But one aspect that is not well known is how much the change will add or subtract to the economy. Statistics Canada is as yet unable to quantify the impact and expects to have more information by 2019 but Deloitte in 2016 produced a report suggesting the industry could be worth between $5 billion and $9 billion in goods in services.

Of course, price and the willingness of consumers to switch to legal marijuana sources are key considerations.

But there must be something to be said about future job opportunities in sales, analysis, finance, licensing and security. In other words, the lure of working for a gang's dial-a-dope operation - and getting shot at - may be replaced by a good job with benefits.

[continues 77 words]

B.C. has announced $20 million over three years for First Nations communities struggling with the drug-overdose crisis that's disproportionately affecting Indigenous communities.

The funding will be administered by the First Nations Health Authority, which delivers services in partnership with First Nations communities. It is part of $322 million announced in last September's budget update.

About 1,400 people died of illicit drug overdoses in the province last year, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

Indigenous people are five times more likely to experience an overdose than the general population and die at a rate three times greater, said Judy Darcy, minister of mental health and addictions.

[continues 426 words]

Province's system heeds advice of public-health experts, but substances won't be sold together in single outlet

British Columbia will create a retail system for recreational cannabis that is almost identical to the one for alcohol, but like most other provinces, will not allow the two substances to be sold together in private or public stores once Ottawa legalizes marijuana this summer.

Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth released more details for the province's legal cannabis framework on Monday. He noted that his NDP government heeded the advice of the country's top public health experts to ban the sales of cannabis next to alcohol. The province's biggest public unions had pushed for co-location, which only Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories have approved. However, it will be legal in some rural areas, just as the province now allows alcohol to be sold next to tobacco in special cases, he added.

[continues 496 words]

Recreational marijuana will be sold in a network of stand-alone stores overseen by the province's liquor regulator, according to rules announced Monday by the B.C. government.

Public health officials had warned against selling cannabis and alcohol in the same place, which is advice the province took seriously, said Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general.

When federal law makes recreational pot legal in July, there will be both privately run and government-operated cannabis shops. They will not be allowed to sell alcohol, tobacco, clothes, gas or lottery tickets, although exceptions will be made for pot shops in rural areas.

[continues 938 words]

The B.C. government has barred the sale of "snacks" in all the new retail marijuana shops that will start opening legally this summer.

Only cannabis and cannabis accessories will be on the shelves, which overlooks the fact that snacks are the No. 1 cannabis accessory. They go together like alcohol and fist fights.

The prohibition is one of several details Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth released Monday. Countless more will come out in the next few months before the new era of legal cannabis arrives in Canada on July 1. Farnworth said the government's adaptation will carry on for a long time after that. And a lot of the further details will involve municipal governments, which have significant say in shaping the retail landscape and have been grappling with how to do so.

[continues 543 words]

'Authority' included in new guidelines

According to the province's latest cannabis retail laws, announced Monday in Victoria, city governments - such as Richmond - will be able to decide whether to allow pot shops.

In the lead up to the federal government's July 1 marijuana legalization deadline, the province's new guidelines lay out rules for who can sell recreational cannabis where and when.

At a Feb. 5 press conference, Minister of Public Safety, Mike Farnworth, said municipalities would have "the authority to make local decisions, based on the needs of their communities."

[continues 781 words]

The provincial government on Monday unveiled a set of retail rules for recreational cannabis that paves the way for a new network of stand-alone stores operated by the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch but leaves an opening for existing medical-pot dispensaries to legitimize.

However, municipalities will be left with the authority to block any storefront sales of marijuana if they oppose it, Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said in unveiling the regulatory framework.

The retail framework, to be in place for legalization of recreational cannabis by July 1, will allow for online and storefront sales but restrict bricks-and-mortar commerce to stand-alone stores that don't sell liquor, tobacco, food or other products.

[continues 631 words]

Some fear increased police presence will drive drug users to avoid health services

While Vancouver police proclaim victory in a recent crackdown on crime in the Downtown Eastside, some locals fear the boost in beat cops is pushing people who use drugs into harm's way.

Last week, Vancouver police increased foot patrols to address "street disorder" and prevent violence. Police said the sweeps came in response to a surge in complaints from residents, business owners and visitors. As well, people with mobility issues and the elderly have complained about blocked sidewalks and doorways.

[continues 621 words]

If it wasn't for the scent, customers who wandered into Eden Medicinal Society would be forgiven for thinking they had entered a boutique health store rather than a marijuana dispensary.

The distinctive fragrance greets shoppers at the door. It wafts from jars filled with bright green British Columbia bud lining spotless glass shelves. Flat-screen monitors on gleaming white walls display prices of golden hemp flower paste and mocha THC syrup.

Behind the counter stands Vanessa Dandurand, the 30- year-old store manager with an encyclopedic knowledge of cannabis and many dedicated return customers.

[continues 885 words]

Civil lawsuits over cannabis sales, such as the one the City of Victoria won last week, are part of a new, civilized approach to pot, says a B.C. lawyer,

"At least in British Columbia, we have evolved to the point where the response is not to just send in the police," Kirk Tousaw said. "We now take [cannabis sellers] through the normal civil litigation process that you would use with any non-compliant business."

Tousaw has spoken on Canada's marijuana laws before the Supreme Court of Canada and argued on behalf of clients from New Brunswick to B.C. He has also represented Ted Smith, Victoria's longtime cannabis crusader.

[continues 240 words]

Existing dispensaries could transition to legal market with supply deals intact

If it wasn't for the scent, customers who wandered into Eden Medicinal Society would be forgiven for thinking they had entered a boutique health store rather than a marijuana dispensary.

The distinctive fragrance greets shoppers at the door. It wafts from jars filled with bright green B.C. bud lining spotless glass shelves. Flatscreen monitors on gleaming white walls display prices of golden hemp flower paste and mocha THC syrup.

[continues 861 words]

Opioid drug use findings raise concerns about effectiveness of substitution treatment

A study of drug use in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside concluded with 100 per cent of participants who used illicit opioids testing positive for fentanyl, raising concerns that higher opioid tolerance from the powerful synthetic drug could threaten the effectiveness of substitution treatment.

The five-month study, led by University of British Columbia psychiatry professor William Honer, involved 237 high-risk participants. Of those, about half used opioids, either prescribed (such as methadone and buprenorphine) or nonprescribed (such as illicit heroin). Severe mental-health issues also played a significant role: About half had psychosis and one-third had mood disorders, illnesses that increase the likelihood of using illicit drugs.

[continues 459 words]

Last year was "the most tragic year ever" for illicit drug overdose deaths in B.C., prompting public health officials to push for the decriminalization of opioid possession and consumption to address the fentanyl epidemic.

In 2017, 1,422 people died of illicit drug overdose deaths, up from 993 in 2016, chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said Wednesday.

Victoria had the highest number of overdose deaths on Vancouver Island with 91, behind Vancouver (358) and Surrey (174).

Lapointe said the epidemic in B.C. is "related to uncontrolled illicit fentanyl."

[continues 667 words]

Decades after Canada abandoned the field, the B.C. Centre on Substance Use is investigating the benefits of drugs like MDMA and psilocybin

In 2011, Gerald Thomas was invited to an Indigenous community in a remote area of British Columbia. Working for the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., he was one of a small team of scientists who observed 12 people take ayahuasca, an Amazonian mixture that induces vivid visual and auditory hallucinations as well as deep emotional and intellectual reflection.

[continues 2903 words]

Health official says region needs to be able to treat more drug users

With the second highest rate of illicit drug overdose deaths in the province last year, the overdose crisis in the Okanagan remains concerning and distressing, says chief medical health officer Trevor Corneil.

"It means that everything we're doing, and we're doing a lot, is clearly not enough," he said.

In the Okanagan, there were 150 overdose deaths, a rate of 40.8 per 100,000 people, in 2017, up from 77 deaths in 2016, a rate of 21.2 per 100,000 people, according to the BC Coroners Service report released Wednesday.

[continues 676 words]

Kendall ends term by calling on province to think further outside the box, its comfort zones

British Columbia's provincial health officer concluded his last day in the role with a call to further push the envelope in responding to the province's overdose crisis, which new numbers show killed more than 1,400 people last year.

Perry Kendall said on Wednesday the year-end tally of 1,422 illicit-drug overdose deaths - a figure that works out to a rate of 29.6 per 100,000 population and will grow as outstanding death investigations are completed - show that B.C. is "still in the midst of a persistent and continuing epidemic of unintentional poisoning deaths.

[continues 975 words]

The City of Victoria just got some help from the courts in reining in the Wild West of marijuana shops in the municipality. At least 32 cannabis shops have popped up all over town in the past few years, and in 2016, the city brought in regulations to try to bring some order to the frontier. Other municipalities took a zero-tolerance approach, shutting them down whenever they appeared.

Whether one saw Victoria's attitude as caving in to lawlessness or acknowledging reality, it wasn't clear if the rules would stick if they were challenged.

[continues 117 words]

'It doesn't help to have conversations that are fear-based'

Nine people died of suspected overdoses in a span of five days last week in the Interior Health region that includes Nelson.

Seven of those deaths were reported to have occurred between Jan. 23 to 26, with two more fatalities added on Jan. 27.

A spokesperson for Interior Health (IH) declined to say what communities the deaths occurred in, citing privacy concerns. The health authority includes 59 municipalities spread throughout the Kootenay Boundary, Okanagan, East Kootenay and Thompson, Cariboo and Shuswap regions.

[continues 536 words]

More than $200,000 has been collected from dispensaries since May.

Langley Township has collected more than $200,000 in fines from unlicensed marijuana dispensaries since last spring, in what a former dispensary owner calls bullying.

Four medical marijuana dispensaries were operating in the Township, mostly in Aldergrove, in recent months, said interim head of bylaw enforcement Bill Storie.

"We've been actively, as they crop up, pursuing them," he said.

The Township won't give a business licence to a dispensary.

[continues 704 words]

A new study suggests Vancouver pot smokers could generate up to $29 million annually for the province in additional tax revenue if marijuana was taxed at the same rate as cigarettes.

The 2018 Cannabis Price Index, compiled by pot-tech startup Seedo, looked at the cost of cannabis around the world.

The study then calculated how much additional tax revenue each city's population of pot smokers might generate based on each city's consumption and average marijuana and cigarette tax rates in the U.S.

[continues 393 words]