Cannabis now falls under Health Canadaregulations, like any other consumable product. That means more business for lab-testing companies because growers, and producers of capsules, oils and other cannabis-based products, must have their products tested by licensed labs to determine potency and the presence of heavy metals, pesticides, yeast and mould.

A couple of dozen independent labs across Canada are licensed to test cannabis products. But there has been a trend lately where bigger players in the medical marijuana industry are not content to merely contract out their testing and research. They have been acquiring testing and research labs to bring that expertise in-house.

When Evan Adcock told his parents he was leaving university to launch his own tech startup, they weren't too happy.

The fact that it was to develop an app that facilitated cannabis deliveries only made it worse.

"Especially my dad, he's a conservative guy and a reverend — so when I told him, No. 1, that I was dropping out of school and, No. 2, to do legal drug dealing in his eyes, he was not very happy," said Adcock, the 20-year-old CEO and co-founder of Verda Innovations Inc., an app that connects legal cannabis stores with third-party couriers to guarantee same-day delivery to customers.

Recreational marijuana is legal in ten states and more than forty states have legalized medical marijuana. A new industry is burgeoning and technology is here to support it in every way possible. The days of buying weed from a shady person on a deserted neighborhood corner are gone. Thanks to these cannabis tech startups, now you can get weed delivered at your doorstep. The Industry Leaders magazine takes a look at the top cannabis startups who are at the forefront of this growing industry. From helping you grow weed at home to giving medial advise, these ten cannabis tech companies are the best in their niche-market.

Global cannabis suppliers struggled to keep up with demand on Saturday, the biggest ever 4/20 Day, an annual celebration of marijuana on 20 April, which in the US calendar is referred to as 4/20.

Suppliers in the US, where recreational cannabis is legal in 10 states, and Canada, where the drug was decriminalised for recreational use last year, reported difficulties fulfilling orders on what has been called the industry’s Black Friday.

Ancillary industries and sectors are primed to benefit from cannabis’ rise to prominence. Some examples include banking, packaging solutions, and real estate. One industry that is often overlooked but could play a huge role in the cannabis industry is energy. The U.S. cannabis industry is currently eating up more than 1% of all electricity each year. Keep in mind that it’s not even legal at the federal level, so you can imagine how much electricity the industry would be using and what demand would be placed on electric grids, if marijuana were legalized across the country. The need to reduce greenhouse emissions created by the weed industry, as well as lower electric load and expenditures, makes the energy sector a clear beneficiary of a budding cannabis industry.

Who is NextLeaf Solutions? 

NextLeaf Solutions Ltd (CSE:OILS) is a cannabis-extraction-technology company that has a patented process for the commercial scale production of high-quality cannabinoid distillate, the precursor to every cannabis-infused products. 

As more states make it legal to smoke marijuana, some government officials, researchers and others worry what that might mean for one of the country's biggest public health successes: curbing cigarette smoking.

Though there are notable differences in health research findings on tobacco and marijuana, the juxtaposition strikes some as jarring after generations of Americans have gotten the message that smoking endangers their health.

"We're trying to stop people from smoking all kinds of things. Why do you want to legalize marijuana?" a New York City councilman, Republican Peter Koo, asked at a recent city hearing about the state's potential legalization of so-called recreational pot use.

The cannabis marketplace has become one of the fastest growing global industries, as the rapid expansion of the cannabis market is largely due to the ongoing legalization efforts in many countries. The medical cannabis sector currently accounts for a majority of the market value due to the legal hindrances imposed on recreational cannabis. Medical cannabis, on the other hand, is generally more accepted among virtually every country and now, many governments are adopting medical cannabis legislation in order to use cannabis as an alternative to traditional medication. Furthermore, research and studies recently conducted have also linked cannabis to providing consumers with therapeutic effects which relieve a wide range of medical symptoms.

A recent research article questions just how big the Canadian legal market cannabis market will be, but like most others it really means just how large it could be! The report stated: "On October 17, 2018, Canada became the first G7 nation to fully legalize recreational cannabis. As a massive, formerly black market transforms into an above-board one, companies from around the globe in a range of disparate industries—agriculture, yes, but also tobacco, beer, software, and even fashion and design—aim to cash in. But no one knows exactly how large this market will be. Both immediately and in the coming years, attitudes about marijuana in Canada inevitably will change.

With the legalization of marijuana last year, Canadian employers were thrown something of a curve ball. Maintaining the same high standards of health and safety in this new age of legalized cannabis means understanding the new legislative measures.

In their seventh article of the series, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services’ (WSPS) spoke to HRD Canada about the legal obligations employers have regarding marijuana in the workplace.

“Regardless of whether an organization is a commercial enterprise, a non-profit entity, a multi-national corporation or a small business, leaders have a legal and moral responsibility to provide a safe workplace,” explained Larry Masotti, Director of Strategic Relationships at WSPS.