Cannabis edibles hit the P.E.I. market on Dec. 18 and a Charlottetown company that produces them says staff have been racing to keep up with demand.

Dosecann is busy producing cannabis gummies and chocolates to shell out to Islanders and the rest of Canada.

"This building has literally gone from first gear to sixth. We're racing as if we're a Formula One team," said David Baranowski, director of technology, transfer and quality control.

Cannabis edibles are limited to a maximum of 10 milligrams of THC per retail pack.

Baranowski said the biggest challenge for the company is identifying its own capabilities, and what the interest is of the market in general.

The sale of edible cannabis products becomes legal Tuesday across Canada, but they won't be on P.E.I. store shelves immediately.

P.E.I. Cannabis will begin sending out purchase orders to suppliers of cannabis derivatives on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson at the Department of Finance. Products, including edible food items, beverages, topicals and extracts, should begin to appear on store shelves in coming weeks.

In some other provinces, rollout of the legal sale of cannabis derivatives has been delayed due to regulatory issues, and products are expected on shelves next month.

Government is also putting out new health and safety messages, including short videos on social media.

Canadian licensed producer Zenabis has increased its market share in the New Brunswick cannabis market since launching Re-Up, a lower-cost brand of flower and pre-rolls.

The Atholville, N.B.-based company has produced data indicating a 38 percent market share of sales in Cannabis NB stores across the province for the period concluding in October 2019. The number indicates a spike in sales of the brand, which rang in at 20 percent this past July.

Zenabis credits its bump in sales to the Re-Up brand, which the company hopes will give it a competitive edge against the cheaper prices offered on the unlicensed market and incentivize consumers who source their cannabis from illicit distributors to consider purchasing from the legal market.

Canadian pharmacy giant Shoppers Drug Mart has expanded its online medical cannabis platform to Canada's East Coast.

As of today, residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island can go online on the company's website to make their purchase, which will then be mailed to them.

Residents who don't currently have the proper medical documentation authorizing the use of medical cannabis can get it by setting up a consultation online.

"There's access to telemedicine where a person can have an individual consultation with a physician who can determine whether cannabis is right for them," said Mike Boivin, a pharmacist consultant from Ontario who is a member of the Shoppers Drug Mart Advisory Board on Medical Cannabis.

As has been discussed (incessantly) over the past few months, second-wave cannabis products such as extracts, edibles and topicals are expected to hit the shelves in mid-December in most provinces (with some exceptions).

Biome Grow Inc. has announced that P.E.I. Cannabis has approved the sale of cannabis products supplied by Biome’s wholly-owned Nova Scotia-based subsidiary, Highland Grow Inc. 

Highland Grow’s products, currently sold in five provinces, will now be available in all four Atlantic provinces, as well as Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Biome continues to grow its commercial footprint since beginning commercial sales of cannabis in January 2019. According to a press release, the company's management is expected to share its plans for expanding its commercial and production footprint to additional Canadian provinces in the months ahead.

P.E.I. cannabis producer FIGR is expanding its facility, located in Charlottetown — a move that will allow it to increase its production by 20 times. 

The company received approval from Health Canada last week for a licence amendment to allow the facility to operate an additional 210,000 square feet. 

About 46,000 square feet of the added space will be dedicated to processing, and 164,000 square feet will be dedicated to growing marijuana.

Currently, FIGR produces 1,200 and 1,400 kilograms of marijuana per year. The expansion will allow it to produce 28,000 kilograms per year said Alex Smith, the chief financial officer and vice-president of operations for FIGR on P.E.I.

Smith said additional space means more workers.

The Workers Compensation Board of P.E.I. has finished the first review of its medical cannabis policy, one year after implementing it.

Under the policy, clients can be approved for use of cannabis to treat nausea with chemotherapy, end-of-life care, spasms caused by a spinal injury, or chronic shooting or burning pain.

The current policy covers reasonable costs for a vaporizer, and the board is looking to drop that benefit in light of a recent Health Canada warning.

"We wanted to ensure that our policy didn't inadvertently promote vaping as a route for cannabis treatment and so we proposed an interim step that we wouldn't cover the cost of a vaporizer," said Kate Marshall, director of workplace services.