The justice minister says the provincial government says it's ready for marijuana legalization — and now it's time for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to get ready too.

"I'd like to think that the short answer is a resounding yes," Andrew Parsons said Monday when asked if the province was ready for October 17, when cannabis will become legal for recreational use across Canada.

The government has spent the past months and years working across many departments and agencies to prepare for what Parsons told the St. John's Morning Show is "the hugest shift in public policy that we've seen, of a social nature, probably since Confederation."

With the Canadian recreational marijuana market about to launch, investors are wondering which cannabis companies are best positioned to succeed.

Let’s take a look at Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) to see if deserves to be the top cannabis stock for your portfolio today.

Hemp is a plant in the cannabis family with very low THC content. In 1998, the Canadian government began to allow processing, harvesting and selling hemp—under a restrictive protocol. Soon, hemp-centric companies began utilizing the plant in food, textiles, fabrics, and oils, touting its versatility, eco-friendliness, and health effects.

Winnipeg-based Manitoba Harvest started that year, and is now the largest manufacturer in the world to grow, produce and sell hemp food products that have slowly trickled into Canadian pantries. “The benefits of hemp have been a little-known secret for hundreds of years, but it’s finally gaining traction as a food ingredient on an international level,” said Clarence Shwaluk, the company’s director of farm operations.

In less than a month, Canada will become only the second country in the world and the first G-7 nation to bring marijuana prohibition to an end, legalizing cannabis for recreational use.

The move comes at a time when major corporations such as Constellation Brands are deepening investments in the space, cannabis stocks are seeing major volatility, and talk of a bubble is brewing.

Coca-Cola is the latest major corporation to make a move into the cannabis industry. Expect more in the coming years.

The federal government is looking to scour social-media platforms to find out what Canadians really think about pot as the country enters its new era of legalized weed.

With only a few weeks to go before the end of recreational marijuana prohibition, Ottawa is seeking an outside contractor to help the government learn more about Canadians’ attitudes and behaviours when it comes to legalized cannabis.

Federal officials want to go deeper than the data they have gleaned from public opinion surveys.

Even in the heyday of cigarettes, when people still smoked in their offices, you wouldn't expect to open a newspaper and see a reporter assigned to cover the "tobacco beat." 

And, alcohol, which is consumed by Canadians in quantities greater than ever, still only typically gets covered by wine reviewers, who suggest the best new vintages for under $20.

Why, then, are many media outlets in Canada now hiring reporters assigned to cover the cannabis beat?

"I think from a journalism perspective, this is more than just a product," said Solomon Israel, a former writer and producer with the CBC News business unit who now covers cannabis for the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper and its online publication, the Leaf News.

As Canada prepares to legalize recreational marijuana next month, the impact this will have on online drug marketplaces has remained unclear.

With less than a month until federal legislation makes recreational cannabis legal in Canada, experts say gaps in understanding about the drug and impairment remain the biggest challenge facing employers preparing for the change.

Before Oct. 17, experts say workplaces should update substance use policies to include cannabis.

Éric Courcelles, director of strategy for World Trade Center Winnipeg, said while some of the updates may seem like common sense — "don't come to work high or drunk" — the fine points of what precisely that means and setting standards to prove it are touchy.

Somehow I had this vision of Alberta’s new legal pot stores (as of October 17, 2018) being like a Bulk Barn, where you would scoop your favourite cannabis buds out of a bin, fill your baggie, weigh, pay at the cashier then home you’d go to roll joints.

Nope, nope, nope.

While we are soon to embark on the Wild West of legalized marijuana, this Wild West comes with rules as decreed by Health Canada, the province, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) and municipalities.

I toured Alberta pot-retailer-in-waiting Fire & Flower’s concept store on Jasper Avenue West. This is no Bulk Barn.  It’s more like an Apple or a Nike store. Spotless, modern, art on the walls, display merchandising, no loose pot to be seen. Definitely no bins of pot buds.