The legal-marijuana industry is on one heck of a run. Last year, five states legalized the use of medical cannabis for select ailments, pushing the number of states that have chosen to allow physicians to prescribe cannabis past the halfway mark (28 states). We also witnessed the number of recreational-pot states double to eight from four.

The result has been a steady increase in North American legal weed sales (including Canada, which legalized medical marijuana back in 2001). Cannabis-research firm Arcview estimated a 34% increase in North American legal sales to $6.9 billion last year alone.

Canada’s medical marijuana growers will have to start testing all their products for unauthorized pesticides, says Health Canada, stepping up the government’s response to concerns about tainted marijuana.

The policy was announced Friday night as the department released test results that showed another marijuana producer, Ontario-based Peace Naturals Project Inc., had a plant test positive for a pesticide ingredient not approved for use on cannabis. Peace Naturals identified the source of the problem as cross-contamination from a product used to sanitize a plant harvest room.

Alberta needs to better prepare its health care system for marijuana legalization, an academic told a Calgary seminar on the watershed drug reforms said Friday.

While Cam Wild praised Ottawa’s approach to legalizing the recreational use of the drug, he said the province has considerable work to do in the medical field to ensure the move’s success.

A priority should be dedicating tax revenues raised from pot sales to mental health and addictions programs, rather than putting them into general revenues, said Wild, of the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health.

That’s the policy followed by states that have legalized recreational pot, such as California, Washington and Oregon, he said.

“That concept is foreign to us,” he said.

USA

New York City
Parade Assembly: 11:00 a.m. | West 31st & Broadway, Koreatown, NYC
Parade Start Time: 12:30 p.m. | Parade will march to Union Square (Route South on Broadway)
Rally: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Union Square South Plaza
“The NYC Cannabis Parade is the longest running public expression of drug policy reform in New York City, with roots as far back as the early 70’s. This event have gone by many different monikers, but our purpose remains the same, to spread awareness throughout the world! In 1999, the Million Marijuana March brand exploded and has since turned into a annual event held in hundreds of cities across dozens of countries.”

Marijuana stocks are on fire, and growth in the legal weed industry certainly has the attention of investors.

According to cannabis research firm ArcView, legal pot sales in North America jumped 34% in 2016 to a record $6.9 billion. Per ArcView, sales of legal weed could grow to reach more than $22 billion by 2021. A similar bullish sentiment is shared by investment firm Cowen & Co., which believes legal marijuana sales could hit $50 billion by 2026. With ArcView estimating that $46.4 billion in cannabis sales last year came from the black market, there's ample reason to believe that legal channels can lure in these under-the-table consumers in the years to come.

The countdown to the legalization of marijuana is officially on.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that before July 1, 2018 marijuana will be legal for all Canadians over the age of 18.

A University of Guelph professor who penned a book on the history of illegal drugs in Canada says after nearly a century of marijuana prohibition, no one is really sure why it was made illegal in the first place. 

"We don't actually know," Catherine Carstairs told The Morning Edition host Craig Norris Tuesday.

A professor and chair of the history department at the University of Guelph, Carstairs is the author of the 2006 book Jailed for Possession: Illegal Drug Use, Regulation and Power in Canada, 1920-1961.

She said there are two competing theories as to why lawmakers banned marijuana in Canada in 1923, but both remain little more than speculation because of a lack of historic evidence. 

Expect legalization to create drastic changes in the way canna workplaces are regulated and product is produced. In the U.S. a legalizing marketplace may mean lower wages, but it will probably mean better working conditions. Across Europe, legalization is being seen as one way to crack down on slave labor as much as standardize product.

As cannabis becomes a legal commodity in both the U.S. and Canada, the production and distribution of the market becomes more structured. This means that the industry can start to produce higher volumes. However, by definition, this also means something else. The specialised workforces that have grown up around the industry are facing massive changes. Automation is making its presence felt.

An activist group is encouraging people charged with marijuana-related offences to purposefully clog up the courts, to punish the system for prosecuting them.

Quebec-based marijuana activist Ray Turmel says if the government is going to treat people like criminals for what he calls "peanut" offences, then he's going to hit back the best way he knows how.

"What I'm doing is trying to bottleneck the court system and cost them a lot of money," he says.

'Let's leave the court system for the people who really need to be tried.' - Ray Turmel, marijuana advocate

The CEO and chair of Loblaw Companies says he hasn't ruled out the possibility of selling recreational marijuana, a slight shift in position for Canada's largest grocery and drugstore chain.

Galen G. Weston said his focus remains on dispensing medical cannabis. But when asked whether Loblaw has closed the book on entering the recreational marijuana market, Weston said, "You can never predict the future," adding that the company is closely watching for more details about the federal government's proposed legalization of the drug.

"It's fair to say that at this point, based on everything we know today, medical is a place where we see an opportunity," Weston said at Loblaw's annual general meeting.