Though it may appear lofty, this detailed look at more than a dozen cannabis players suggests that 3 million kilograms of output is very doable.

This may very well go down in history as the most pivotal year for the legal cannabis industry. While numerous legalizations have been heralded before, we've never seen an industrialized country legalize recreational weed prior to Canada doing so. When sales officially kick off on Oct. 17, 2018, big money is expected to flow into the industry, with some analysts projecting in excess of $5 billion in sales being added once the industry is fully ramped up.

Allen Kilback doesn't know yet what his Edenwold, Sask., cannabis dispensary will be called.

But he's got his main demographic picked out: women aged 30 to 40.

He settled on that during a recent research trip to California, where he watched customers stream into one of that state's legal recreational pot stores.

"People pull up with their kids in the car and they go in," he said.  

Familiar faces

Normalizing the process of buying pot is part of what Kilback, 52, wants to do alongside his wife and business partner, Denise.

"I spent some time in U.S. looking at the industry and decided, you know what, I saw a tremendous opportunity to really change the stigma about the industry and got super motivated," he said.

Aphria Inc. (TSX:APH) reported its 2018 fourth-quarter and year-end results on August 1. While its revenue surged, its loss nearly doubled as the company prepared for the legalization of recreational cannabis in October. Shares plunged over 8% in reaction to those results. What may also have contributed to the drop is the announcement that Molson Coors Canada selected Hydropothecary Corp. over Aphria to develop cannabis-infused beverages. Is there any reason to be concerned? Let’s have a deeper look at the results to determine if Aphria is still a good investment. Revenue soared, but loss widened Aphria’s fourth-quarter revenue increased by…

While much of the country is focused on cannabis as it relates to consumers — the countdown to legal weed on Oct. 17, protocols for marijuana retailers, penalties for impaired drivers, and so on — municipalities along Ontario’s south coast are busily trying to manage the growth of a nascent industry.

Here, the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes and the arrival of industrial-scale production have sprouted concerns that will only thicken in years ahead. After all, the time remaining before the recreational marijuana market opens up in Canada is about the same as the life cycle of a cannabis plant.

Analysts are predicting that weed stocks will surge this fall, though the drivers of the Canadian marijuana are varied and complex enough to throw a curveball. Besides which, a sudden spike in prices may precipitate a big sell-off as shareholders seek to capitalize on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for gains. Early signs of that looked-for $5 billion per annum industry will be crucial to stock performance, as tensions are likely to be high. Meanwhile, market stressors are likely to impact stock prices, while per-gram prices of the green stuff itself are likely to oscillate and drive stock volatility come October….

In case you missed it, weed stocks are big right now in Canada. While some people point to the dot-com bubble and others point out that weed producers actually have a product with provable demand, the fact is that cannabis per-gram prices are going to become one of the most discussed trade topics post-October. You may not have considered some of the factors below as having any potential impact on your pot stocks, but each one could, in its own way, add further volatility to the market after legalization on October 17. Competition is going to be high We all…

When Canopy Growth Corporation was first listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in April 2014, long before there was any prospect of the recreational legalization of weed, its stock was trading at a mere $2.59. It was only in November 2016, when legalization was officially announced, that Canopy’s stock started to pick up steam. At its height, Canopy stock was trading at over $44 per share — it now hovers in the $33 - $35 range, more than 10 times the value it was in 2014.

Other big cannabis companies like Aurora Cannabis, Aphria Inc. and Cronos Group observed a similar growth trajectory, seeing their stocks burgeon in value over the short span of two years.

For early investors of pot stocks, their returns are more than made.

With reports swirling that Premier Doug Ford wants to allow private retailers to sell cannabis in Ontario, Toronto is bracing for any additional headaches that could cause right before weed becomes legal in Canada this fall.

One expert says the city is likely overreacting, and there won't be any "mass crisis" on its hands — but city hall is still looking for the province to pick up the slack and fund costs that might spring up from implementation and enforcement.

“RELAX. Unwind. Centre. Enhance.” These hippy-dippy blandishments will appear in big bright letters on government-owned shops in Nova Scotia, a province in Canada’s north-east.

They will add colour to outlets that otherwise resemble post offices. Business will begin on October 17th, when the sale of recreational cannabis will become legal across Canada. In the western province of Alberta, Tokyo Smoke, a private-sector firm, plans to open pot shops that are more like hipster cafés.

In British Columbia illegal outlets have long masqueraded as “dispensaries”. Newly legal, some plan to kit themselves out like upmarket pharmacies.

Canada’s smallest province will open only four cannabis stores once legalization takes place later this year, but interested consumers should expect not to see any product on the store shelves. 

Instead, consumers will have to make their purchase decision by speaking with a store clerk about a strain that aligns with their preference or by using a tablet to browse and learn more about in-stock items.  

“Customers won’t be able to actually touch the physical product. They’ll come in and they’ll have the option to go through a bit of a consultative retail experience with one of our highly trained cannabis store clerks,” said Zach Currie of the P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission (LCC).