Marijuana legalization was supposed to give Canada's cannabis fanciers access to above board and reliable drug sources while providing tax revenue for the government. But one year in, large numbers of Canadian cannabis users continue to rely on underground dealers. Like with U.S. states that have grudgingly legalized marijuana for recreational use, the black market goes on thriving and generating profits because politicians and regulators have hobbled legal businesses and inconvenienced consumers through high taxes and excessive rules.

As a result, Canada's legal market is largely uncompetitive with the long-established black market there.

Be careful what you wish for, especially when placing an order for weed online. Returning it can be a challenge, with policies varying from province to province.

Here’s what the shipping and return policies look like across the country.

British Columbia 

Bought a product that’s defective, shipped in error or recalled? The BC Cannabis Stores will take them back, but returns must be initiated within 15 days of the purchase.

The east and west coasts are reaping some of the largest gains in Canadian retail cannabis sales according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

B.C. sales nearly doubled from July 2019 to August 2019, leaping from $5.9 million in sales to $11.9 million.

On the other side of Canada, New Brunswick recorded a near 60 per cent gain in the same time period, earning $5.3 million in August 2019 compared to $3.3 million the month before. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia also saw double-digit growth.

October 17, 2019, marks the first anniversary of the legalization of cannabis federally in Canada, and the date when the second phase of products — edibles, extracts, topicals and some other alternative cannabis products also become legal. 

Each province and territory were handed the reins for rolling out legalization, and the results in terms of access to legal marijuana are very different for Canadians depending on where they live. This has also had an impact on consumption patterns.

Even though it's legal, the big banks are balking at weed money, say some cannabis sellers in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thomas H. Clarke's independent cannabis shop in Portugal Cove-St. Phillip's went cash-only Wednesday after being cut off by the bank. 

Clarke opened an account with the Royal Bank of Canada before getting his cannabis licence, saying he was a cannabis accessories wholesaler. A few weeks ago, Clarke said, RBC deemed his business "high risk" and sent a letter saying it would be cancelling his account. 

That sent Clarke on a hunt for a new financial institution. But, he said, every bank he went to turned him down. 

At midnight on Oct. 17, 2018—the second it became legal to sell cannabis—Christopher Duffitt was ready. His store, Puff Puff Pass Head Shop, opened its doors to a lineup of customers in Clarenville, Nfld., a town of 6,300 people northwest of St. John’s. But it quickly became clear that the business wouldn’t be open for long.

The government has released a planned legal cannabis production facility, promising to be the largest in the province, from further environmental assessment.

Back Home Medical Cannabis Corp., a local subsidiary of Ontario-based company Biome Grow, got the go-ahead to move forward with its Barachois Brook cannabis production facility on Thursday. 

"People in Bay St. George now have hope that there's something there, that not only can employ them, but might be there to employ their kids," said Dave Callahan, president of Back Home, which has a mission statement in its name. 

"Back Home cannabis is all about bringing people back home from away and creating work for people back home so we can stay here," Callahan said. 

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.

WorkplaceNL is aware of action in other provinces that could allow injured workers more access to medical-use cannabis, but there is no significant movement in that direction at this point in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"It is an area where we've had some internal discussions, but we haven't yet seen, I guess, any substantive increase in requests of this nature in this area for medical-use marijuana and cannabis," WorkplaceNL CEO Dennis Hogan said in an interview.

"So we're continuing to watch that situation."

Last year, New Brunswick was the first province to introduce cannabis guidelines for workers' compensation claims. P.E.I. and Ontario followed. Nova Scotia is expected to release its guidelines in early April.

According to the recent release of statistics data by the national statistics agency, the highest sales numbers of cannabis are made by Atlantic Canadians. In their study, Statistics Canada agency analyzed legal cannabis purchase rates for each Canadian province for the first quarter year of pot legalization up to the end of the year 2018.

They found that the residents of Prince Edward Island spend the most on legal cannabis (average of $21.95 per capita) after then come in second the residents of Nova Scotia, who spend on average $17.87 on pot. These data coincide with the study of purchase rates for the first six weeks of legalization, where the results showed the same two provinces with the highest rates of pot sales per capita.