*By Jacqueline Corba*
Canada is set to become the first nation in the G7 to legalize marijuana for recreational use at the federal level on Oct. 17.
"It's a little bit like a patchwork like it is in the United States, except it's under the umbrella of legality," Cannabis Wire co-founder and editor Alyson Martin told Cheddar's CannaBiz on Tuesday. "It will be legal countrywide but it is going to have a province-by-province roll out."
Each province can set the eligible age for marijuana consumption, Martin said.
Despite a murky rollout, marijuana companies based in Canada are booming in the public market.
Shares of Tilray ($TLRY), a medical marijuana producer, are up a [staggering 475 percent](https://cheddar.com/videos/tilray-shares-hit-new-high) over the last three months ahead of Canada's legalization.
"It's historic," Poseidon managing partner Morgan Paxhia said in a separate interview. His company invests in companies involved in the cannabis industry.
"That pool of capital, that significant size, we believe is indicative of what's to come in the United States."
About 16 percent of Canadians aged 15 or older have reported using marijuana in the last three months, according to [Statistics Canada](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180809/dq180809a-eng.htm). That's about 4.6 million people in a nation of about 36 million people.
California, which legalized cannabis at the start of 2018, itself has an even bigger population of 40 million. Does its change in law signify anything about the wider U.S.? Possibly.
According to a [recent Pew Research poll](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/08/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/), 62 percent of Americans are currently for legalizing the drug, a slight increase from a year ago, but double the percentage from 2000.
Millennials are among the most ardent supporters, with 73 percent in favor of legalization, according to Pew.
For Martin, that suggests that legalization in the States is inevitable.
"That's way above the threshold that pollsters really look at to have a safe margin for it to pass. I think what it is going to signal more to lawmakers in states that want to legalize by legislature versus ballot box that there's real, serious support here."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/countdown-to-canada-inside-legalization-roll-out).
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Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
