It hasn’t been long since buying, selling or smoking marijuana was completely illegal on both sides of the border, but a lot is changing and quickly. Not only is it now legal to sell and possess it in some places, but soon you may be able to buy and sell it on one of the most formal markets -- the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Tweed Inc., an Ontario company, is seeking a listing on the TSX Venture Exchange after winning a federal licence to grow medical marijuana yesterday.

“There is a lot of growth potential in the market,” says Tweed’s president and CEO Chuck Rifici to Kevin Newman Live. We’re doing this for more access to capital so we will be able to grow faster plus increase our visibility in the market.

 If they are successful in getting the listing, it will be the first public listing by a marijuana producer in Canada.

“If approved, this will allow Tweed to run a transparent, open company, while providing an opportunity for the public to invest in a unique market in its early stages,” he says.

Canada is allowing companies to supply medical marijuana because it’s much safer than people growing it in their own homes or small grow-ops. In April, growing your own marijuana will be banned. Tweed is the fifth company to secure a licence and become an approved medical supplier. And they are probably going to make good use of the potential capital to get ahead of the competition because Health Canada estimates the market could be worth about $1.3 billion within 10 years.

“We’re confident (of getting the listing), but the TSX has to approve the listing,” Rifici says. Unfortunately they won’t get one of the naturally preferred signs because POT is owned by Potash Corp. and THC, an acronym for a chemical agent in marijuana, is owned by the mineral exploration company Thelon Capital Ltd.

Tweed is going to be growing what they call a “selection of premium medical marijuana” at the old Hershey plant in Smith Falls, Ont., about 80 kilometres southwest of Ottawa. The confectionary factory -- the largest in Canada -- shut its doors in 2008, taking 500 jobs out of the town. Even the town’s water tower, which once read “Chocolate Capital of Ontario,” was repainted. Now a small team of well-educated business people and a lawyer have taken over the plant hoping it will be a success. Rifici says when they are at full production they should be able to provide well over 100 jobs for a community, which has been listed as one of the fasted-declining towns in the country.

Rifici says the town has been great to work with and Mayor Dennis Staples seems pretty excited about the prospects.

“The world has changed, and this is a legitimate business that (thousands of) Canadians rely on,” Staples told the Ottawa Citizen in October. “It’s going to create jobs that we sorely need, and we hope that the remaining space continues to attract other tenants.”

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