A Vancouver company, BlockStrain, is using a trending technology solution to tackle some of the cannabis industry’s biggest issues.

From cryptocurrencies to crowdsourced data storage, blockchain seems to be one of the most widely discussed innovations out of the software space lately. Many believe the new technology could be the answer to issues plaguing the nascent legal cannabis market—a system already rife with supply bottlenecks, product recalls, and dodgy testing standards.

The unlikely combination of freshwater fish and cannabis is producing outsized medical marijuana crops that Green Relief Inc. aims to capitalize on, as the Canadian company plots a stock market listing and global expansion.

In an underground southern Ontario facility surrounded by farmland, Green Relief operates a cutting-edge aquaponic farm, using filtered fish waste to fertilize cannabis plants, which in turn clean the water for the fish.

The company says it is the world's only licensed producer to grow medical marijuana this way, a pesticide-free process that took 2-1/2 years to fine tune. The only signs of this operation, which is built into a hill and insulated by some three feet of dirt and grass, is above-ground ventilation equipment sticking out of the ground.

 Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering hemp and cannabis stocks releases a snapshot focusing on how the cannabis industry continues to force technology innovation as it faces new challenges with the sector’s continuing rapid growth.

The cannabis industry has begun to fully affect the beverage, food, medical and pharmaceutical industries but one area cannabis has helped drive forward from inception has been the tech industry. Due to the complexity of the cannabis plant as well as the strict regulations surrounding it, technological innovations have been a “must have” for any cannabis company that hopes to expand and grow.

Leading investment crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is jumping into the hot cannabis sector. OurCrowd has launched a $30 million cannabis tech fund called 7thirty Opportunity Fund.

OurCrowd said it will build the “world’s leading global cannabis technology venture capital fund.” The new fund is said to be focused on cannabis technology companies in Medtech, Agtech, retail, e-commerce, marketplaces, SaaS solutions, and the deep-tech research in Cannabis. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado – a state that has legalized recreational use of marijuana, the fund will be active globally and include activities in Israel, Canada, and the United States.

Marijuana stocks may not have had the best year in 2018, but the one thing that really stood out was the maturation of the industry as a whole. Following months of debate, Canada finally passed the Cannabis Act in June, and officially legalized adult-use pot in October, legitimizing the marijuana industry as a valid business model. Within a few years, Canadian pot stocks should be generating billions of dollars in added annual sales.

Winnipeg-based Delta 9 Cannabis has added a new venture to its budding craft-grown, high-quality cannabis business - Grow Pods - renovated shipping containers, built in-house utilizing Delta 9’s standardized hydroponic growing methodologies.

Delta 9 was founded by father and son team, Bill and John Arbuthnot, in 2012. They obtained their license to distribute medical cannabis in March 2014, becoming the 4th Licensed Producer of medical cannabis in Canada.

What the increased brain matter volume means is unclear.

"The implication is that this is potentially a outcome of cannabis use", commented senior study author Hugh Garavan, PhD, a University of Vermont (UVM) professor of psychiatry. She is a lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr Orr's research has also shown there is a range of effects within the group of cannabis-using teens, which could be related to cognition and emotion.

"In our sample of cannabis users, the greater volumes in the affected parts of the brain were associated with reductions in psychomotor speed and perceptual reasoning and with increased levels of anxiety two years later", Orr said.

Dr. Mark Ware has devoted the past 20 years of his career to studying marijuana, and he can remember some "dark, lean" periods when he had to fight for meagre funding.

"There were times when I was told you couldn't even use 'cannabis' and 'research' in the same sentence," he recalled.

Now, Ware is the chief medical officer of one of Canada's largest pot companies, Canopy Growth Corp., which is conducting millions of dollars worth of research on the use of cannabis to treat conditions including anxiety, insomnia and pain.

Take two steps inside the cannabis expo and it's easy to get lost in the swath of green gadgets, gizmos, and elephant-sized machines.

The Lift and Co. Cannabis Expo has filled up the Vancouver Convention Centre in years past, but the 2019 event marks the first time it's been held in the post-legalization era.

From industrial-sized trimmers to miniature greenhouses, there is no shortage of business ventures looking to cash in on the so-called "green rush." 

If you ask Nick Pateras, enthusiasm for the budding industry is at an all-time high. "Everyone is vying for their slice of the pie," said the Lift and Co. VP of Strategy.

But even he admits there's only so many slices to go around.

It's not easy being green — especially at CES, the world's largest consumer electronics convention. Marijuana tech companies are grumbling about how difficult it is to participate in CES 2019because organizers will not allow them to exhibit.

"We’re not allowed on the showroom floor, and it’s apparently because [organizers] say they haven’t created a category for cannabis vaporizers yet," says Jeff Brown, vice president of public policy and communications at PAX Labs, an electronic vaporizer company.