If the rollout of legal recreational marijuana goes (more or less) smoothly this week, an Ottawa-based tech firm will be able to claim at least some of the credit.

Canadian cannabis-fanciers are expected to log on in large numbers to buy the product online after it becomes officially legal one minute after midnight tonight. In four provinces, that online shopping experience will be shaped largely by a single company: Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify.

The company was chosen to design the retail platform for online sales in Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Shopify's Vice-President and General Manager Loren Padelford laughed when asked whether he thinks he's joining the marijuana trade this week.

Green Organic Dutchman, Hexo, CannTrust and Aleafia all carry buy ratings and stock-price targets well above today’s trading levels.

Canada’s move to fully legalize cannabis for adult recreational use on Wednesday has set the stage for the development of a new industry that is expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue.

Wednesday marked the "big day" that every cannabisand marijuana stocks enthusiast has been waiting for. The country firmly moved ahead with its program that legalizes the sale of recreationalmarijuana across Canada. As government cannabis retailers opened from Newfoundland to British Columbia, Canadian citizens battled long lines and waited for hours to buy the first state-approved cannabis.

CannTrust Holdings Inc. (“CannTrust” or the “Company”, TSX: TRST), one of Canada’s leading licensed producers and most trusted brands for medical cannabis, and Kindred, a wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary of Breakthru Beverage Group, have finalized their exclusive partnership.

Kindred will represent CannTrust’s cannabis products to the Canadian adult consumer market for recreational use and utilize the insights from its sister-company, Breakthru Beverage Canada, to deploy a state-of-the-art route-to-market platform for CannTrust.

Today we have identified some Canadian marijuana stocks that are well positioned to meet Canadian recreational cannabis demand for the foreseeable future.

Statistics Canada estimates that Canadians spent $5.7B on cannabis in 2017 and the demand for cannabis is expected to be extremely high now that it can be purchased legally. To meet such demands many Licensed Producers in Canada have made significant investments to increase their production capacity by renovating or building production facilities.

Ontario and B.C. alone have already snapped up more than half of the country’s existing grow-op space.

The rush for cannabis is on in Canada and so is finding the real estate to grow it.

The legalization of recreational weed on Wednesday has already fuelled a sixfold surge in pot-growing facilities to 8.7 million square feet (808,256 square meters) in the year through September, according to data from Altus Group Ltd. — space about the size of Amazon.com Inc.’s Seattle headquarters.

If you feel confused about the rules for using, buying, growing or doing anything with cannabis, you are not alone.

For starters, know this: the federal law, The Cannabis Act, lays the framework, but the provinces and municipalities ultimately set the ground rules. With that said, here’s are a few kind-of-confusing-cannabis laws that might trip you up, but could cost set you back thousands if you don’t remember.

Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) was down 6.85%, Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) was down 7.23%, and Aphria (TSX:APH) was down 6.08% on the day before legalization.

At the time of writing, it is the day of legalization — the day this massive market is officially opened and when the sale of marijuana begins to be taken away from the black market.

As a reflection of the volatility and the risk that is still inherent in marijuana stocks, let’s look at what is happening in the market.

You can smoke marijuana anywhere lighting up a cigarette is permitted, so long as you’re 19 or older, not toking in a car, a boat or within 20 metres of a playground or school.

Pot smoking is now legal in Ontario anywhere firing up a cigarette is permitted — as long as you're 19 or older, not toking in a car or a boat or within 20 metres of a playground or school. Premier Doug Ford's government passed legislation Wednesday on the sale and use of recreational cannabis.

The first shopper at Cannabis NB's Main Street location in Moncton left without a purchase.

Cannabis sales were brisk around New Brunswick on the first day of legalized retailing, despite prices on many products that appeared to be the highest in Canada.

Dameon Pettis was one of the first shoppers let into the Cannabis NB store on Moncton's Main Street but left without making a purchase.

"The prices are just not in our price range, honestly," said Pettis. "I feel they should be lowered, but I guess in time.  Nothing happens overnight."