Province Brands ofCanada — the Canadian company developing the world's first beers brewed from the cannabis plant — today announced an agreement with Lost Craft Beer, one of Ontario's fastest growing and award-winning craft beer companies.

When Canada fully legalized recreational cannabis on Oct. 17, the internet giddily reimagined the CN Tower in Toronto peeking out from a thick haze and swapped the flag’s red maple leaf for its jagged-edged green cousin. Outsiders might titter about an entire populace turning into potheads, but legalization means some of the country’s brightest can now turn their minds to pot, writes Amanda Siebert from the New York Times.

Chief says band has a sovereign right to make its own cannabis rules but province disagrees.

A large segment of Canadian cannabis users has admitted to driving within two hours of consuming the drug, a survey released by the country’s government on Monday has revealed.

Some 40 percent of survey respondents who had used cannabis within the past year said they have previously driven after two hours of smoking or ingesting. Of those, 43 percent said they had driven stoned since recreational cannabis legalization went into effect on October 17, while 27 percent had done so within the past year, Canada’s Global News reported. The report also pointed out that these levels had not changed over the previous year.

Canada may have already legalized cannabis but the truth is that the cannabis market is only just beginning. Canadian legalization opened up a market estimated to be worth $5.7 billion CAD, which is expected to explode to $9.5 Billion by 2025. This figure is just a tiny piece of a global market predicted to be worth  $146.4 Billion USD by 2025.

In what is becoming an interesting take on the growing cannabis industry in North America, statistics are showing that the beer industry is being impacted negatively as people switch from an alcoholic beverage to pot. No, this doesn't necessarily mean people are opting to get high instead of drunk, either.

According to the Motley Fool, in states where cannabis is legal for medicinal purposes, beer sales fell on average by 15 percent last year. In countries where pot is legal, alcoholic beverage sales have dropped 20 percent.

Canada's roll out of its legal marijuana market has been a political victory for the Liberal government but with shortages of cannabis for sale at retailers — almost from day one — it has been a gift to illegal sellers.

One of the aims of the legalization of recreational marijuana was to eliminate the black market in Canada. The Liberal government wanted to remove the "criminal organizations, street gangs, and gun-runners" associated with the drug, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2015 election campaign.

Earlier this fall, Coca-Cola had reportedly stated its interest developing drinks infused with CBD, the non-psychoactive cannabinoid compound in marijuana often taken to treat conditions ranging from insomnia and anxiety to pain management.

And in the days before recreational legalization in Canada when interest in all things pot-related was reaching its peak, news broke that Coca-Cola had been in talks with Edmonton-based cannabis company Aurora Cannabis , which caused Aurora’s share price to immediately shoot up 17 per cent. The run prompted a halt in trading in ACB, while a Canadian regulator pushed Aurora into publishing a statement attesting to the fact that “no agreement, understanding or arrangement” had in fact been made with Coca-Cola.

JSE-listed beverages group Distell has agreed to distribute and market a cannabis-infused beer backed by RCL Foods CEO Miles Dally and Spar CEO Graham O’Connor.

Distell, the producer of Nederburg wines and Klipdrift brandies which has no beers in its portfolio, reached a “distribution support” agreement with Poison City Brewing last week, said the craft brewer’s co-founder, Graeme Bird.

Poison City Brewing started selling a lager containing hemp — a variety of the cannabis sativa plant that is devoid of mind-altering ingredients — in major liquor chains in September. The launch coincided with a Constitutional Court ruling that effectively decriminalised the private use of cannabis in SA.

B.C.'s reputation as Canada's pot capital is stuck in red tape, while Albertans next door roll freely from store to store.

One month into legalization, Alberta has issued nearly 70 private retail licences, while British Columbia has issued one to a public retailer and another to a private store.

Bob Kay stopped selling marijuana from his Be Kind dispensary in Kelowna after legalization on Oct. 17, as he awaited his licence to operate as a store. Kay hopes to open four stores in the Okanagan — but at the moment he's still waiting, unsure about the status of his application. "I'm extremely frustrated," said Kay, who is still selling accessories at Be Kind.