Legal

While some have questioned the legality of municipalities like Vancouver and Victoria regulating illegal marijuana dispensaries, there is already a precedent in place for the issuing of business licenses and ‘regulation’ or at least allowance of illegal practices in various Canadian cities. When it comes to...

British Columbians are taking a keen interest in a petition that asks for the Canadian government to fully repeal the prohibition of marijuana. Of 12,549 signatures gathered so far, residents of B.C. account for 5,133 of them. That’s 41 percent, whereas B.C. accounts for roughly 13 percent of the country’s...

Of all of the promises the Liberals made in the lead-up to last year’s election, one would have thought that legalizing marijuana would be an easy one to keep, as it would be pretty easy to do. The basis for marijuana’s illegality in Canada is its inclusion in several schedules of the Controlled Drugs and...

The last time the Liberals proposed decriminalizing marijuana, we faced the real prospect of being penalized by our neighbours to the south. Now it seems as though our American friends have a burgeoning legal marijuana market of their own. Recent figures show that cannabis sales in Colorado alone (which legalized the...

The historic decision in the Allard case was a huge win for Canadian medical marijuana patients. And it may set the stage for the next big fight and hopefully another win for patients – the legalization and regulation of storefront dispensaries that are popular (and controversial) across the country. And they seem to...

Canada’s medical marijuana growers say a jump in the number of illegal marijuana dispensaries as the federal government decides how to regulate the drug is costing them customers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during last year’s election campaign that his Liberals would legalize recreational marijuana,...

Legal pot startups brought in more than $200 million from investors last year, more than twice what they had in 2014. Legal marijuana is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, and last year a record number of startups made deals with venture capitalists eager to get in on the ground floor. VCs...

Employees trim away leaves from marijuana plants to be packaged and sold at a dispensary in Colorado. As Canada moves towards legalization, what can it learn from those jurisdictions that have already made the change? As the federal Liberals map out their plan for legalizing marijuana, they can look at how — and how...

The feds might want to make the bold move to invite dispensaries to the table to participate in the future shaping of a national cannabis strategy. As Canada creeps closer to legal weed, those accessing marijuana for medical purposes are still lost in a maze of rules, regulations and misinformation. Health Canada’s...

Don Briere was once convicted and sent to prison for running British Columbia’s largest network of marijuana grow ops. So on Wednesday, when a Canadian judge ruled that the ban on growing medicinal marijuana at home was unconstitutional, Briere was elated. “The personal production license people are all dancing in the...