Nova Scotians will soon be able to legally buy “home-grown” cannabis

That's because one of the province's three marijuana production companies has been granted a federal license to sell its product to retailers -- in this case the NSLC.

The one in the Wentworth Valley was once a NATO satellite communications facility, but now it's home to Breathing Green Solutions.

“At any given time, we have anywhere from 1,800 to 2,000 plants in the facility,” said Joe Sanford, the business operations manager at Breathing Green Solutions.

This week, the company became the first producer in the province, to be granted a license from Health Canada to sell their product.

It comes after years of work, and the production of two full crops for Health Canada to test.

“We were the first license to cultivate, so, it really only made sense that we were going to be the first license for sale," said Sanford. "That puts us out ahead of the game and, that way, we can really build our brand within Nova Scotia.

There were long lines and high demand at NSLC stores across the province Thursday.

The corporation has said, it wouldn't have as much cannabis as anticipated, and some of it may run out.

NSLC spokeswoman Beverley Ware says  it's a positive step for the industry here.

“We're in contact with them and we would have discussions with them about what strains they might be able to offer to us, and what price category they'd like to be in,” said Ware. “So, we come to agreements in that regard and then we would issue a formal purchase order with them.”

Sanford’s outlook, not surprisingly, is positive.

“We have the opportunity now to hopefully have some more product on the shelves with the available space,” he said.

Sanford says the company will also be focusing on the medical market, and filling orders placed online.

“The medical market expands all the way across Canada, so orders can be done online in any province,” Sanford said.

They've done seven harvests so far, and just need to do some packaging work, before their product will be available.

“We're looking at producing anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 kilograms a year,” Sanford said.

He says he expects Breathing Green product will be on store shelves within the next few weeks. Meanwhile, there's no word yet on when the other Nova Scotia producers may be getting their retail licenses.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan Macintosh.