The ripple effect of Canada legalizing recreational marijuana reaches many cultural institutions. That includes the National Hockey League, which has nine franchises located in Canada. Though marijuana isn’t currently on the league’s banned substances list, meaning players aren’t tested for cannabis usage, will the NHL’s official policy change in any way toward cannabis?

NHLPA executive director Don Fehr was asked just that while attending an​ NHLPA golf outing​. Fehr admitted conversations have occurred internally about Canada’s marijuana legalization and hinted that the NHL and NHLPA may come to an informal agreement regarding player policy. However, we shouldn’t expect any official legal change anytime soon.

A growing number of Canadian tech entrepreneurs are betting big on the future of cannabis in the lead up to legalization later this year. These “weed tech,” or “canna tech,” companies, as they are sometimes called, are hoping to cash in on the new legal market by creating specialized software and hardware to serve the cannabis industry and consumers.

When legal recreational pot goes on sale across Canada this fall, the most angry, disappointed people should be the criminals.

That's because from the time he first promised to end 95 years of cannabis prohibition during the 2015 election, Justin Trudeau has argued one of the main benefits of this change would be the damage it would inflict on the black market.

Gone would be the vast, underworld network supplying unregulated, possibly unsafe, cannabis to Canadians, including Canadian children. Gone would be outlaw dealers, some armed, some willing to commit violence to protect their turf.

Summer is here and cannabis euphoria is in full swing. And with legalization set to take effect October 17, everyone is talking about Canada’s favourite marijuana stock, Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC). Canopy has been on fire in the past 12 months. It’s also generating a lot of buzz. When a stock more than triples in a single year, people take notice — and doubly so if new legislation could potentially grow its sales dramatically. But Canopy is not the only TSX cannabis stock that stands to benefit from legalization. Aphria Inc. (TSX:APH) is another medical marijuana vendor that could expand into…

A medical marijuana company led by Phil Fontaine, a former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has hired a well-connected lobby firm to convince the federal government that cannabis should be included in the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program run by the Indigenous Services department.

The decision by Indigenous Roots to enlist the services of the Bluesky Strategy Group comes after many First Nations have jumped into the medical marijuana industry and as others contemplate the move.

This week, the Resort Municipality of Whistler announced a new bylaw allowing its residents to grow cannabis at home once legalization takes effect on October 17. But home cultivation is still a contentious issue  — especially for landlords and stratas. Current federal legislation for growing at home allows up to four plants per household, and technically, cities do not need to make any new legislation to allow it.

But provinces and municipalities do have the power to restrict how recreational marijuana is grown and sold in their area.

Canadian cannabis producers are moving full speed ahead to open their own marijuana shops in Ontario amid anticipation that the provincial government will soon allow private stores to sell recreational cannabis when it is legalized in October.

Several major cannabis companies told BNN Bloomberg that efforts are already underway to secure locations for privately-run retail stores, with a formal framework expected to be announced by Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Ontario government next week.

“We wait to see what the government announces but from what we’re hearing, this doesn’t surprise us but delights us,” said Cam Battley, chief corporate officer at Aurora Cannabis Inc., in a phone interview with BNN Bloomberg.

On October 16, 2018, the federal government is expected to legalize the use of marijuana. While Bill C-45  is a federal law, each province will have to decide how cannabis will be sold, used, policed and how abuse of marijuana will be punished.

Rosy Mondin is the CEO at the British Columbia-based Quadron Cannatech Corporation, which develops and provides a range of cannabis extraction and processing solutions. She is also highly active in a number of cannabis industry associations and advocacy groups, writes Nick Hilden.

"Too many Canadian have been punished by way of criminal charges or been thrown in jail for possessing, consuming, gifting, or selling cannabis (even in small amounts)," Mondin told Civilized. She says the continued over policing of the cannabis space is one of her biggest frustrations with the industry.

The Ontario government is turning to private retailers to sell marijuana in stores come October, shifting policy dramatically less than three months before Canada legalizes recreational use.

Provincial Finance Minister Vic Fedeli and Attorney-General Caroline Mulroney are expected to make an announcement as early as next week outlining in broad strokes the province’s plan to scrap the existing public retail model and allow the private sector to own and operate bricks-and-mortar cannabis shops, according to a senior source in the Ontario government who would only speak on condition of not being named. The person added that the government will still control the wholesale and distribution of the product to the stores and manage online sales.