A large number of businesses have applied to become cannabis shops in Saskatchewan and the number here in Moose Jaw is significant.

The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority says they received over 1500 applications from across the province with 107 coming from prospective businesses in Moose Jaw. There are two permits available for the Friendly City and to put that into perspective, Regina will get six permits with 169 applications being received. Saskatoon saw 177 applications for the seven planned dispensaries.

The high level of interest has certainly sparked the conversation about more permits being issued into the future, something SLGA Minister Gene Makowsky is thinking about with only 51 permits expected to be issued when cannabis becomes legal across the country.

"I think we took a cautious approach, a reasonable approach initially, for our first round and we'll see." said Makowsky. "I think there's a lot of interest, obviously."

Makowsky seemed to suggested that they will let the market decide if further permits will be issued saying they will watch how the market responds.

The applications will now go through a screening process and the ones which pass the testing criteria, will be put into the lottery to determine who wins the coveted permits.