Colleges, universities say people want to learn how to work in newly legalized field VANCOUVER- From growing the perfect crop to marketing within restrictive rules, Canadian colleges and universities are cultivating courses for those wanting to work in the booming marijuana industry. Kwantlen Polytechnic University started offering online courses in cannabis production, marketing and financing about three years ago, after officials at the British Columbia school realized there was a need for training and education around medicinal marijuana, said David Purcell, the university's director of emerging business. [continues 564 words]
First Nations invest in KL marijuana business KIRKLAND LAKE - Canada's marijuana industry is expanding rapidly and some First Nations are looking to cash in on the emerging economic opportunities. Phil Fontaine, an Indigenous politician turned marijuana executive, has spent the past year travelling the country and talking to First Nations about jobs, wealth and training opportunities the burgeoning marijuana business could bring. "Everywhere we've been, it's been the same reaction, interest, excitement," said the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. "First Nations are speaking about possibilities and potential. So it's been very encouraging. "Marijuana businesses represent "tremendous potential" for First Nations, partially because communities are able to get in on the ground floor, instead of fighting to catch up years later as has traditionally been the case, Fontaine said. [continues 521 words]
VANCOUVER - New rules for legalized marijuana need to consider the impact on workplaces and clarify the rights of both employers and employees, say some business groups. Ottawa has set July 1 as the deadline for regulations to be in place and many provinces and territories are still working to craft legislation, including B.C., where a public consultation on legal pot wrapped up this week. Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, said large and small companies need guidance from the provincial and federal governments on how they should balance employee privacy with safety in the workplace. [continues 422 words]
VANCOUVER - Police departments and local governments are asking British Columbia for a cut of marijuana revenues as the province crafts regulations for legalized pot. The provincial government asked for public input last month as it develops new rules. Submissions are posted online and will be accepted until Wednesday. Feedback so far includes recommendations from View Royal and Port Coquitlam for pot profits to be directed to municipalities to address costs associated with enforcement. The British Columbia Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police echoes that recommendation, saying in its submission that the "cost download" of enforcement needs to be considered when a revenue-sharing system is developed. [continues 509 words]
Province receiving input on legalized marijuana rules Police departments and local governments are asking British Columbia for a cut of marijuana revenue as the province crafts regulations for legalized pot. The provincial government asked for public input last month as it develops new rules. Submissions are posted online and will be accepted until Wednesday. Feedback so far includes recommendations from Port Coquitlam and View Royal, on Vancouver Island, for pot profits to be directed to municipalities to address costs associated with enforcement. [continues 514 words]
Concerns over where legal marijuana will be grown has local governments looking for right to designate production areas The looming deadline for legalized marijuana has local governments in British Columbia crafting wish lists for provincial legislation, from where pot should be grown to how it should be sold. Ottawa has said regulations must be in place by July 1 and the B.C. government announced last month that it wants public input on shaping the rules. While some municipal politicians worry the timeline for regulations is too short, Vancouver Councillor Kerry Jang thinks legalization can't come soon enough. [continues 578 words]
People on the front lines of British Columbia's opioid overdose crisis are applauding the government's announcement of more funding in an attempt to stem the death toll. Premier John Horgan announced Friday the province will spend more than $31 million over the next three years to increase access to treatment programs, offer more free kits of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, help front-line workers and empower communities to keep people safe. Speaking to a crowd of politicians at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention, Horgan noted 876 people died in the province between January and July of this year. [continues 546 words]
The City of Vancouver began cracking down on unlicensed medical marijuana shops over the weekend, but owners say they're still committed to keeping their doors open. Prominent pot activist Jodie Emery said at least half a dozen dispensaries were issued $250 fines on the weekend, the first weekend inspectors enforced regulations that the city put into place last year. Emery said Saturday she'd talked to two businesses and they remained open. "They're not going to deny accessibility to their patients," Emery said. [continues 198 words]
VANCOUVER - The City of Vancouver has begun cracking down on unlicensed medical marijuana shops, but owners say they're still committed to keeping their doors open. Prominent pot activist Jodie Emery said at least two dispensaries were issued $250 fines Saturday, the first day inspectors enforced regulations that the city put into place last year. "But the two places I've spoken with are open for business. They're not going to deny accessibility to their patients," Emery said. The rules were developed when medical marijuana businesses began growing across Vancouver, but the city refused to grant permits to 140 dispensaries that didn't comply with rules such as being too close to schools. [continues 413 words]
VANCOUVER - World-renowned HIV experts from British Columbia are stepping in to help control a massive outbreak of the disease in rural Indiana. The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS is partnering with Indiana University's school of medicine in an effort to stymie an epidemic in Scott County where 184 people have tested positive for HIV since December 2014. Nearly 10 per cent of the county's 4,200 residents are believed to be injection drug users, with many crushing and injecting the opioid painkiller Opana. [continues 324 words]
VANCOUVER - The Canadian Medical Association and the federal government apply a far more rigid standard to prescribing marijuana, resulting in negative - or even deadly consequences, say experts from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Medical marijuana is held to a different standard than other prescription drugs despite research suggesting it has therapeutic benefits, say three experts from the centre in a commentary publish Friday in the Journal of the Canadian Public Health Association. "When it comes to prescription marijuana, patients' needs should be considered above political considerations," Dr. Julio Montaner, one of the authors, said in a news release. [continues 411 words]
VANCOUVER - The Canadian Medical Association and the federal government apply a far more rigid standard to prescribing marijuana than other drugs, resulting in negative - or even deadly - consequences, say experts from the B.C. Centre for Excellent in HIV/AIDS. Medical marijuana is held to a different standard than other prescription drugs despite research suggesting it has therapeutic benefits, say three experts from the centre in a commentary published Friday in the Journal of the Canadian Public Health Association. "When it comes to prescription marijuana, patients' needs should be considered above political considerations," Dr. Julio Montaner, one of the authors, said in a news release. "There could be great harm in ignoring the medical uses of marijuana." [continues 313 words]
VANCOUVER - Health Canada has threatened pot dispensaries with police raids, but at least one organization wants more information on what it has done wrong. The health agency confirmed it has sent letters to 13 compassion clubs and dispensaries warning of possible RCMP raids if they don't stop selling or advertising marijuana and comply with several demands. The B.C. Compassion Club Society provides legally approved medical marijuana to more than 9,000 members, and spokeswoman Jamie Shaw said it does not advertise cannabis or cannabis products. [continues 431 words]
Store Still Operating Outside Law, Ministry Says Ottawa's first medical marijuana shop has made a big policy change within its first few weeks of operation, but Health Canada says the shop is still existing outside of the law. The Greater Ottawa Health Advocacy Centre now requires clients to have a form filled out by a health care provider before they can buy marijuana. The form includes information such as the health care practitioner's licence number, the amount of marijuana to be used by the patient per day and the length of time the patient is to use it. [continues 434 words]
Adolescent substance abuse is the topic of a recent paper co-authored by Tim Stockwell, director of the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia at UVic. Released in the medical journal The Lancet on March 27, the paper highlights the most plausible solutions to substance abuse. "We tried to develop a guide for policy-makers," said Stockwell. "If you're going to throw a billion dollars at the drug problem, where should you invest?" Called "Interventions to Reduce Harm Associated with Adolescent Substance Use," Stockwell's paper is the fourth instalment in a series of six papers on adolescent health in The Lancet. Stockwell said it is a "short version" of some other projects, including a book and a 500-page report that he has worked on with co-authors. [continues 374 words]
