P.E.I. Cannabis now offers two flavours of cannabis-infused cookies. (P.E.I. Cannabis)

There is a new location to get baked goods on the Island — cannabis cookies are now being sold at P.E.I. Cannabis retailers.

"We're very excited about it," said Colin MacDonald, brand and communications manager for P.E.I. Cannabis. "It is an addition to our current portfolio of edibles which have been available in our stores for two years now."

Edibles such as gummies, mints and chocolates were already being sold at the store, but the first supply of baked goods only hit the shelves earlier this week. People have been quick to sink their teeth in.

"The uptake has been quite good so far this week," MacDonald said.

Captures #1 share of edibles position in inaugural launch province of PEI within two weeks of launch

A woman in her 20s has died after using a cannabis product mixed with fentanyl, methamphetamine and the synthetic drug W-18, Prince Edward Island's chief public health officer says. 

P.E.I.'s coroner reported the accidental overdose death late Friday. Investigations are ongoing, according to a written news release.

Dr. Heather Morrison warned that anyone consuming any kind of street drugs should take steps to reduce the risks and carry naloxone, and share the information with other drug-users that naloxone is available. 

Naloxone, also known by the trade name Narcan, is highly effective at reversing the effects of overdoses of opioids including heroin, morphine or fentanyl.  

Anyone consuming cannabis should ensure it comes from a safe source, she added. 

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the arrow on price increases on P.E.I. in 2020, with the provincial economy showing a small amount of deflation.

While inflation was subdued across Canada last year, P.E.I. was the only province to record deflation from December 2019 to December 2020, with the consumer price index down 0.14 per cent from December to December. Nationally, the CPI rose 0.73 per cent.

If you’ve been following the political coverage in the Maritimes recently, you’d have seen considerable coverage of the challenges faced by the tourism industry both within the region and, more specifically, here on Prince Edward Island.

Problems in the tourism industry aren’t unique to P.E.I. nor the Maritimes. Having said that, the outsized impact of this tourism turbulence on the local economy differentiates the sector’s importance to our province’s bottom line compared to the experience of other jurisdictions.

Last week, we saw the Government of Nova Scotia announce commercial property tax forgiveness for tourism operators, and the Official Opposition leader in P.E.I. press the government for its own immediate plans to support the sector in these trying times.

A new diversion and educational justice program on P.E.I. is designed to give young Islanders an opportunity to understand the health, legal and social risks of cannabis use and possession.

Canadians are clearly in love with cannabis, but not all provinces were created equal when it comes to permitting pot. While the historic Cannabis Act applies to all provinces, the rules around distribution and consumption fall to the provinces — and municipalities have some say on it, too.

That’s why for Canada Day, The GrowthOp takes a look at the growing industry from coast-to-coast — crunching the data on price, consumption habits, number of stores, public consumption options and the ability to grow at home — to find out which provinces are rolling out the red carpet for weed and which are still warming up to the country’s second favourite leaf.

Here are our findings.

Prince Edward Island required its four licensed cannabis retail locations to take protective measures when they reopened May 22, but wearing masks was reportedly not among them.

Beyond allowing only “limited access,” namely restricting the number of location occupants, mandatory measures in PEI Cannabis stores included having physical distancing both inside and outside stores, general screening regarding compliance with self-isolation demands prior to entry into the businesses, and no cash transactions for the time being.

P.E.I. will reopen its four cannabis stores May 22, Steven Myers announced Thursday at a media briefing on COVID-19. 

The province shut down the pot stores along with provincially-owned liquor stores March 19. 

Liquor stores began to gradually reopen but pot stores remained delivery-only. Government waived the shipping costs and set up a phone-in option to make ordering easier.

In announcing which public services would reopen under Phase 2 of the province's ease-back from coronavirus restrictions, Myers said all P.E.I. Cannabis stores will reopen May 22, with what he called limited access.

An investigation by P.E.I.'s privacy watchdog into P.E.I. Cannabis Management Corporation (PEICMC) has found that overall the corporation is doing a good job protecting Islanders privacy, but said there are areas that could be improved. 

The investigation was launched in October 2018 — two days after the P.E.I. Cannabis retail stores opened — after complaints were made that scanners were being using to check customer's IDs and that some of that information was being stored for a 24-hour period. 

Those machines were quickly pulled from the stores and Zach Currie, PEICMC's director of operations, said there are no plans to reintroduce machines like that in the near future. 

The PEICMC has since switched to checking the ID of anyone who looks under 30, said Currie.