Canadian cannabis producers are moving full speed ahead to open their own marijuana shops in Ontario amid anticipation that the provincial government will soon allow private stores to sell recreational cannabis when it is legalized in October.

Several major cannabis companies told BNN Bloomberg that efforts are already underway to secure locations for privately-run retail stores, with a formal framework expected to be announced by Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Ontario government next week.

“We wait to see what the government announces but from what we’re hearing, this doesn’t surprise us but delights us,” said Cam Battley, chief corporate officer at Aurora Cannabis Inc., in a phone interview with BNN Bloomberg.

The Ontario government is turning to private retailers to sell marijuana in stores come October, shifting policy dramatically less than three months before Canada legalizes recreational use.

Provincial Finance Minister Vic Fedeli and Attorney-General Caroline Mulroney are expected to make an announcement as early as next week outlining in broad strokes the province’s plan to scrap the existing public retail model and allow the private sector to own and operate bricks-and-mortar cannabis shops, according to a senior source in the Ontario government who would only speak on condition of not being named. The person added that the government will still control the wholesale and distribution of the product to the stores and manage online sales.

Eight months after being shut out of Ohio’s cannabis cultivation regime, the billionaire family behind American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is developing a second marijuana play, this time focused on dispensary chains and cannabidiol-infused beauty products.

The retail-centred Green Growth Brands Ltd. is backed by Columbus, Ohio’s Schottenstein family, whose interests include shoe-seller DSW, Inc. and a significant stake in the Albertsons supermarket chain.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. ("Aurora") (TSX: ACB) (OTCQB: ACBFF) (Frankfurt: 21P; WKN: A1C4WM) and MedReleaf Corp. ("MedReleaf") (TSX: LEAF) today announced the closing of the previously announced arrangement agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement"). Under the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, holders of MedReleaf common shares received 3.575 common shares of Aurora for each MedReleaf common share held (the "Exchange Ratio").

Upon closing of the transaction, Aurora will submit applications with the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") and the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC") to delist MedReleaf's existing common shares and for MedReleaf to cease to be a reporting issuer, respectively.

Canada is one of the few countries in the world with fully legal cannabis, an expertly organized medical program, and a promising recreational market that is soon to be initiated. But what was the journey like?

It’s safe to say that cannabis made a full circle in Canada in less than a 100 years.

Nicholas Reichenbach, CEO and founder of Flow Water Inc., has run into some difficulties while trying to boost the number of staff at his three-year-old spring water company. The Toronto-based company has doubled its work force to 50 in the past year, but as with many companies in the food and beverage industry, he’s found himself in a fierce battle for talent with the nascent legal cannabis sector.

“One of our largest challenges is talent acquisition,” he said. “There have been numerous occasions where, specifically in marketing and sales, we have lost candidates to marijuana companies.”

Many injured workers in Ontario are being given an ultimatum: take potentially addictive cocktails of opioids and other pharmaceuticals, or pay for your own help, a CBC Toronto investigation has revealed.

Insurers like Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) are frequently refusing to help injured workers who want to turn to seemingly less harmful drugs like medical marijuana.

"We have an opioid epidemic here in Canada," said Maurice Sagle, 60, a former carpenter. 

"I'm thinking [the WSIB] better get out of the past."

For it's part, the WSIB says it's reducing the number of drug claims for opioids and deals with requests for medical pot "on a case-by-case basis." 

Charges and convictions for cannabis-related crimes have dropped by more than half over the past year in Canada. However, those rates vary significantly across the country, raising concerns about the uneven application of justice ahead of legalization on October 17.

According to an analysis conducted by The Logic of Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) data obtained via access to information requests, there were 5,594 charges for possession of cannabis in 2017-2018, compared with 11,818 charges in 2016-2017. Similarly, possession convictions fell by more than half over the same period, from 2,515 to 1,041.

Plans to expand a marijuana cultivation facility in Kitchener will go ahead after city permits for the project came through.

On Tuesday, James E. Wagner Cultivation Corporation announced it had secured building permits to complete a set of planned renovations to their facility on Manitou Drive.

The facility will become the company's head office and will be its main growing location.

In a release, company officials said they expect to complete about eight grow or "flowering" rooms within 12 weeks, as well as a vegetation room, a trimming and processing room, a drying room and other areas.