However, while there’s growing concern over the effects the Canadian cannabis industry could have on its neighbour to the south, there’s also a very slight undertone of optimism. The reason being that if and when Canada’s industry really begins to hit its stride, it’s largely inevitable that policymakers in the United States will have no choice but to revisit their own stance on the way things work.

The long and short of it being that Canada will set the bar for the rest of the world and North America will not want to be left behind. Or at least, not too far behind. Federal policy on cannabis cultivation, supply and use in the US has remained almost entirely unchanged for five decades, which is astonishing given the advances made in research and public attitudes.

Within the next ten years or so, economists expect the marijuana industry to reach an annual value of no less than $40 billion, when combining medical and recreational markets alike. Suffice to say, this is the kind of cash the American federal government cannot afford to ignore. What’s more, the mutual benefits of the Canadian and US marijuana industries to some extent collaborating could be enormous. But that’s only going to happen with a rather radical change in federal policy.

And that might be a long time coming, at this rate.