A Canadian company is the first marijuana business to complete an initial public offering on a major U.S. stock exchange, raising $153 million to expand its operations as Canada prepares to legalize the drug nationwide.

British Columbia-based Tilray Inc.'s shares began trading Thursday on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Initially priced at $17, the stock quickly jumped, closing for the day at $22.55 - up about one-third.

Tilray isn't the first pot company to trade on a major American stock exchange, but it is the first to do so with an IPO, a step that could boost credibility and confidence in the industry, said John Kagia, an analyst with the marijuana market research firm New Frontier Data.

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation executives showed off one of their new cannabis retail stores in Halifax on Wednesday that will begin selling pot on Oct. 17, when widespread pot use becomes legal across Canada.

President and CEO Bret Mitchell started the tour of the cannabis outlet inside the NSLC store on Joseph Howe Drive at the entrance to the cannabis section, which is located behind frosted glass at the back of the liquor store.

"We call it privacy without barriers," said Mitchell. "People who are not 19 years or older cannot see in here by federal law, so we have frosted the glass."

Across the country, calls for the federal government to decriminalize illicit drugs for personal use continue to ramp up. This week, the Toronto board of health and Kingston-area health officials added their voices to the fray.

Health-care advocates want to refocus Canada’s approach to drug use so it’s treated as a health issue rather than a criminal one, especially in light of the country’s raging opioid crisis. Deaths from opioid overdoses hit a record high last year: nearly 4,000.

Heading into the third quarter of 2018, Canadian advisors are most bullish on marijuana stocks, reveals the latest advisor sentiment survey from Horizons ETFs.

The marijuana sector, as represented by the North American Marijuana Index, has the highest level of bullish sentiment in the survey, with 58% of advisors expecting marijuana stocks to deliver positive returns in Q3.

The index was up 5.78% from last quarter, with much of that performance coming from the announcement that recreational marijuana will become legal in Canada on Oct. 17.

“Since this sector is such a news-driven space, many advisors may be expecting the sector to get a big bump in interest as we near the big day,” says Steve Hawkins, president and co-CEO of Horizons ETFs, in a release.

While many consumers and companies are excited that marijuana sales will be legal in October, it may not all be good news. With legalization paving the way for more people consuming pot, it could create big problems both in Canada and south of the border. Many lessons can be learned from Colorado In an interview with BNN Bloomberg recently, Bill Ritter, former governor of Colorado, noted many downsides that have come with being the first U.S. state to legalize pot, one of which was that the state became a destination for those looking to smoke and grow pot. This has even attracted…

On the shores of Gimli, Man., a popular beach town about an hour north of Winnipeg, sits a tall, bearded statue of a Viking wielding an axe. It commemorates Gimli’s history as an Icelandic settlement, the centre of a region that became known as New Iceland in 1875 and is still the largest harbour on Lake Winnipeg.

These days, the lakeside community of more than 2,000 people is known as a summer party hub for Manitoban tourists and cottagers. And not far from its famous monument, Crown Royal whisky is produced and distributed all over the world—a celebrated town fixture since 1939.

All this to say: Gimli is a fun place.

Trade 

This year’s gathering of agriculture ministers comes in the midst of an escalating trade war. Several countries, including Canada, have imposed retaliatory tariffs on a laundry list of U.S. products after the Trump administration levied a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum imports.

Canada’s retaliatory tariff package, which took effect July 1, is valued at $16.6 billion. Many food items made the list, including gherkin pickles, pizza and quiches, soup, salad dressings, ketchup and mayonnaise. But no primary agriculture products are on the list at this time due to fears of unintended consequences on producers here at home.

The B.C. government has announced plans to protect farmland from being alienated by concrete-floored “industrial bunkers” built to grow recreational marijuana.

New marijuana structure projects had to have been under construction, with permits, by today (July 13, 2018) to be immune from a new regulation allowing local governments to prohibit them in the Agriculture Land Reserve, the B.C. agriculture ministry says.

The federal government has allowed non-medical marijuana in “bunkers,” some of which were built as secure locations for growing licensed medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana growing, possession and use become legal Oct. 17 across Canada, due to federal law passed this spring.

OTTAWA -- Health Canada is prepared to crack down on licensed medical marijuana producers who are sponsoring music festivals and other events.

The federal department says it's "concerned" about some companies that have engaged in corporate sponsorships and other promotional activities that go against the Cannabis Act.

It says the government has made it "abundantly clear" what isn't permitted under the laws, such as marketing to young people.

Health Canada issued a statement that says cannabis companies have been dabbling in various forms of marketing that raise red flags -- though it highlighted music festivals as a particular point of concern.