After months of debate between Canada's Senate and its House of Commons, and following years of promises from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, our neighbor to the north stands on the verge of becoming the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana.

Subsequent to the passage of the Cannabis Act on June 19, Trudeau set a date of Oct. 17, 2018 as the official in-dispensary launch for adult-use weed sales. The four-month delay was to give provinces enough time to get their regulatory infrastructure in place, as well as allow growers and cannabis supply chains ample time to get their products into retail locations.

Marijuana legalization is around the corner, but university students may have to think twice before reaching for their joints, pipes and bongs between classes.

Universities across Canada are prepping for legalization on Oct. 17 by crafting policies that limit cannabis use on campus. Multiple schools said they will follow municipal, provincial and federal regulations pertaining to marijuana consumption, adding that harm-reduction efforts are in place to educate students, staff and faculty.

A lot of people are pretty happy that they’ll soon be able to smoke pot in public (without getting into trouble). But not everyone is completely comfortable with legalization, given how little we actually know about the safety of cannabis consumption.

Many, like Dr. Tim Holland, president of Doctors Nova Scotia, an association representing all physicians in the province, say we need more research—and we need it now. “Thus far, research has been quite limited and some of it has been questionable because it was conducted by the proponents of the cannabis industry,” he says. “A big part of the problem has been a lack of funding, and also that marijuana was illegal, making it harder to study.”

Whether you realize or not, you'll bear witness to history in less than two months. On Oct. 17, 2018, Canada is set to become the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana. Overall, it'll be only the second country, other than Uruguay, to green-light adult-use pot.

Eve & Co Incorporated CEO Melinda Rombouts used to grow flowers for a living. Maybe that's why she can see the vast potential of a blossoming industry where some others don't. 

"We were in seasonal flowers," she said, noting one cold May too many convinced her to get out of the flower business altogether.

"The weather was really hurting us and that's where we really decided we had to get into something different."

So Rombouts did her research and after about six months, she not only saw a future in cannabis, but saw the potential in marketing it specifically to women.  

"We really wanted to bring a genuine perspective and women can do that for women," she said. 

The country will only be the second in the world, behind Uruguay, to allow for both medical and recreational cannabis consumption. However, Canada reigns supreme in the emerging global cannabis market. In this next phase of legal cannabis, Canada’s established licensed producers (LPs) are expected to have a first-mover advantage both at home and abroad.

In just a few weeks people in Ontario will be able to legally buy marijuana for the first time and we're learning more now about exactly how the new system will work.

The Ontario Cannabis Store announced Monday the names of 26 licensed producers for its online retail platform, the province's only online retailer for recreational pot this fall.

Jay Rosenthal, co-founder and president of Business of Cannabis, a research and analysis group, spoke with the CBC's Conrad Collaco about what people in the province can expect when the online doors finally open on Oct. 17. You can read an abridged and edited version of the interview below or listen to the full audio interview by hitting the play button above.

The legalization of cannabis is creating opportunities for a variety of businesses, whether it be real estate, food, and most certainly, tourism.

“Cannatourism, at its most basic level, is really about support for the travelling cannabis enthusiast,” Danielle Jackson, founder of cannatourism.ca and CEO of Dvibz, told Daily Hive over the phone.

Carol Francey waxes nostalgic when she thinks back to the first time she tried pot.

The year was 1966, the place was Toronto's hippie-packed Yorkville neighbourhood, and she was 17-and-a-half-years-old.

The Victoria resident has been using pot ever since, she says -- some 52 years. And for most of that time, she did it in secret.

"I worked for the government most of my life, I was a school teacher, I was teaching elementary school," says Francey, who now uses cannabis for recreational and medical reasons. For a long time, she even kept the secret from her son.

CannTrust Holdings Inc. ("CannTrust" or the "Company", TSX: TRST), one of Canada's leading licensed producers and most trusted brands of cannabis, announced today that the company has signed an agreement with the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), operating as the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), to supply a broad range of adult-use products from all three of the Company's new recreational cannabis brands – liiv, Xscape and Synr.g. The Company brings more than 40 years of pharmaceutical and healthcare experience to the cannabis industry and is applying this knowledge to its recreational cannabis products.