Article by Windsor Star While it has been weeks since the federal government legalized cannabis, thousands of Ontarians are feeling left in the dust. Many first-day customers who placed orders on Oct. 17 have still not received their shipments yet. This boondoggle came about as a result of many different contributing factors: over 100,000 orders in less than 24 hours, insufficient ...

Article by Hamilton Spectator It is entirely understandable that some members of Hamilton city council are frustrated, even angry, with the provincial government’s plan to launch legal cannabis dispensaries. Municipalities specifically asked for a 450-metre buffer zone around schools. Even that — nearly a half kilometre — doesn’t sound like a lot in the interests of making it difficult for underage ...

Article by Rob Ferguson, Toronto Star via Niagara Falls Review Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff ordered senior political aides to direct police to raid outlaw cannabis stores the day marijuana became legal and to show “people in handcuffs,” the Toronto Star has learned. The edict from Dean French — an unelected political aide — in two conference calls the ...

Article by Marina Strauss and Christina Pellegrini, Globe and Mail Some cannabis retailers could be shut out of operating multiple stores in Ontario as a result of new grower ownership limits issued on Thursday. . The province’s regulations say a cannabis retailer can’t be more than 9.9 per cent owned by a producer if it wants to operate more than ...

Article by Chad Finkelstein, Globe and Mail Last week, the Ontario government released its regulations to the Cannabis License Act, 2018. Cannabis industry stakeholders had been tentatively planning their retail strategies ever since the government previously announced that licensed cannabis producers (LPs) and their “affiliates” would be limited to own one retail store only. But the legislation did not define ...

Article by Ken Mann, Global News The question of whether Hamilton should host private cannabis stores goes before the city’s planning committee on Dec. 11 and some councillors plan to say no. They are voicing concerns with a series of provincial guidelines that were released early this week and would regulate sales, starting April 1, 2019. One of those guidelines calls ...

Article by Amanda Jerome, The Lawyer’s Daily The Ontario government has announced new regulations for the licensing and operation of private cannabis stores, which include a zero-tolerance approach for any retailer serving youth under 19 and a prohibition on licensing anyone associated with organized crime. . The announcement seems to follow standard licensing procedure for alcohol and tobacco, lawyers say, ...

Article by William M. Glenn, The Province Landlords leasing to a retail or commercial operation will also have to reassess their current insurance coverage “Operators planning to enter the retail cannabis market should be setting up their security protocols now,” advises Thomas Gerstenecker, founder and CEO of 3|Sixty Secure, an Almonte, Ont.-based company that handles security needs from seed to ...

Article by Jane Gerster, Global News One of the Canadian government’s chief aims in legalizing marijuana was to eliminate the black market. And yet, one month after legalization came into effect on Oct. 17, a new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Global News reveals that of those who have purchased cannabis in the last month, 35 per cent went back to ...

Article by Colin Perkel, City News Canada’s privacy commissioner is planning to issue guidance for buyers and sellers of legal cannabis amid ongoing concern about potential fallout, such as being barred from the United States, if transactions become known by third parties. The concern has been heightened in provinces where anonymously paying cash in-store is not possible in light of a ...