The company is developing its medical cannabis for both domestic and global markets

Canadian medical marijuana producer Inc ( ) has made sound progress over the last year, reflected by the share price.

The stock in Toronto stands at about C$2.22 a share, up over 160% from the C$0.85 it stood at in April last year.

The company is developing its medical cannabis for both domestic and global markets and is the preferred supplier for 29 LTC (long term care) homes and lodges, representing more than 3,000 beds in Canada.

Also selling cannabis oil

As well as dried flower, it also now sells medical cannabis oil, revealing last month that its two new platforms are 'Entourage', which is for patients registered under the access to cannabis program and 'Axis', which is designed for the seniors' care market.

A key milestone came last November when the group unveiled a transformational deal, which would substantially boost output.

It entered a definitive lease and purchase option agreement with Perfect Pick Farms - a large-scale modern greenhouse cultivator in Strathroy, Ontario, whose 98-acre property includes 610,000 square feet or 14 acres of state-of-the-art greenhouse ready for rapid retrofit for cannabis cultivation.

It will initially lease the facility, which lies just 60km down the road from its current Aylmer facility in Ontario, and will lift output from a current 1,200 kg a year, adding an additional 20,000 kg of cannabis a year from this facility - putting in in the bigger leagues of Canadian producers.

That's in phase 1 of the ramp up using just 5 acres of the 14 acres of the greenhouse. The firm said it would "drastically" decrease operational costs and "massively" increase production capabilities.

It is aiming to see the first harvest by the time recreational adult use comes on stream by next summer. It is already developing strategic relationships with retailers in each province with that in mind.

In a note in November Mackie Research started covering the stock with a 'buy' and said was well positioned well for the legalization of recreational use of cannabis, with the first cultivation expected in the third quarter of next year.

It cited the Canada newspaper The Globe and Mail, which reported that "reefer madness" was enveloping Bay Street ahead of the legalization of recreational pot.

Jeffrey Jones writes that there are so many small cannabis producers today that consolidation was a foregone conclusion.

"If the industry lives up to projections of multibillion-dollar growth with recreational pot - in both domestic and export markets - it is going to evolve into a playground of larger companies picking off the smaller participants," he said.

Meanwhile, on the medical side, a well-known barrier to the standardization of medical cannabis is identifying strains that are effective in treating specific conditions, and to that end, WeedMD said last week it had joined the world-renowned Cannabis Database Project led by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Participants will collaborate to research cannabinoid and terpenoid profiles of 25 of WeedMD’s cannabis strains.

And also significantly last month, the group revealed that 'pioneer and visionary investor in the emerging cannabis space' Kevin McGovern had become a director of the group.

He was the founder of beverage company SoBe and is the chairman of McGovern Capital.

"Being an investor, lecturer and licensing strategist, particularly in the medical cannabis space, I have chosen to work with the WeedMD team because I think they are uniquely qualified to be a global leader in this space," McGovern had said in a statement.

Financially, the firm is in a strong position, having now closed its fundraising including an overallotment option to raise over C$34mln.

So these are exciting times for WeedMD and the cannabis industry. The company could certainly be one to watch this year.