The rapidly swelling number of medical cannabis patients is outstripping Canadian health care’s ability to handle them, a Calgary physician who prescribes the substance said Friday.

The legalization of recreational pot has lessened the drug’s stigma, sparking a huge boom in the number of Canadians registering as medical marijuana patients with the federal government, said Dr. Sana-Ara Ahmed, an anesthesiologist and chronic pain specialist.

A year ago, there were 250,000 people registered and by last December there were 350,000, she said.

“I think the number now is more like 400,000 — it’s a startling increase,” she said.

That old investing adage of "sell in May and go away" might have been good advice to follow for investors in the cannabis industry. Most cannabis stocks performed dismally last month. But not all of them were losers.

Three cannabis stocks managed to achieve solid gains in May: Namaste Technologies(NASDAQOTH:NXTTF) (TSXV:N), Cara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CARA), and GW Pharmaceuticals(NASDAQ:GWPH). Here's how these stocks bucked the downtrend and whether or not they're smart picks to buy now. 

With the purchase of a local pot producer, a beer and wine company could bring Saskatchewan to the forefront of cannabis-infused beverages.

The Hill Street Beverage Company out of Ontario has signed a letter of intent to buy OneLeaf Cannabis for $16 million.

Terry Donnelly, chairman and CEO of Hill Street, said the company is going to use OneLeaf’s expertise and massive production facility just outside of Regina to help create its upcoming line of weed-infused beers and wines.

“We think this is the equivalent to the end of prohibition of alcohol, so we’re planning a multi-year strategy to be able to create a whole new portfolio or whole new category of beverages that we believe will be an alternative to alcohol,” explained Donnelly.

Following decades of hiding in the shadows, marijuana now finds itself in the spotlight as one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet (especially in North America). Much of this has to do with Canada becoming the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana. According to Wall Street projections, Canada's legal weed industry could net close to $6 billion in sales by 2022.

Canada has always been a leader in the cannabis industry having a fairly robust legal medical cannabis program since 2001, but the interest in using cannabis for medical purposes was really spurred once recreational cannabis became legal last October. More and more of the canna-curious are asking their physicians how they can use cannabis to treat their symptoms but a major problem is that the information is not available.  

When Canada legalized cannabis in October 2018, it ended a ninety-five-year long prohibition.

This has catapulted the government into a new era of cannabis regulation. Federal, provincial, and municipal authorities are all rolling out their own methods of adapting in a post-prohibition environment.

But if history has taught us anything about ending a prohibition, it’s that they don’t go out easily.

Take British Columbia’s liquor laws for example. Many of the inane provincial and municipal laws that we have on the books today were developed as a result of alcohol prohibition and the attitudes that people carried as a result of it.

Could Asia be a potential gold mine for Canadian cannabis producers?  

Marijuana stocks were broadly lower Thursday after MedMen (OTC: MMNFF) revealed it's slashing executive pay amid widening losses. It comes as the FDA is set to hold its first public hearing on CBD, a nonintoxicating cannabis compound claimed to have therapeutic benefits.

MedMen, whose trendy retail outlets resemble Apple stores, posted a loss of $63.1 million, or 20 cents a share, for its fiscal Q3 vs. a year-ago loss of $16.8 million. Analyst were expecting a loss of 10 cents a share, according to Yahoo Finance. Revenue surged 156% to $36.6 million.

Money continues to pour into marijuana stocks at a feverish clip, despite growing fears that legal cannabis cultivators are the latest iteration of a market bubble. While cultivators such as Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC), Aurora, and Cronos have made outstanding gains of 35%, 58%, and 163%, respectively, over the last year, industry insiders are claiming there is further massive upside ahead and short sellers are circling.

When cannabis was first legalized in Canada, customers immediately criticized the excessive plastic packaging that came with it. 

Some products generated as much as 70 grams of plastic and cardboard for one gram of marijuana. 

But that is starting to change. 

Some products, offered in pill containers, have shed the outer cardboard boxes and shrink-wrapped plastic seal. 

Others, such as a gram of cannabis from Ontario producer Aphria, come in sealed brown envelopes. 

"We are certainly mindful of the concerns raised around the amount of packaging used industry-wide, which was largely the result of ensuring compliance with the regulations under the Cannabis Act," said Andrew Swartz, a spokesperson for Aphria.