With recreational marijuana dominating public conversation since legalization last October, and even before that, issues with access to medicinal cannabis for Canadians have fallen to the wayside.

That’s according to Dr. Rahim Dhalla, an Ottawa pharmacist who decided to open a pharmacy in Westboro last year that, on top of your standard medications, also offered education and health information surrounding medicinal cannabis and other related products.

Dhalla’s father, a lifelong pharmacist himself, was diagnosed with cancer and saw benefits from cannabidiol (CBD) oils during his treatment, which Dhalla said was the inspiration for the pharmacy.

Last year, Wall Street and investors witnessed history being made many times over. In the U.S., we observed additional states legalize medical marijuana, pushing the total number of states to have given the green light to cannabis in some capacity to 33, and saw the Food and Drug Administration approve the very first cannabis-derived drug. Meanwhile, Canada became the first industrialized country in the world to approve the sale of recreational weed in October.

But there's plenty of history yet to be made, with the next game-changing cannabis launch due later this year in Canada. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to marijuana legalization 2.0.

A medical cannabis company is building a 32,000 square foot cultivation facility in Espanola, Ont.

Jeff Scharf, President and CEO of GaiaCann Inc., began building a greenhouse to grow lettuce, but pivoted to cannabis after being approached by individuals in the sector.  

"Our goal is to create pharmaceutical grade cannabis products," he said. 

The facility is at the south end of Espanola, next to a small solar panel farm which Scharf also owns. 

He expects the facility will be ready for operation in January 2020 and will cost upward of $20 million to complete. Work crews have just finished the walls, roof and upper level flooring. He says the electric and ventilation systems are next. 

The building's large, white roof slants southward.

If you’ve been stressed lately, you’re not alone.

More Americans are stressed out than ever before. From tighter incomes to increased work pressures to a more divided political landscape to, of course, anguish over social media popularity, the pressure has become more than many of us can bear calmly.

Anxiety, it seems, has become a national epidemic.

In June of 2017, the New York Times featured a front-page article headlined “An Anxious Nation,” declaring that we have entered a troubling new “Age of Anxiety.”

A year later, in August of 2018, the Washington Post repeated the claim, noting that a whopping 79% of Americans are frequently stressed.

And it’s only getting worse.

Driving down Highway 401 in southern Ontario, with the FM dial tuned to 87.9, the 1990s-era rap music fades into an ad, offering a free joint with every purchase over $20 between midnight and 4:20 a.m. at the Pot Shoppe.

A second ad then promotes a "car show for Jeeps" in the parking lot of the Pot Shoppe every Tuesday night.

"Don't forget, we have free coffee for the driver and our famous Pot Shoppe slushies at half-price for the passenger," the ad says. "THC-infused slushies — just a little more brain freeze."

In 2016, Australia legalised cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes under the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 2016. The amendment provided relief to the cannabis sector and enabled the prospective producers to apply for the necessary licenses to grow the crop legally. In January 2018, the government made another breakthrough by uplifting the barriers to export cannabis in the overseas markets.

The TSX Venture Exchange’s 2019 top performing Company of the year has just been given the green light for enough additional growing space to move it to sit among the giants of the industry, in terms of growing space.

Consumers can buy hemp-derived CBD products in Walmart (WMT) , CVS (CVS) and if anyone still goes to the mall, you can buy it at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) or American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) . It feels like the product has jumped the shark already, but according to a new report by Headset, the CBD tsunami is just beginning.

Canadian pot producer Aurora Cannabis Inc said on Thursday it had secured a two-year contract to supply medical cannabis to the Italian government.

The company will supply a minimum of 400 kg of medical cannabis to the country, one of the most strictly regulated medical cannabis markets in the world.

Aurora said it will supply cannabis from its Canadian EU GMP certified facilities and imported into Italy through Aurora Deutschland, its wholly-owned European unit.

The supply contract is expected to be signed in September, it added.

Edmonton, Alberta-based Aurora, which had won the first tender in Italy in January 2018, said it will continue to supply medical cannabis to the country according to the contract.

There are usually two reasons people give when asked why they don’t enjoy cannabis: either it makes them feel too sleepy or too paranoid.

While it is known that the same strain can affect consumers in completely different ways, researchers are still trying to pinpoint why reactions vary from person to person.