It's more challenging for medicinal cannabis users to access the products they need now that recreational pot is legal, according to Saskatchewan patients and advocates.

"We have patients that have been using the medicinal avenue through the government since 2001 now not able to get their medication," said Kelly Csada, who is the director of Kelz Medical Services Corp. in Regina.

The shop offers educational presentations and one-on-one consultations with people about medicinal marijuana. They used to offer cannabis products in-store to people with prescriptions but stopped after police cracked down on dispensaries.

Csada said it's been a shock to some patients who rely on the medicine to manage their symptoms. 

MediPharm Labs Corp (TSXV: LABS) announced today that one of its subsidiaries, MediPharm Labs, received a sales license from Health Canada. As a leading B2B Canadian cannabis producer, MediPharm provides raw materials, processing, and packaging for advance cannabis derivative products.

The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) is “back on track” according to the province’s finance minister, with legal pot now expected to arrive on doorsteps within one to three business days of the order being placed.

The government-run online retail store has been plagued with problems since its launch on Oct. 17, the day marijuana was legalized in Canada. Some customers experienced long wait times for delivery and others had incorrect orders arrive at the door.

Immediately after the online store opened, it received more than 100,000 orders in 24 hours. Within days, customers were warned that deliveries would be delayed up to five days.

This has been a game-changing year for the marijuana industry. Last month, Canada became the first industrialized country to legalize recreational weed in the world, and just this past week, two more states -- Utah and Missouri -- legalized cannabis in some capacity. At seemingly every turn, history is being made, and that's usually a great time for investors to pay close attention.

Now that recreational cannabis is legal in Canada, producers are looking forward to what they're calling the "second wave" of legalization — edibles, drinks and vaping products expected to become legal starting next year. 

Bruce Linton, the founder and co-CEO of Canopy Growth, said new products developed by Tweed — the cannabis brand owned by Canopy and based in Smiths Falls — represent the next big opportunity.

"I think if you're not preparing things two years in advance, you're never ready," he said. 

"Right now, none of the chocolate or gummy bears or beverages can be prepared or sold, but we're doing experiments on how to make them."

Drink companies and other investors have begun making moves to profit from the cannabis industry through a series of M&A deals. In Canada, the recent legislation of use of recreational cannabis use has given a boost to the adoption of the industry in North America, as well as the US midtermswhich saw Attorney General Jeff Sessions (opposed to legalization of cannabis) step down.

That means more licences for both producers and their grow areas need to be issued by Health Canada, said Allan Rewak, executive director of the Cannabis Council of Canada.

“Absolutely, we need more licensed producers, we need Health Canada to approve more production sites,” said Rewak, adding his group represents 85 per cent of the legal cultivation space in Canada.

“We’re talking to them every day.”

During our last review of GrowGeneration Corp (OTCMKTS:GRWG) – which is available for readers here – we explored the hypothesis that the firm was on an expansionary strategy into the cannabis sector. Back then, their goal was to venture into medical marijuana and their strategy was mainly backed by the acquisition of one of the largest Michigan-based firms so as to boost their top line. The result for them was impressive as their venture into the segment indeed weighed in on their revenue base.

Cannabis producer Aurora Cannabis Inc. reported a surge in revenues between July and September, and "strong" recreational pot sales since Canada legalized marijuana for adult use last month.

The Edmonton-based company posted revenue in what was the first quarter of the company's 2019 financial year of $29.7 million, more than triple the $8.2 million during the same period ended Sept. 30 last year.

Aurora's latest results did not encompass sales of recreational cannabis after Canada legalized pot for adult use on Oct. 17, but its chief executive Terry Booth said the company's initial roll-out has been a "success" thus far. The company said Aurora ranked among the top selling products and brands in many of the provinces the it committed to supplying.

The pharmaceutical industry has done it for years, officially to educate doctors, unofficially to convince them to prescribe more of their medicines.

Now the practice of company-sponsored seminars by specialists known in the drug business as “key opinion leaders” — and criticized as salespeople in disguise – has come to the burgeoning world of medical cannabis.

Shoppers Drug Mart is running a series of events across the country to teach prescribers about the drug, as the 1,300-store chain prepares to become a major marijuana retailer.