The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD) is the latest Canadian cannabis company to scale back its operations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Toronto-based cannabis producer said in a statement late Wednesday it will postpone production at its facility in Valleyfield, Que. and temporarily lay off staff, but noted it intends to restart its operations later this year. The company will also reduce salary by 20 per cent for its salaried employees and 30 per cent for certain executive staff and place a freeze on hiring and consultancy work.

"Multiple factors, most particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, are contributing to an environment in which we must be extremely prudent with how we manage our cost structure," said TGOD chief executive officer Brian Athaide.

Approximately 4,000 times these past two weeks, I’ve thanked my lucky stars cannabis was legalized before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe and sent us all cowering in our bong dens.

A Morin Heights drug trafficker who supplied several kilograms of cocaine and cannabis to dealers in Newfoundland ended up with the lightest sentence meted out to people involved in the network because a Montreal judge determined he has already rehabilitated himself.

Alexandre Préfontaine, 37, was all smiles and patted his lawyer, Christian Gauthier, on the back Wednesday after they left the courtroom where Quebec Court Judge Linda Despots decided the repeat offender should only be required to serve a 90-day sentence on weekends beginning Feb. 8. The prison term will be followed by three years of probation. Préfontaine is also required to perform 200 hours of community service.

The government of Quebec is known for taking a unique approach to law-making, informed by French culture, history, sovereignty and language rights. Those laws can be confusing to outsiders who aren’t familiar with the territory – and cannabis regulation is no exception.

There’s no question that Quebecers love weed, but that appetite doesn’t seem congruent with the province’s legislation surrounding the drug. Just recently, legislators bumped the minimum age to buy cannabis from 18 to to 21 – the highest in the country.

The cannabis industry was supposed to be unstoppable in 2019, with Canada launching derivatives and a number of U.S. states delivering strong organic growth. But reality hadn't come close to matching the perception by the time the curtain finally closed.

Following a red-hot first quarter that saw more than a dozen pot stocks gain at least 70%, cannabis companies finished the remainder of the year in a steep nine-month downtrend. Persistent supply issues in Canada, exorbitant tax rates on cannabis in select U.S. states, and a huge black market presence have all made life difficult for North American pot stocks.

Cannabis is federally legal in Canada – but that doesn’t mean that all Canadian cities are created equal when it comes to weed.

While the country boasts a wide variety of cities that feature exceptional cannabis culture from coast to coast, here are three of our favourite weed-friendly cities in which to get high — and enjoy the view.

s of Jan. 1, 2020, the legal age to buy or possess cannabis in Quebec is 21, giving the province the highest minimum age for cannabis use in Canada.

Elsewhere in Canada, cannabis is permitted at age 19, except in Alberta, where the legal age is 18.

The Quebec law, passed by the Coalition Avenir Québec government on Nov. 1, also means people under 21 aren't allowed on the premises of any Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) outlet.

The government rules state that people under 21 will be prohibited from possessing cannabis, even if they bought it legally before the new year.

Lily Kisilevich and her two best friends travelled to Montreal from Toronto over the holidays to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city — and also to buy pot.

Kisilevich, Meaghan Smith and Rylee Restoule are all 18, and in Ontario, the legal age to consume cannabis is 19.

So on Monday, despite a nasty weather cocktail of freezing rain and sleet, the trio waited patiently in a long line outside the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) store on Ste-Catherine St.

The Mounties, in cooperation with Canada Post, said they have seized $1 million worth of drugs — and almost the same cash value of alcohol — en route to Nunavik, the Northern area of Quebec, according to Leafly.

In coordination with local police, the operation intercepted crack, cocaine, meth, hashish, cannabis flower and shatter after the drugs were ordered from the abundance of illicit mail-order websites littering the internet. The ability to use Canada Post to deliver drugs has been a game-changer for residents of the fly-in region that generally only receive supplies via expensive air transport.