Tweed Grasslands, Yorkton — owned by an international company — won five of 51 pot permits in Sask.

The biggest winner of last week's lottery-style draw for permits to sell marijuana in Saskatchewan is a well-known player on the international cannabis and hemp scene. 

Tweed Grasslands, Yorkton (Canopy Growth Corporation) won five of the 51 available permits. Provided it meets necessary requirements, such as criminal record checks, the company will be able to open shops in Fort Qu'Appelle, Humboldt, Meadow Lake, Melville and the R.M. of Corman Park.

Canopy Growth Corporation, which owns Tweed, is an international cannabis and hemp company with connections to multiple brands and recognizable people in the cannabis industry, including rapper Snoop Dogg.

In just five days, Canada's Senate could alter the face of the legal cannabis industry throughout the world with its vote on bill C-45, which is best known as the Cannabis Act. If approved by the Senate, it would pave the way for Canada to become the first developed country in the world to legalize adult-use cannabis.

Four days from now, Canada's Senate is expected to make a game-changing judgment on bill C-45, which is better known as the Cannabis Act. If passed by the Senate, which is widely expected to happen, the Cannabis Act would be one step closer to becoming law and, in the process, legalizing adult-use marijuana for Canadians.

In becoming the first developed country in the world to legalize adult-use weed, Canada could be opening the door to $5 billion in added annual sales. This would come atop what the industry has already been generating from medical weed sales, as well as exports to countries where medical marijuana is legal.

The blunt truth about pot stocks

Canada's marijuana industry is taking the Field of Dreams approach. In the 1989 movie, the Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner hears a whisper saying, "If you build it, he will come." The "it" referred to a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield. The "he" referred to deceased baseball legend Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was kicked out of major league baseball because of his alleged participation in a scheme with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series games. This was known as the Black Sox scandal.

Leigh Coulter, president of GGS Structures, gives BNN Bloomberg a look at the inner workings of a cannabis growing facility. Marijuana producers like CannTrust and others are increasingly moving toward greenhouse facilities to keep costs down.

Wanna grow your own marijuana? This shop will teach you how.

The Seed Company by E.W. Gaze is gearing up for the advent of legal marijuana with workshops dedicated to teaching people how to grow weed at home.

Medical cannabis expert Chris Snellen and other experienced growers held what they believe to be the first ever growing course in Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday in St. John's,

At $85 a person, the session sold out quickly, said assistant manager Jackson McLean.

He said it wasn't just young people who attended either.

"A lot of them are older people who have medical issues that they need cannabis for, and they have some gardening experience, and they want to put those two things together and grow their own medicine," said Mclean.

New entrepreneur Shaun Baid is feeling excited about his prospects these days. Mr. Baid, a Calgary accountant who was laid off last year amid the energy sector downturn, is now working with three partners to open a cannabis retail store.

“It’s super exciting times, all across the country, but especially here in Alberta,” said Mr. Baid, chief financial officer of Kush Collective. “It feels like Alberta is where this whole gold rush is going to happen.”

That’s because Alberta’s NDP government has adopted a private model for cannabis retailers, following in the footsteps of the province’s private liquor retail model. (Online cannabis sales will be government-run in Alberta.)

Bob Kay feels a twinge of fear every day as he runs his business in Kelowna, B.C., but he charges forward knowing he’s helping people ease their pain.

For the past 10 years Kay has been operating a medical marijuana dispensary “in a legal limbo,” running the risk of a police raid as the country prepares for the legalization of recreational pot this summer.

Be Kind is a “compassion club,” he says, helping those with chronic pain and providing cannabis in various forms to those who are prescribed it through a health practitioner.

Viewers can go inside the operation as it’s featured in the new docu-series “Bud Empire,” premiering Tuesday on History.

The Question

What do employers think about a candidate who has worked for one of the large cannabis companies in Canada in a strictly business/management function? I have an offer from one, and am getting mixed responses from friends and family. With the taboo regarding this industry still strong, I wonder if I’m committing career suicide or red-flagging myself for future opportunities outside of this firm. I am personally liberal on this issue, but others aren’t.

The First Answer

Greg Conner

Vice-president human resources and corporate secretary, BC Transit

Look out dot.com era! Here comes the pot.com era!

With a medical and recreational marijuana industry about to fly, there’s a whole lot of buzz going on. Globally-competitive, lucrative sectors and commercial opportunities are predicted to grow like a weed!

Cannabusiness is set to be smoking – forecasts of the medical marijuana market predict US$31 billion in annual sales by 2021. A Deloitte study suggests recreational marijuana sales alone in Canada could be as high as $8.7 billion per year.