After Canada legalizes recreational cannabis on October 17, 2018, consumers will have two legal routes to access marijuana: an existing medical cannabis regime, plus a new recreational cannabis regime.

Within those parallel systems, people will be able to buy cannabis or grow their own.

In both cases, commercial cannabis production will be subject to federal regulation via Health Canada — but recreational cannabis will be sold and distributed differently across the provinces and territories, while the sale and distribution of medical cannabis will remain under federal jurisdiction.

Trying to visualize how it all fits together? Check out our legal cannabis flowchart:

James Corden is pretty excited about Canada legalizing marijuana.

On Wednesday night’s “The Late Late Show” in the UK, the host opened his monologue by announcing that Canada had passed legislation to make it the second nation in the world to make weed legal later this year.

“So while it’s been wonderful to be back here in London,” Corden said. “I can now officially announce next year we’re taking the show to Toronto.”

The job pot continues to grow in Canada’s cannabis industry in light of the recent move to legalize recreational marijuana.

Want to become British Columbia’s new director for BC Liquor Distribution Branch's cannabis distribution operations? It comes with an annual salary between C$86,000 - $112,000. Companies, such as WeedMD (CVE:WMD), have multiple positions posted — from oil extraction technician to distribution assistant.

The Senate gave the go-ahead Tuesday for the legalization of recreational marijuana by passing Bill C-45, also known as the Cannabis Act.

Before the bill becomes law, it need to pass one more formality – royal assent from the Governor General. Once this happens, provinces and territories are expected to be given eight to 12 weeks to prepare before the law is officially implemented.

But questions still remain over the amount of revenue the legal marijuana market will actually generate and how consumption habits may shift as cannabis enters the legal realm.

Here’s a look at some key numbers that have surfaced so far relating to the legal pot market.  

More than half (52 per cent) of Canadian employers said they’re concerned or very concerned about the implications of legalized marijuana on the workplace, according to a report by the Conference Board of Canada.

A third (33 per cent) of respondents said they’re slightly concerned and 15 per cent said they aren’t concerned at all. Among those concerned, 57 per cent cited workplace safety, followed by impairment or intoxication at work (39 per cent); increased use of the drug in and out of the workplace (21 per cent); testing for impairment (20 per cent); managing needs related to accommodation and disclosure (15 per cent); and the cost, including covering medical marijuana and other financial affects on the organization (15 per cent).

As recreational marijuana legalization approaches, even the most committed narc might be getting a little…curious. We cornered activist, writer and decade-long cannabis smoker Sarah Hanlon for a no-judgment, ask-me-anything session on the subject—a little clearing of the smoke, if you will.

How will it all work when recreational marijuana use is legal in Canada? Will you just go to the store in the same way you’d go to the LCBO to buy wine?

“Yes, actually. It’s all regulated provincially, but in Ontario, for example, you’ll go to the Ontario Cannabis Store or you can still get it online. If you’re going on the day they open, I’d say plan to get in line because I think they’re going to be very busy.”

Canada is to become the second country in the world to fully legalise marijuana, after the senate approved legislation paving the way for recreational cannabis to be legally bought and sold within the next two or three months. 

“We’ve just witnessed a very historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition,” senator Tony Dean told reporters on Tuesday after the vote to pass the Cannabis Act.

“It ends 90 years of needless criminalisation, it ends a prohibition model that inhibited and discouraged public health and community health in favour of just-say-no approaches that simply failed young people miserably.”

Canada is the first G-7 nation to legalize recreational marijuana after the upper house of parliament voted 52-29 in favor of a revised bill to legalize recreational marijuana. This is a major milestone and cannabis investors need to be monitor how the market responds to this vote.

Canada’s recreational marijuana market is expected to open in the next 8 to 12 weeks and this is a significant development that should drive the cannabis sector higher. Yesterday, Canadian cannabis stocks rallied off their lows and were a bright spot in a market that traded lower on average.

When cannabis stores open across Canada later this year, it will look very different than in Colorado.

On a blustery New Year’s Day four years ago, throngs of people in toques and jackets lined up in parking lots and on sidewalks across Colorado waiting for the end of prohibition. At 8 a.m., more than two dozen marijuana dispensaries opened their doors for recreational sales. By the end of the first week of sales, locals and tourists alike had reportedly spent US$5 million on weed.