After a red-hot start to the year, marijuana stocks were taken to the woodshed in the third quarter of 2019. Top names like Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB), Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC), and Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) all lost a significant amount of their value over the past three months, thanks to a slew of headwinds such as health concerns over vaping, managerial instability, scandals, and an increasingly risk-averse market. 

The advancement of the SAFE Banking Act indicates it won’t be long before U.S. stock exchanges open up to cannabis listings, a potential blow to Canadian bourses that have carved a lucrative niche for pot.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 321-103 last week in favour of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which would allow banks to do business with legal cannabis companies. Currently, the industry is forced to conduct many transactions in cash because of its lack of access to the banking system.

The bill now faces the more difficult hurdle of the Republican-controlled Senate, but most industry analysts believe a version of it will pass by next year.

Federal red tape and foot-dragging on approving makers of edible cannabis will see months-long delays in the products reaching stores, a Calgary chocolatier said Thursday.

A spokeswoman with Alberta’s cannabis regulator also voiced frustrations about the process.

City businessman Brad Churchill said he’s been waiting for a licence allowing him to infuse chocolate with cannabis at his Calgary factory since applying for it in late July.

The owner of Choklat said he received a reply from Health Canada but no licence this week, and fears the time it takes to receive it and approval for such things as packaging will push back the actual sales date for his products to March or April.

A U.S. recommendation that consumers avoid vaping products containing the active ingredient in marijuana ahead of their legalization in Canada next month could be a blow to Canadian cannabis companies’ hopes that the higher-margin products will help propel them to profitability.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday that an investigation into 805 confirmed or probable cases of vaping-related respiratory illnesses suggested that products containing THC, the psychoactive element in cannabis, likely played a role.

Vaping products, one of the fastest-growing segments of the legal marijuana industry, have taken a hit from consumers as public health experts scramble to determine what’s causing a mysterious and sometimes fatal lung disease among people who use e-cigarettes.

The ailment has sickened at least 530 people and killed nine. Some vaped nicotine, but many reported using oil containing THC, marijuana’s high-inducing ingredient, and said they bought products from pop-up shops and other illegal sellers. The only death linked to THC vapes bought at legal shops occurred in Oregon.

Psychosis is the loss of contact with external reality, meaning that those afflicted with this condition, unaware of their circumstances, can potentially experience delusions, hallucinations, and more.

CBD has already been shown to have an antipsychotic effect in humans, but how and why has remained unclear. But if results of a new study on the therapeutic effects of cannabidiol on psychosis is able to be replicated, it could have extremely important implications in the area of psychiatric treatments.

As the demand for CBD continues to grow massively, there’s one product that is catching the attention of a wide range of people. 

Hemp flower is not only proving popular with people interested in the health benefits of CBD, but also recreational cannabis consumers who appreciate its subtle yet relaxing effects. 

The health benefits of cannabis are coming into clearer focus, with medical consumers most commonly using marijuana to treat muscle pain, anxiety, depression, joint pain and insomnia, Strainprint Technologies Inc. notes in a new report.

The report, the Canadian Medical Cannabis Experience: A 2019 Patient Retrospective, offers a sweeping view of how patients are using cannabis and is informed by “more than 800,000, real-time anonymous patient outcomes” throughout the 2018 calendar year.

A third Canadian cannabis company has had its trading licence suspended following the recent fiasco with Ontario-based producer CannTrust.

Evergreen Medicinal Supply’s licence to grow and sell cannabis has been suspended by Health Canada, following an inspection of the British Columbia firm’s facilities in August, reports BNN Bloomberg.

It reports a Health Canada spokesperson as saying the suspension is a result of non-compliance, and designed to ‘protect public health and safety, including preventing cannabis from being diverted to the illegal market’.

Dubbed “Cannabis 2.0,” we’re on the verge of seeing a second significant change in the marijuana industry. Cannabis 2.0 talks about the second wave of Canadian adult-use recreational marijuana legalization. Less than a month from now, Canada is going to legalize several cannabis derivatives.

The country will legalize the use of cannabis-infused beverages, edibles, and vapes on October 17, 2019. Cannabis 2.0 follows Cannabis 1.0 from last year.

On October 17, 2018, Canada legalized the use of recreational marijuana and sales, but the legalization covered only dry cannabis flowers, oils, plants, seeds, and sublingual sprays.