Michigan, Utah and Missouri vote to liberalize cannabis usage

The U.S. midterms are over. The Democrats now control the House of Representatives, the Republicans still control the Senate and recreational marijuana is now legal in Michigan. Michigan residents voted largely in favour to legalize recreational cannabis for anyone 21 years old or older in the state, while voters in Missouri and Utah both approved ballot measures to allow the sale of medical marijuana. The electoral results also appear to pave the way for Connecticut, Illinois, New York and Rhode Island to legalize cannabis in the future.

Thousands impacted by OCS privacy breach

The Ontario Cannabis Store suffered another setback for the rollout of legal pot in Canada’s most populous province. Approximately 4,500 customers who purchased marijuana from Ontario’s online cannabis store have had some of their personal information improperly accessed by an individual, BNN Bloomberg’s David George-Cosh reports. It’s the latest stumble in Ontario’s short history of selling legal recreational cannabis since last month, which has drawn more than 1,000 complaints on delays and poor customer service to the provincial ombudsman

Saskatchewan, New Brunswick close some pot shops

Ontario isn’t the only province suffering a legal pot headache weeks after cannabis was legalized in Canada. The CBC is reporting that only five of the 51 recreational cannabis stores that were supposed to be open in Saskatchewan are selling legal weed in the prairie province. Meanwhile, 12 of New Brunswick’s government-run cannabis stores were closed this week due to an ongoing supply shortage. Cannabis users frustrated with the rollout of legal pot across the country still have access to black market online websites, which offer marijuana for as low as $3 a gram.

BMO leads banks in U.S. pot stock investments

Financial institutions, mostly firms based in Canada, are making big investments for marijuana stocks traded in the U.S. Barron’s estimates that the Bank of Montreal is the most active bank, which has invested in total U.S.-traded marijuana stock investments valued at US$73.2 million based on filings made to the SEC, mostly in Canopy Growth and Tilray. CIBC Asset Management owned US$5.17 million in such securities, while U.S. Bancorp owned US$2.22 million.

DAILY BUZZ

Early 2020
- When Michigan is expected to allow the commercial sale of legal recreational cannabis

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the stunning formation of the entirely new – and controversial – Canadian recreational marijuana industry. Read more from the special series here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest marijuana news delivered directly to your inbox every day.