Grow Life 420

Some large investments in N.L. production have gone up in smoke As Brian Keating pulls the plastic lid off a small cannabis storage container, a pungent herbal smell wafts quickly throughout the room. "That's quality," said Keating, referring to the highly potent buds as he waved his hand over the container. This cannabis, though, is not for sale. These samples — destined for mandatory storage, as per Health Canada rules — are all that's left…

When the use of cannabis became legal in Canada more than five years ago, there was hope that it would help ease access for medical users of marijuana. But doctors say the evidence for some medical usage is lacking, leaving some patients frustrated. The federal government-run program for medical cannabis started more than 20 years ago. Soon after, patients started to complain it was difficult to find doctors who were on board with giving medical…

Gold medallist snowboarder recently got his own cannabis products to market. Five years after the legalization of cannabis in Canada, Olympic gold medalist and cannabis entrepreneur Ross Rebagliati says government restrictions and stigma are hurting the growth of the industry in this country. Rebagliati rode his snowboard to gold at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 — the year snowboarding made its debut on the Olympic stage. Despite the fact cannabis was not…

Santé Cannabis asks for more funding from public, private sectors. Ever since she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at 16, Rebecca Fogel has been in and out of the hospital. She was prescribed opioids to manage her pain and eventually became dependent on them. One physician she saw had previously worked at Santé Cannabis and suggested she try medical marijuana to manage the pain without opioids. That referral, the 28-year-old says, changed her life. -…

Goal is to develop distribution framework that can legally offer other illicit drugs, says High Hopes founder. Longtime overdose prevention advocate Sarah Blyth knows marijuana isn't a cure-all for issues of addiction and overdose, but she says it can help some people. "People use it for sleeping, they use it for pain, they use it for trauma ... sometimes using it instead of opiates," said Blyth, founder of the High Hopes Foundation and the Overdose…

Retailers say consumers are finding AGLC’s two-step verification requirement cumbersome. Some licensed cannabis retailers haven't seen a high uptake with online cannabis sales since Alberta allowed private companies to sell directly online earlier this year. "As soon as the regulation changed, we onboarded as soon as possible just to capitalize on it," said Derek Shields, owner of Northern Lights Supply in Nisku, Alta. - Read the entire article at CBC News.

However, terms of the change already rejected by at least 1 chief. The provincial government is hoping a rule change can "level the playing field" when it comes to cannabis stores in Saskatchewan. An order in council signed on July 28 states that First Nations will no longer have to secure a permit from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), the government body in charge of regulating the liquor and cannabis industries, in order…

Space for cannabis users to smoke outdoors at Grand Bizarre for the rest of summer. At Grand Bizarre, customers can swim, eat, drink, mingle and now, if they fancy, stroll around the corner and smoke cannabis in a restricted area. Cannabis Carnival is being touted as one of the first of its kind in Ontario — a dedicated place to smoke cannabis that its president, Zlatko Starkovski, says is in line with the Smoke Free…

Industry experts say stigma continues to hold the industry back. Nearly three years after Canada legalized cannabis, many retailers in B.C. say they still struggle to find access to basic financial services from banks. International pressure and decades of stigma around cannabis still plague the fledgling industry, forcing shop owners to dig into their savings to open their small businesses and limiting the sector's growth, industry experts told CBC News. Charles Varabioff, owner of Kingsway…

Adam Webster has a micro-cultivation licence, but sale options are limited. A craft cannabis farmer in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley says his dreams of a lucrative cash crop have withered due to restrictive federal and provincial regulations. Adam Webster says he's hoping the provincial government will back local rules to allow him to sell cannabis directly to retail customers from his farm near Port Williams, N.S. "I'd like to be able to sell straight to…

Craft cannabis producers are limited to selling through bigger processors. The executive director of an umbrella group representing about three dozen farmers' markets in Nova Scotia says craft cannabis should be allowed to be sold at market booths. "The farmers' market could be the perfect place for that type of product to be sold in a safe and controlled environment," said Justin Cantafio, executive director of Farmers' Markets of Nova Scotia. He was responding to…

Hamilton workers with United Weed Workers plan April 20 start of campaign. A group of Hamilton cannabis workers looking to improve working conditions in the pot business plans to launch a national campaign on April 20 — or 420, commonly known as Weed Day. United Weed Workers says the group's goal is to help workers understand their rights, organize and improve job conditions. "Some of the stories workers have told us concern a lack of…