Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering tech and cannabis stocks, releases a snapshot looking at how payment technology and data solutions have evolved due to the regulatory hurdles facing the cannabis industry.

PaymentsJournal discussed the “cannabis payments conundrum” and how as the cannabis industry matures we are beginning to see an evolution in payment and data tech companies.

Before Canadian hemp and cannabis growers have even begun to capitalize on new markets, they could have new and novel competition.

University of California synthetic biologists have engineered brewer’s yeast to produce marijuana’s main ingredients — mind-altering THC and non-psychoactive CBD — as well as novel cannabinoids not found in the plant itself. Feeding only on sugar, the yeast is an easy and cheap way to produce pure cannabinoids that today are costly to extract from the buds of the plants.

“For the consumer, the benefits are high-quality, low-cost CBD and THC: you get exactly what you want from yeast,” said Jay Keasling, a UC Berkeley professor. “It is a safer, more environmentally friendly way to produce cannabinoids.”

McMaster University has launched a new "science of cannabis" program — which the school says is one of the first post-secondary programs in Canada that focuses on the science of pot, alongside its benefits, risks and harms.

It's a three-course program offered entirely online through McMaster continuing education, and is available to people working in the health, education, public service, and social and community services sectors across the country. These are people who will deal with marijuana on the front lines, but also be responsible for forging policy change about it.

Cannabis and Crypto Laws Tremendously Varied Around the Globe

The marijuana industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and investors have taken notice. Arguably no industry has been stronger since the year began, or over the trailing three years, than cannabis. According to various Wall Street investment banks, this is an industry that has the potential to hit $50 billion to $75 billion in annual sales in roughly a decade.

New Brunswick's largest licensed grower of marijuana has enlisted Canada's Smartest Kitchen in Charlottetown to develop a line of cannabis-infused chocolate for the edible market — due to be legalized in the fall.

The grower, Organigram, currently produces 36,000 kilograms of marijuana per year and plans to triple production by December.

"Most of the market doesn't like the thought of smoking," said Organigram's chief commercial officer Ray Gracewood.

Interest in the edible market

Customers have demonstrated a lot of interest in the edible market and are looking for something that's discreet, Gracewood said.

Cannabis plants contain an estimated 113 cannabinoids (THC & CBD are the two that are most well known), each of which may have some medical purposes.

Companies that are spending money on clinical trials could be winners in the long run as there is potential for cannabinoids to be used as an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), as seen by the FDA approval of GW Pharmaceuticals Epidiolex, for the treatment of seizures.

However, much research still needs to be done to determine the efficacy and safety of cannabis as a medical ingredient. It typically takes a pharmaceutical company 10 years to bring a new drug onto the market.

The Flowr Corporation (TSX-V:FLWR) (OTC:FLWPF) announced Monday that its FlowrRx products are now available for purchase through Shoppers Drug Mart’s online medical cannabis site.

In order to survive wearing high heels at the Oscars this year, Melissa McCarthy put a dab of CBD oil between her toes. Both US Magazine and Women’s Health called the move “genius!

Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of interest in cannabis from other industries. While most of it has been just tire kicking, there have been a couple of big deals, most notably involving Constellation Brands and Canopy Growth.