Police have seized more than one million dollars’ worth of illegal cannabis products after searches in Kanata and Carleton Place.

The searches last week of an industrial plant on Emily Street in Carleton Place and a home on Huntsman Crescent in Kanata uncovered more than 700 cannabis plants and 88 kilograms of processed cannabis, OPP said Monday.

Police also found cannabis shake, resin, edibles, thousands of dollars in cash and growing equipment. Four Ottawa residents are facing drug charges in relation to the seizures. They are all due in court next month.

St. Thomas, there’s a new joint in town.

Sensi Brands Inc., a federally licensed marijuana producer, opened Southwestern Ontario’s first farm-gate retail cannabis store in St. Thomas on Wednesday.(Photo by: Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

During a one-on-one tour of the B.C. Cannabis Stores’ new Kelowna location, I spoke to the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch’s director of retail operations, cannabis operations, Kevin Satterfield.

He has decades of experience in retail, including with Best Buy and SportMart. He pivoted into cannabis about four years ago.(Photo: David Wylie)

Here is our Q&A:

the oz. — What look are you going for?

At Behind the Bend café, diners sitting by a fire pit nibble on charcuterie and enjoy vanilla bean ice cream served in pineapple boats, but the menu isn't the reason many flock to the Lambton Shores, Ont., spot.

Customers visit because the café about an hour's drive from London allows them to consume cannabis as long as they are 19 or older and they bring their own legal pot and its receipt.

No province nor territory allows cannabis consumption lounges or cafés yet, but the Bend's owner bounded ahead with her business because customers were being chided when they used pot in public.

A recent survey out of the U.S. indicates that young adults are binge drinking less in favour of smoking and consuming marijuana and hallucinogens. Dr. Darren Courtney, a youth psychiatrist from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), said while he’s not aware of Canadian research on the issue, he has seen the patterns of substance use shift amongst the younger generations.

What started with supply shortages and purchase limits has turned into an industry saturated with shops in a matter of less than three years.

Delta 9 CEO, John Arbuthnot, said recent data from Statistics Canada shows in-store cannabis sales have displaced roughly 50 per cent of black market sales.

Something he said was the goal of legalization in the first place.

“Obviously a significant milestone for the industry to not only have achieved the growth that it has over the first few years,” said Arbuthnot.

The year 2020 saw triple-digit growth in Canada’s legal cannabis market, which was largely driven by:

As vaccination rollouts become more efficient and travel restrictions ease up, and as a result, many avid pothead travellers will want to know the best countries for cannabis tourism in 2021 and 2022.

Lighting up in the comfort of your home brings a special kind of contentment many potheads are familiar with, but after two years of lockdown and on-and-off quarantines, even the most introverted of us may be itching for a change in scenery.