Interest from seniors about cannabis promoted the executive director of the Prince Albert Senior Advocacy Centre to host a workshop on the topic.

“We are getting question from the seniors we see, particularly regarding medical use of marijuana. We thought there was a lot, so let’s have a workshop,” John Fryters said.

“They want to know how it can help them with various ailments that they have. And they seem to be all pain related, anxiety related.”

About 25 people participated in the workshop. Most said they were there to learn if cannabis products could help with chronic health conditions that affect aging adults such as arthritis. Some said they had pain in their joints or legs and are interested in trying topical creams.

The Saskatchewan government is planning to treat e-cigarettes and vaporizers much like tobacco, limiting where they’re sold and how they’re advertised while setting the age limit at 18.

Health Minister Jim Reiter introduced amendments to the Tobacco Control Act on Tuesday. If passed, the new rules will come into effect in the spring, but Reiter said they’re only a first step.

Notably, the bill won’t explicitly ban flavoured vaping products. It would allow the government to restrict them through regulation. Reiter said that will come after a consultation period.

The Saskatchewan government is opening up the market for new retail cannabis stores.

Prior to the legalization of recreational cannabis in Oct. 2018, Saskatchewan used a lottery to determine who would be able to open shops. In April 2018, the province received a combined 1,500 applications for 51 permits in 32 communities and First Nations.

Now the Saskatchewan government is scrapping the lottery system and the cap on how may stores can be opened.

"We believe opening the market to more retailers will help meet customer demand while also helping discourage competition from unlicensed stores," said Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Gene Makowsky in a news release.

One year after the legalization of cannabis, the Regina Police Service has not seen an increased amount of cannabis impaired driving, notable increases in youth using, or an increase in people using at work. 

At the Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, the police service said that in many aspects it has been "business as usual" as the illegal production, distribution and use of the drug were not new. 

The report said while cannabis is important to the service, it does not have the same "pressing public safety concerns" as cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl. ​

Saskatchewan plans to lift the lid on legal cannabis sales to help meet consumer demand.

The government says it will open the market to more retailers in the hope of discouraging competition from illegal sellers.

Last year, the province used a lottery system to select 51 retail permit applications, of which 39 have been issued and 12 are still being assessed.

Gene Makowsky, minister for the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, says starting in April the government will accept applications for cannabis retail permits in communities with populations less than 2,500.

In September, it will accept permit applications for stores in all communities without any cap.

Municipalities can still opt out of having cannabis retail stores if they wish.

Be careful what you wish for, especially when placing an order for weed online. Returning it can be a challenge, with policies varying from province to province.

Here’s what the shipping and return policies look like across the country.

British Columbia 

Bought a product that’s defective, shipped in error or recalled? The BC Cannabis Stores will take them back, but returns must be initiated within 15 days of the purchase.

With the Liberal party staying in Parliament Hill as a minority government, talks of western provinces separating from Canada are growing.

The movement, known as “Wexit” or “western exit,” proposes Alberta and Saskatchewan leave the country.

Lisa Campbell, CEO of Lifford Cannabis Solutions, a licensed sales agency in Alberta, thinks the provinces splitting could allow them to capitalize on cannabis by avoiding the $1 per gram or 10 per cent federal excise tax.

“That would be seriously beneficial. It could be the new oil for Alberta and Saskatchewan,” she said in a phone interview.

October 17, 2019, marks the first anniversary of the legalization of cannabis federally in Canada, and the date when the second phase of products — edibles, extracts, topicals and some other alternative cannabis products also become legal. 

Each province and territory were handed the reins for rolling out legalization, and the results in terms of access to legal marijuana are very different for Canadians depending on where they live. This has also had an impact on consumption patterns.

Cierra Sieben-Chuback had just completed her degree at the University of Saskatchewan when she received a cash offer few debt-laden students can even imagine.

As Sieben-Chuback was looking to the future in June 2018, she discovered she was among 51 lottery winners of licences to obtain permits to operate legal cannabis retail stores in Saskatchewan.

Others found out about her good fortune, too — which resulted in multiple offers from large companies for her permit, as high as a “couple million” dollars, “Which is crazy because I’ve never in my life been offered that kind of money,” she said.

Data released by Statistics Canada earlier this week shows the average price for a gram of cannabis from the illicit market cost approximately $7.43/g in the 10 months preceding federal legalization.

But between legalization taking effect last October and now, the average price on the illicit market has plummeted to just $5.57/g, a nearly $2 difference.

That leaves Saskatchewan with one of the biggest price drops with regards to illicit adult-use cannabis in Canada—with the exception of Prince Edward Island.