Trade 

This year’s gathering of agriculture ministers comes in the midst of an escalating trade war. Several countries, including Canada, have imposed retaliatory tariffs on a laundry list of U.S. products after the Trump administration levied a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum imports.

Canada’s retaliatory tariff package, which took effect July 1, is valued at $16.6 billion. Many food items made the list, including gherkin pickles, pizza and quiches, soup, salad dressings, ketchup and mayonnaise. But no primary agriculture products are on the list at this time due to fears of unintended consequences on producers here at home.

VANCOUVER, July 16, 2018 /CNW/ - Namaste Technologies Inc. ("Namaste" or the "Company") (TSXV: N) (FRA: M5BQ)(OTCMKTS: NXTTF) is pleased to announce that the Company has received approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for a Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB") to repurchase for cancellation up to  25,308,136 common shares of its own capital through the facilities of the Exchange. The NCIB will be in place for a 12-month duration, commencing on July 18th, 2018 and ending July 17th, 2019. Additionally, Namaste is also pleased to announce that the Company will attend and present at Grit Capital Advisory's upcoming July 25-27th 2018 conference, GritCAMP.

The anticipated Oct. 17 legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada is expected to bring about a major culture shift for those using, and interested in using, marijuana.

A coalition of employers from across the country are now demanding federal legislation for alcohol and drug testing for workers in safety-sensitive positions. The primary goal of this legislation is to tackle the anticipated workplace safety risk.

Most employers and associations in the coalition are in industries where safety is a critical component of what they do.

A couple of years ago, a slick group of strangers showed up in the office of Edward Garcia, mayor of this sleepy town in a lush agricultural valley in central Colombia. They wanted to talk about marijuana.

National Access Cannabis Corp. ("NAC" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: META) today announced that the government of Manitoba has awarded the Company permission to operate ten privately owned retail cannabis stores, as well as an e-commerce platform, in the Province.

The initial ten recreational cannabis retail stores are planned to operate under NAC's retail brand Meta Cannabis Supply Co.™ ("META") and are expected to be located throughout the Province, including a planned four in Winnipeg, one in Brandon and five in smaller Manitoba municipalities. These premium stores will be built around a model of customer education, immersive retail environments, technology and quality cannabis and cannabis-related product offerings, with a balanced range of pricing and product lines.

Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. (TSXV: NINE) ("Delta 9" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the planned locations for its first cannabis retail stores. Delta 9 intends to open two stores in Winnipeg, one in Brandon and one in Thompson before the end of the year. At least one of the Winnipeg stores is expected to be open on October 17, 2018, which is the date that has been announced as the first day for legal retail sales of cannabis. The Company's online sales portal will also be operating on that date.

Ontario’s cannabis retailing arm is putting pressure on some growers to reduce prices as the province strives to ensure marijuana on its shelves will be cheap enough to compete with the illicit market.

In talks with producers to determine which companies will supply the recreational market, officials for the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) are pushing for some strains of flower to be available to consumers at a retail price of about $7.50 a gram, including taxes, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Global demand for cannabis, both recreational and medicinal, continues to grow at healthy pace. According to a recent research report put out by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, the next ten years are set to explode with spending on legal cannabis worldwide hitting $57 billion by 2027.

While much of that growth is expected to come from the United States, there are several other countries opening up to cannabis, whether it be through consumption or production and export.

According to the data compiled by Ameri Research, the global legal cannabis market is projected to be valued at USD 63.5 Billion by 2024. The market drivers are largely the new legalization laws, increasing medical usage, high taxation and rising investments. Legalization has become so prominent that now only four out of the fifty U.S. states prohibit any form of cannabis. Most states allow medical usage, while some allow both medical and recreational use. The widespread legalization has created many job opportunities in the industry for cultivators, manufacturers, retailers, dispensaries, distributors and various other positions. BLOCKStrain Technology Corp. (OTC: BKKSF), Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA), Kaya Holdings Inc. (OTC: KAYS), NightFood Holdings Inc.

The Jamaica Medical Cannabis Corporation (JMMC) is investing US$2 million (J$264,000,000) into research on local ganja strains in order to ascertain with scientific accuracy their medicinal potential, over the next 10 years.

Professor Errol Morrison, director general of the National Commission on Science and Technology, spoke to the enormity of the project titled ‘Identification, Isolation and Conservation of Local Strains of Cannabis for Medicinal Use’ during Monday’s signing ceremony.

“What you are about to witness is the dedication of our scientific community to eventually [map] the scientific identification of our strain. Not a look, touch, smell, feel (but) DNA science to underpin what it is that we have been making claims for centuries," he said.