Niagara residents had their cannabis industry questions answered tonight.
Niagara College's Niagara-on-the-Lake campus hosted a question and answer to provide education and opportunities for conversation.
This comes following the announced launch of Niagara College's first commercial cannabis production program.
The program is intended for passionate professionals to become educated on cannabis from seed to sale tracking.
The special panel included politicians and industry experts discussing the program, the future of cannabis and the security around it.
The auditorium was filled with people eager to ask questions from the impact on Niagara's economy to what opportunities will be generated.
Chris Bittle, St.Catharines MP says legalization will bring positive feedback to Niagara.
"I see the positive, the negative does exist, but people have to understand last year there were 5 million Canadians that used cannabis already. It's something that is going on right now, and legalization isn't going to change that because it's already happening."
He also mentions legalization will provide the federal government a framework to regulate, control and restrict cannabis.
Niagara will accept 24 students for a two semester program, with 3 intakes in fall, winter and spring.
Applicants must have a pre-diploma in a form of agriculture.
This production program will kick-off September 2018.
For those who missed the event and still have questions regarding the cannabis industry another panel discussion will be held at a future date.
Panelists included:
Chris Bittle, St. Catharines MP
Bill MacDonald, professor, School of Environment and Horticulture, Niagara College
Blake Landry, manager of economic research and analysis, Niagara Region Economic Development
Jennifer Maccarone, chief quality officer, Up Cannabis, licenced producer