Nearly 20 laboratories across Canada have come forward to offer independent testing of marijuana after the federal government changed its laws last month, allowing consumers to screen the product – which is often sold as medicine – for contaminants and potency.

Previously, the public was banned from getting access to Health Canada-accredited labs to ensure the safety and efficacy of the drug, which the government plans to legalize next spring. The move comes after concerns were raised that the federal government has watched idly as unregulated marijuana dispensaries proliferated across the country, reaping huge profits in a booming prelegalization market, though some of the products would not meet federal health standards.

Canadian schools and grads are in a position to capitalize on pot.

Brendan Kennedy first caught a whiff of opportunity six years ago. The former software entrepreneur—newly armed with an M.B.A. from Yale—was working at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm when he spotted something unusual amid the thousands of dossiers on tech, software and biotech firms: a start-up focused on medical marijuana.

Edibles and topical cannabis goods are for sale at upcoming Nuit Verte, held in a "top secret" location Sept. 25.

A farmer’s market for edible pot products is cropping up in Toronto.

Toronto’s first “Nuit Verte” will be held at a “top secret” location Sept. 25. Organizer Lisa Campbell said they’re expecting about 300 people, who will learn where it is once they buy tickets online.

According to Campbell, about 20 local pot producers will be on hand to hawk their wares, explain ingredients and offer samples.

“You can go there and ask questions about the products, you can know what stream is in your product, what’s vegan or gluten free or organic, it’s very much a craft market,” she said.

Just days before Lift Cannabis Expo took place this past weekend in Vancouver, the event's primary sponsor lost its Instagram account and 11,000 followers along with it.

Lift Cannabis is a news and review site for medical cannabis that only does strain reviews for legal weed available through licensed producers. According to Lift, none of the photos posted to its Instagram feed depict recreational or black market weed.

Still, near the beginning of September, Lift communications director David Brown said he attempted to log into the company's Instagram account and found that the page had been deleted.

"When I logged in in the morning and opened up my Instagram account it just said 'this page is no longer available.'"

A two day marijuana exhibition in Vancouver is giving people an idea of just how large and varied Canada’s cannabis industry has become — and where it could grow next.

More than 100 businesses set up booths to showcase their wares at the event, but not a single cloud of smoke could be seen in the massive hall.

The expo is helping to break down stereotypes and prove that there’s a credible side to the industry, said Natasha Raey, spokeswoman for Lift Cannabis Co., which put on the show.

“It’s not just someone selling bud out of a ziploc bag anymore. You’re seeing real brand development. The industry is growing up,” she said.

Edwin Jewell, president of Canada's Island Garden Inc. in Charlottetown has a grow underway to be shipped to regulators

P.E.I.’s first medical marijuana growing facility is ready to start harvesting a much sought-after product.

Edwin Jewell, president of Canada’s Island Garden Inc., is “extremely confident’’ the first batch of pot at the 2,160-square-metre facility located in the BioCommons Research Park in Charlottetown will make the federal grade.

“I guess it’s reassuring to know that the harvest is going to be a good crop,’’ says Jewell.

“It’s not the best we’ll ever grow, but it’s a good one for the first time.’’

The secure facility has about 300 plants ready for harvesting, a process that will include a couple weeks of drying the leaves.

 Two of Ottawa’s most popular pot shops have closed after Canada Post intercepted shipments of marijuana mailed to them from B.C.

Don Briere, the president of the B.C.-based Weeds Glass & Gifts chain, says he hopes his dispensaries on Bank Street and Montreal Road will reopen if he can figure out a way to ship the dried weed, cannabis-laced brownies, candy, concentrates and other merchandise across the country. Weeds buys the products from growers and “bakers” in B.C.

Briere said his company has been mailing marijuana products by express mail ever since he opened stores in Toronto  a year-and-a-half ago. There has never been a problem with Canada Post before, he said.

“All of a sudden, they flagged us and they started seizing the packages.”

A two day marijuana exhibition in Vancouver is giving people an idea of just how large and varied Canada's cannabis industry has become — and where it could grow next.

More than 100 businesses set up booths to showcase their wares at theVancouver Cannabis Expo, but not a single cloud of smoke could be seen in the massive hall.

The expo is helping to break down stereotypes and prove there's a credible side to the industry, said Natasha Raey, spokeswoman for Lift Cannabis Co., which put on the show.

"It's not just someone selling bud out of a ziploc bag anymore. You're seeing real brand development. The industry is growing up," she said.

When you ask Colorado's first-ever director of marijuana co-ordination what's changed in the two years since the state legalized pot, he'll tell you that things look "roughly the same."

In other words, the streets are not filled with the scent of reefer and no government officials are swimming through mountains of money like Scrooge McDuck.

Andrew Freedman is often referred to in Colorado as the 'marijuana czar' because of his role as the state's director of marijuana coordination. (Linkedin)

In 2015, Andrew Freedman, who is often referred to as the state's marijuana czar, said taxes on medical and recreational marijuana added about $130-million to Colorado's $27-billion budget.

Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr was briefed on concerns and questions about medical marijuana use in a presentation to earlier this year, including fears that paying for injured ex-soldiers' pot could actually hurt them.

But noticeably absent was discussion about the positive benefits of medical marijuana, including whether it has reduced veterans' reliance on opioids and other drugs.

Instead, in a separate briefing note, officials told Hehr that they had not been able to prove a link between the two.

The documents, obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act, have reinforced concerns among some veterans that the government is about to restrict their access to cannabis.