exactly one year since the legalization of recreational pot in Canada.

However, the Ottawa-based agency noted that after the law takes effect, federal cannabis licence holders must provide 60 days notice to the agency of their intent to sell new products.

With the state's legislative session ending on Wednesday, it still remains unclear if recreational marijuana will be legalized in New York. But as of Saturday morning, a cannabis retail shop officially opened its doors just five miles from the Rainbow Bridge into Canada.

Dozens of people came to the grand opening of Choom Cannabis - one of more than 20 recreational marijuana stores that has opened in Ontario since Canada legalized the drug.

Before this point, the closest marijuana retail shop to Western New York was in St. Catharines. But now with a quick drive over the bridge, officials are now expecting to see more Americans.

Staff from WeedMD’s operations in Aylmer and Strathroy, along with members of its leadership team and Strathroy-Caradoc Mayor Joanne Vanderheyden, rolled up their sleeves and planted marijuana in a 10-hectare plot previously used to grow asparagus.

More than 20,000 clones – small cannabis plants grown from the cuttings of a mother plant – will go into the ground in a fenced section of the company’s 64-hectare property that also houses its greenhouse operation.

The farm is outfitted with an irrigation system and plastic row coverings to keep weeds from growing.

“I can confidently say that we’ve thought of everything here. We will have an amazing bumper crop,” WeedMD chief cannabis officer Derek Pedro said.

Western University researchers are trying to set the record straight about how marijuana may affect fertility, rounding up the latest research findings in a podcast episode and article for the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“The general public’s knowledge about the effects of marijuana on fertility is limited.

This is equally true of health care providers’ knowledge,” said Sara Ilnitsky, a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow at Western’s Schulich school of medicine and dentistry.

She also practises at London Health Sciences Centre’s fertility clinic.

When edible cannabis products are legalized by the federal government this October, the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) will be ready.

The government-run online-only pot shop issued a call for new cannabis products on Monday, including edibles, beverages, topicals and extracts.

The OCS, which also acts as the sole distributor of legal marijuana to licensed retailers, says that while it will take some time for producers to get the necessary approvals from Health Canada it’s looking to “kick-start” the rollout.

“This product call marks an important milestone in securing a broad variety of cannabis products that meet the preferences of Ontario consumers,” said Patrick Ford, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Cannabis Store.

Construction is underway on a $2-million cannabis oil extraction facility in the Elgin Innovation Centre (EIC), located in the former Imperial Tobacco plant on John Street in Aylmer.

Motif will occupy a 2,000-square-metre space that will employ up to 50 workers when it’s operational in the fall, say the company’s founders.

Motif will be the 25th business to set up shop in the 93,000-square-metre complex left vacant after Imperial Tobacco moved out in 2008.

Company co-founders Mario Naric, a former engineer with Imperial Oil, and Ian Haase, the former director of student entrepreneurship at Western University, explored a handful of locations in London before finding the perfect fit in the Elgin Innovation Centre.