This Wednesday, the long-awaited nation-wide legalization of cannabis in Canada finally goes into effect, which ostensibly poses a significant opportunity for promotional products companies in the Great White North. It comes after more than a year of wrangling among bureaucrats, law-makers, producers, advertisers and users of the drug, as to how the new law should be enforced.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made marijuana legalization a campaign promise back in 2015, citing government regulation as the best way to keep pot off the black market and away from Canada’s youth. Last year, just before announcing the official push for legalization by his Liberal party, he said, “It’s easier for a teenager to buy a joint right now than a bottle of beer, and that’s not right. We know by controlling and regulating it, we are going to make it more difficult for young people to access marijuana.”

The government had planned to set legalization for Canada Day on July 1, 2018, but delays in the process set it back to this month.

While the Liberals pushed hard for its passage, the Cannabis Act (C-45) had its detractors. Conservatives in the House and Senate expressed their opposition of the bill from the beginning, and law enforcement officials even asked for a delay last fall in a bid for more time to determine policies moving forward regarding impaired driving penalties, public education and more.

This summer, after a brief back-and-forth between the House and Senate in Ottawa (including an amendment by the Senate that would have banned cannabis swag, which the House removed from the final bill), the Cannabis Act headed for royal assent in June. Trudeau set the official legalization date that same week.

It’s poised to be a huge industry for the Canadian economy. Bloomberg reports that there are already almost 140 companies on the Canadian stock exchange that are involved in some way with the cannabis market, with a combined value of about C$63.3 billion ($48.8 billion US). In August, commercial activity was already ramping up in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province.

“I think the excitement is there and I do believe this will open a new market for the promotional products industry,” Pete Thuss, marketing partner at Talbot Marketing (asi/341500), told ASI Canada, though he adds he doesn’t have plans right now to pursue cannabis clients. “At first there will be a big push to gain market share and to raise awareness for those retail outlets carrying the product, probably for the first 10 to 12 months. But once it settles down I think it will slow.”

While legalization looks to be a boon for Canadian promo firms, and large 4/20-type parties and events are sure to crop up across the country this week, there are still many questions to be answered as to how cannabis can be legally marketed and advertised. And that’s causing many companies to adopt a “wait and see” position.

Currently, there are advertising limitations in the law that marketers—including promotional products companies—must adhere to.  The restrictions announced this summer bar legal producers (LPs), marketers and advertisers from using glamourous imagery, testimonials or celebrity endorsements to promote their wares. Even brand mascots are illegal, and offenses could incur fines in the six-figure range. But specifics have been few and far between so far. Add to this that the government plans to allow provinces to develop their own protocols within the framework of the bill, and uncertainty abounds for promo firms.

“It’s still really gray,” Scott Hulbert, managing director of ideavation (asi/229801), told ASI Canada. “It’s a moving target, as far as legalities, restrictions and advertising opportunities. Will it be like tobacco, which is very restricted in its advertising, or alcohol, which has been given more of a carte blanche? We just don’t know.”

However, Hulbert is ready to address LPs’ promotional needs as soon as he gets the green light. Indeed, a cannabis company has already approached him about outfitting staff in uniforms and creating marketing materials for about 40 to 50 retail stores in the near future.

“These are not mom-and-pop operations,” says Hulbert. “There are private equity firms behind these pot companies. They have deep resources. It’s a cash-rich industry, and there’s so much money backing the LPs and retailers. So there’s tons of opportunity for promotional products, as long as the government allows it. I think at first there will be a lot of guerrilla marketing and companies will advertise how they want until they’re told they’re not allowed to do it that way.”