When cannabis was first legalized in Canada, customers immediately criticized the excessive plastic packaging that came with it. 

Some products generated as much as 70 grams of plastic and cardboard for one gram of marijuana. 

But that is starting to change. 

Some products, offered in pill containers, have shed the outer cardboard boxes and shrink-wrapped plastic seal. 

Others, such as a gram of cannabis from Ontario producer Aphria, come in sealed brown envelopes. 

"We are certainly mindful of the concerns raised around the amount of packaging used industry-wide, which was largely the result of ensuring compliance with the regulations under the Cannabis Act," said Andrew Swartz, a spokesperson for Aphria. 

The Atlantic Cannabis Conference & Expo (ACExpo), the region’s first-ever cannabis conference, is intended to clear the air—and any confusion—about cannabis in an age of legalization.

The New Brunswick government is considering three options as it mulls the future of Cannabis NB.

Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said the options include allowing experts to run the business, scaling it down and closing the Cannabis NB stores that aren’t making money, or privatizing it.

His comments come after the province's Crown-owned cannabis retailer recorded a big financial loss in its first year of operation.

Unaudited year-end results released last week show Cannabis NB lost $11.7 million.

“It’s a real fancy model and I’ve said all along, one of the busiest businesses in Moncton is Costco. It’s a cement floor and steel shelves,” Steeves said Wednesday.

Well folks, it turns out that it can be possible to lose money selling drugs.

New Brunswick’s crown operated cannabis retailer has joined the ever-growing list of government-run marijuana dispensary operations managing to lose millions.

Unaudited year-end results released Tuesday show Cannabis NB lost $11.7 million.

From a baker in Grand Bay to a Fredericton restaurant owner who recently closed his business to get into the industry, entrepreneurs in the province are hoping to get a piece of the edibles pie. But it may not be the easiest road to get their products carried in Cannabis NB stores come October 17 this year. Currently, people are allowed to make edible in their homes for personal use but it’s illegal to sell them.

Newstrike Brands Ltd. (TSX-V:HIP) (“Newstrike” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that Up Cannabis Inc. (“Up Cannabis”), its wholly-owned subsidiary, has entered into an agreement with Cannabis NB as a licensed producer to supply cannabis.

“We are very excited to announce this partnership with Cannabis NB,” said Jay Wilgar, CEO of both Newstrike and Up Cannabis.

The owner of Thunder Hill Bakery in Grand Bay-Westfield is planning a reinvention of her signature cupcakes and muffins — with a cannabis twist.  

Jenn Guimond plans to open a second business, one that will showcase recipes using marijuana extracts that she makes at home.

Her new line of baked goods will include both the non-psychoactive CBD oil as well as THC, which does cause the "high." 

Sometimes she takes her cooking classes on the road and teaches neighbours what they can legally do in their own kitchens with their own pot.  

She says most of the interest is coming from people over 65. 

"It's other people's grandmothers," said Guimond, icing a tray of sugar-free, gluten-free, keto-friendly vanilla bean cupcakes infused with CBD. 

Annette Balkam isn't sure whether she would be alive today if she hadn't discovered medical cannabis.

The Moncton woman said she slipped and fell on the job as a security guard in 2011, severing two ligaments and developing a neurological disorder that's left her in "constant pain."

Six years ago, she decided to try medical cannabis. Balkam said she was taking too many pills, including addictive opioids, and nothing seemed to help.

Now, Balkam said, she has stopped taking opioids. She feels more alert and is able to function better.

But she said it took months to persuade WorkSafeNB back in 2014 to cover the costs of her medical cannabis.

"We're not drug addicts," Balkam said. "We're not looking to get high. We're looking to relieve our pain."

Zenabis CEO Andrew Grieve says having the 255,000-square-foot facility in operation not only will allow the company to produce more, but also allow more flexibility to how it disperses its resources across its two other plants, one in New Brunswick and the other in Langley, B.C.

“We actually have a 255,000-square-foot facility that we can use for a variety of different components of our business, whether that’s processing and packaging, manufacturing, or a range of other activities,” says Grieve. “This provides us with additional significant flexibility and additional cultivation capacity.”

Grace DeNoya is used to getting snickers when people learn she's majoring in marijuana.

"My friends make good-natured jokes about getting a degree in weed," said DeNoya, one of the first students in a new four-year degree program in medicinal plant chemistry at Northern Michigan University. "I say, 'No, it's a serious degree, a chemistry degree first and foremost. It's hard work. Organic chemistry is a bear.'"

As a green gold rush in legal marijuana and its non-drug cousin hemp spreads across North America, a growing number of colleges are adding cannabis to the curriculum to prepare graduates for careers cultivating, researching, analyzing and marketing the herb.