Terry Lake is the Vice President of Social Responsibility at the Hexo, a licensed cannabis producer based in Quebec, Canada, writes Nick Hilden. 

What makes your company different from others in the cannabis space?

We have taken a very deliberate and measured approach to our growth strategy by focussing first on Quebec and then on the rest of Canada and now looking to international markets. We have resisted the temptation to throw a lot of stuff at the wall and see what sticks, choosing a longer term and well-researched strategy.

How did you get into the cannabis space?

Security cameras in a cannabis dispensary in Canada have captured the moment a man used a bong to fight off three would-be bandits wielding cans of bear spray. CCTV footage showed three men with their heads covered enter the premises in Tyendinaga, Ontario, before one of the men sprayed a man and woman working behind the counter.

The staff ducked, before the man emerged clutching a bong that he used to fend off the men. Tyendinaga Police appealed to the public to help identify the "four males, believed to be of middle eastern decent (sic)" that attempted to rob the Recreational Cannabis Farmers Market.

Potent edibles and poor public education are to blame for a spike in emergency room visits.

A man is splayed on the floor of a jazz bar in Canada.

Quebec's new cannabis agency has yet to finish the final details of its training materials for employees, despite the fact it hopes to open about 20 retail stores across Quebec in just over a month.

Nonetheless, the roughly 300 people who will work for the Quebec cannabis agency (SQDC) will be expected to educate the public about the product, and the risks associated with it, when they start work.

CBC has filed access to information requests for the training documents and materials with three provincial organizations: the SAQ, which is overseeing the new cannabis agency, the Quebec Health Ministry, and the CHUM, Montreal's French-language superhospital, which is a partner in the process.

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better with Canadian marijuana growers. Aphria Inc.(NASDAQOTH:APHQF), for example, claims a market cap that's nearly 4.5 times higher than CannTrust Holdings Inc.'s (NASDAQOTH:CNTTF) market cap. So far in 2018, though, CannTrust has turned in significantly higher stock gains than its larger rival.

But which of these marijuana stocks is the better pick for investors now? Here's what you need to know about how Aphria and CannTrust stack up against each other in the key areas that should make a difference going forward.

Pranav Sood took his cannabis tech company to California to learn from one of the world’s largest legal marijuana markets, and now the Canadian is bringing his software back home to capitalize on the legal recreational market here.

Founded in Canada in 2014, Trellis Solutions Inc. is a cannabis software company that allows growers to track plants as they move through the supply chain, from cultivation to distribution. The software generates regulator-mandated compliance reports and analytics, such as plant-mortality rate and cost per gram, that help licensed producers optimize their operations.

In case you missed it, marijuana stocks are unstoppable once again. After a lull early in the year, all but a very small handful of marijuana stocks surged by a double-digit percentage in August. Excitement over Canada's upcoming recreational cannabis legalization on Oct. 17, along with a flurry of recent deal-making, has pushed a number of brand-name pot stocks to new heights. 

The question is: What top marijuana stocks should you be watching this month?

Soldiers in the Canadian Armed Forces will be allowed to consume cannabis once it becomes legal on October 17 of this year. It won't be quite as easy for military personnel to smoke a joint as it will be to grab a beer, but recreational marijuana won't be banned outright either in the Canadian Armed Forces' new cannabis policy, writes Calvin Hughes.

But as the government well knows, what’s written on paper won’t add up to anything nearly so blissful. Though Oct. 17 looms as a cultural and legal sea change, cannabis will not shed its stigma overnight.

As the new law takes hold, few expect the vast black and grey markets that carried Canadian cannabis to this moment to vanish like so many puffs of smoke, surrendering lock, stock and barrel to Bay Street’s new publicly traded titans of factory-scale production.

The day weed becomes legal, activists and cannabis law experts say, marks the start of a prolonged, uncertain and potentially ugly battle for the shape and soul of the industry that emerges from the regulatory haze.

Canadian marijuana stocks appear to be really hitting their stride right now. Shares of HEXO Corp.(NASDAQOTH:HYYDF), formerly known as Hydropothecary, are up 65% so far in 2018. Organigram Holdings Inc. (NASDAQOTH:OGRMF) stock isn't too far behind, with a year-to-date gain of nearly 60%.

But which of these marijuana stocks is the better choice for investors now? Here's what you need to know about how HEXO and Organigram stack up against each other.