These marijuana companies may seek an acquisition.

Competition in the marijuana market is surging thanks to the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis in October 2018 in Canada, and the growing number of U.S. states that have approved its medical and recreational usage. With these developments, more companies are looking to acquire smaller competitors to stay ahead of the pack.

Beleave Kannabis Corp. wants to grow more than just weed.

The Ontario marijuana company aims to build an empire of plant scientists, regulatory experts and security personnel in a nascent industry with exploding demand. But there‘s a shortage of experienced staffers in Canada, which became the first industrialized country to fully decriminalize pot in October, chief science officer Roger Ferreira said.

So Beleave, like dozens of other licensed producers, is pressing local universities for help.

“I‘m going to pillage the top of your class,” Ferreira said. “All your 4.0 GPAs, send them this way.”

Legal cannabis in Canada is leading to a lot more growth than just flowers and leaves. The recreational and medical marijuana industries are laying some deep roots across the country, and no place is that more true than here in Toronto.

While the province’s largest greenhouses might be well outside the city limits, the companies that own them are finding a home in Toronto’s corporate culture.

We’ve rounded up five of them offering work in the Big Smoke, so get that resume ready.

Last summer, a few months before Canada legalized cannabis for recreational use, Canopy Growth Corp. bused a group of seniors from a nearby nursing home to its facility in Smiths Falls, Ont.

The idea, according to Canopy CEO Bruce Linton, was to let them observe how cannabis is grown and learn about the plant’s medical uses.

“They were really curious about the plant. They wanted to know what we were doing over here, what weed was all about, and how it could maybe help them through their ailments,” Linton said.

The global elite are on their way to the Swiss alpine town of Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering, but this year a new group is joining the party: the cannabis elite.

A bevy of company executives and former politicians — all of whom are now involved in the burgeoning legal cannabis industry — are expected to attend what is being billed as the first ever “Cannabis Conclave,” a three-hour lunch at an alpine restaurant only accessible by cable car.

City of Windsor council has voted 8-3 to allow private marijuana retail stores in the city.

The meeting saw many delegates opposed to cannabis store, some citing effects on mental health and influences on children as reasons.

"Many people influenced by others," said Jordan Qu, resident of Ward 7. "So I'm sure if Windsor have a store to sell the marijuana easily, then more young people will use the marijuana."

On the other hand, cannabis advocate Leo Lucier said having such stores would be a "cash cow" for the city.

He also compared people's attitudes toward cannabis versus alcohol and tobacco, saying "nobody's ever died from cannabis use" but there are "millions of deaths worldwide" that are tobacco-related.

Marijuana producer WeedMD (CVE:WMD) (OTCMKTS:WDDMF) is 'well-positioned' heading into 2019 to capture market share in Canada as well as internationally, wrote analysts at Haywood Securities at the tail-end of last year.

More recently, another broker, Eight Capital, said the firm was keeping up with changes as the marijuana industry evolves. Both brokers rated its shares a Buy.

WeedMD produces cannabis and cannabis oil for both the medical and adult-use markets and operates two growing facilities.

Products include medical marijuana, including dried marijuana, cannabis oil, cannabis resin, marijuana plants, and marijuana seeds in Canada.

Marijuana stocks may not have had the best year in 2018, but the one thing that really stood out was the maturation of the industry as a whole. Following months of debate, Canada finally passed the Cannabis Act in June, and officially legalized adult-use pot in October, legitimizing the marijuana industry as a valid business model. Within a few years, Canadian pot stocks should be generating billions of dollars in added annual sales.

Most investor focus was arguably on revenue and operating earnings growth as Aphria(TSX:APHA)(NYSE:APHA) released its Q2 2019 financial results on January 11, but besides the noted takeaways from the earnings report, I find this little detail quite interesting.

The issue relates to a recently closed acquisition by Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC).

Beleave Inc. (CSE:BE) (OTCQX:BLEVF), one of the Canadian cannabis stocks, announced recently that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Beleave Kannabis Corp., has received authorization from Health Canada to sell cannabis oil products from January 11, 2019. Health Canada has granted an amended license with modified conditions allowing the sale of cannabis oil under the Cannabis Regulations.