Crossing the Canadian border with cannabis, either entering or leaving, is illegal – and will stay that way come October 17. But what about keeping it domestic? Daily Hive consulted an airline, a bus company, and a railway about how things will work when the Cannabis Act is implemented.

Here’s what you need to know about how cannabis legalization will affect traveling within Canada.

Domestic flights

It looks like you’ll be able to roll onto a commercial flight with a purse full of pot sans problems – at least for now.

“RELAX. Unwind. Centre. Enhance.” These hippy-dippy blandishments will appear in big bright letters on government-owned shops in Nova Scotia, a province in Canada’s north-east.

They will add colour to outlets that otherwise resemble post offices. Business will begin on October 17th, when the sale of recreational cannabis will become legal across Canada. In the western province of Alberta, Tokyo Smoke, a private-sector firm, plans to open pot shops that are more like hipster cafés.

In British Columbia illegal outlets have long masqueraded as “dispensaries”. Newly legal, some plan to kit themselves out like upmarket pharmacies.

After years of debate, hundreds of pages in legislation, and several last-minute policy changes, Canadians will at last be able to legally blaze up starting Oct. 17, after the Senate approved recreational use of the drug in June.

In advance of the fall date, we pored through government websites, read the fine print of provincial regulations, and consulted expert studies to answer some questions you might have about cannabis.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in Canada hit CA$93 billion in the first half of 2018 primarily due to a surge in deals in the cannabis, energy, and real estate sectors, according to PwC Canada's recent 2018 M&A mid-year review and outlook report. Despite turbulent Canada-US trade talks and uncertainty around tariffs, sound underlying market dynamics such as available capital are likely to continue to stoke strong deal activity in the second half of the year.

A marijuana chain is looking to open up shop in the City of Windsor.

Starbuds Canada say it's secured two retail locations in the province, as it looks to set up recreational pot shops in Ontario. 

The decision to expand in the region comes after it was reported the Ontario government will allow private stores to sell marijuana, once recreational cannabis becomes legal on Oct. 17.

"Our goal is to make this a higher-end shopping experience, and something that targets different demographics than maybe the expectation would be, so your soccer moms, your professionals, people of that nature," said Dave Martyn, president of Starbuds.

Legal recreational marijuana goes on sale across the country on October 17, but Canada’s airline industry says it has not yet been given any directive from the federal government about how to deal with the effects of legalization on its pilots and crews.

As universities and colleges across Canada scramble to create policies ahead of legalized cannabis, two in London are taking a hard line against the drug by restricting its possession, or banning it outright, on campus.

Fanshawe College, one of Ontario’s largest community colleges, is banning marijuana — its use and consumption – from its campus, while Western University has adopted the same approach for its student residence buildings.

Schools are free to adopt the get-tough or zero-tolerance approach to what will become a legal substance in small amounts this fall, but some student groups and activists are raising the alarm, saying such crackdowns will only further stigmatize pot and lead to more problems for users.

Medical marijuana producer Aphria Inc. says its revenues surged in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year but its net loss nearly doubled as it expands in preparation for Canada legalizing recreational cannabis use in October.

The Leamington, Ont.-based company's net loss nearly doubled to $5 million from $2.6 million in the prior year on higher compensation, costs associated with Aphria International and losses in its investment portfolio, partially offset by increased gross profit.

The company has been busy raising money and making acquisition deals, including its February purchase of B.C.-based Broken Coast Cannabis Inc., a transaction valued at more than $200-million in stock and cash.

The buzz around Canada’s legal marijuana market has turned Ottawa’s National Access Cannabis (TSX-V:META) into a “bees’ nest of activity” – and the prospect of private pot retail in Ontario is only sweetening the local firm’s honeypot.

As Canada counts down to the legalization of recreational cannabis on Oct. 17, Canadian Kush Tours is busy hiring guides.

Owner Neev Tapiero, who hosted his first paying customers six months ago, said he expects an “explosion” of visitor interest in Toronto’s cannabis scene, especially among Americans.

“By this time next year I want to offer daily walking tours from hotspots like Dundas Square and Union Station,” Tapiero said while sitting in Vapor Central, one of seven downtown vapour lounges and dispensaries that Kush visits by limousine or bus. “We’re focusing not just on tourists coming specifically to smoke cannabis, but also on those who may not know you can smoke it legally in Canada.”