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News on cannabis stocks and on developments in the industry haven’t let up in today’s volatile markets. Here are this week’s stories that we believe will mean most to you as a Canadian investor.

1. In a sign of the industry’s global potential, the biggest underwriter of marijuana stocks has now appointed a head of cannabis investment for Europe.

There has been “significant” interest from medical cannabis companies for stock-market listings in Europe, says Tristan Gervais, Canaccord Genuity’s U.K.-based banker tasked with helping cannabis firms list on European exchanges. “A lot of companies from all over the world are looking to raise capital in London.”

Gervais and others are pointing to growing interest from a wide range of European investors as stock price gains for Toronto-listed firms increase.

Still, most European markets have yet to fully legalize recreational cannabis use within their jurisdictions. Cannabis firms considering European listings may ultimately need governments to follow Canada’s lead before deciding to go public.

2. Dozens of pot companies have now applied to produce cannabis in the Canadian outdoors.

As of Jan. 31, 2019, Health Canada had received 172 site applications from licensed cannabis producers looking to use outdoor areas for the cultivation of cannabis, or related  purposes. That includes the destruction and composting of cannabis plant material.

Health Canada has yet to issue its first permit, but 48North Cannabis Corp. announced this week that it has secured a deal with the Quebec government to supply it with 1,200 kilograms of pot from its farm in Brant County, Ontario, by the end of the year.

Canadian regulators approved outdoor cannabis production in June 2018 after previously limiting it to indoors. The restriction was meant to prevent theft and ensure quality control.

Since then, several major cannabis companies have announced plans to grow tens of thousands of kilograms of marijuana outdoors in order to cut production costs to as little as $0.03 per gram.

3. The number of cannabis seizures at the Canadian border jumped more than 60% in the first six weeks after legalization, according to new statistics.

The Canada Border Services Agency says the year-over-year spike coincides with the new practice of asking people to declare any cannabis coming into the country.

Over that six-week period following the legalization of recreational cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018, a total of 329 confiscations—including seizures and voluntary forfeitures—were made. A year earlier that number was just 204.

While cannabis use is now legal, it remains against the law to take pot across Canada’s international borders.

The Border Services statistics stop short of indicating how many criminal charges were laid as a result of the confiscations.

Still, the uptick in seizures “doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s leading to a negative outcome for these folks,” cautions Mark Belanger, a lawyer with Border Solutions Law Group in Vancouver.

4. The NHL Alumni Association has signed an agreement with Canopy Growth for the company to study the health of retired players and the feasibility of using cannabis as a substitute to opioids.

Under the deal, Canopy will cover the costs of a double-blind randomized study involving about 100 former players in the Toronto area. It will take about a year to produce results, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The finding could help make the case that the cannabinoid compounds in marijuana are an effective nonaddictive substitute for opioids. If the results of the initial study are encouraging, Canopy Growth has agreed to fund a second phase of research involving a larger group of former players.

A formal announcement of the study and the agreement is likely to come on Saturday.

5. The federal government is looking to drop application fees and wait time for Canadians seeking pardons for simple cannabis-possession convictions.

The legislation, if passed into law, would allow the convicted to remove what in many cases has been a barrier to employment, education, housing, and even charity work, says Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale

The government sees the removal of fees and waiting periods as key to ensuring all affected Canadians can access pardons.

Critics have argued that small-time convictions for cannabis possession should, in fact, be expunged. But a pardon is actually more useful for Canadians seeking to cross international borders, according to federal officials.