Alberta needs to better prepare its health care system for marijuana legalization, an academic told a Calgary seminar on the watershed drug reforms said Friday.

While Cam Wild praised Ottawa’s approach to legalizing the recreational use of the drug, he said the province has considerable work to do in the medical field to ensure the move’s success.

A priority should be dedicating tax revenues raised from pot sales to mental health and addictions programs, rather than putting them into general revenues, said Wild, of the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health.

That’s the policy followed by states that have legalized recreational pot, such as California, Washington and Oregon, he said.

“That concept is foreign to us,” he said.

Another push to legalize marijuana in Michigan could launch soon. On Friday, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol submitted petition language to the state Board of Canvassers for approval. If the group gets the nod, it will need to collect approximately 350,000 signatures from valid registered voters within 180 days to make Michigan’s 2018 ballot.

If ultimately approved by voters, the proposal would make recreational marijuana use legal. Purchases of up to 2.5 ounces would be allowed and individuals could keep up to 10 ounces of marijuana in their homes, the Detroit Free Press reported. But the proposal would also give communities the choice of whether or not to allow marijuana businesses.

USA

New York City
Parade Assembly: 11:00 a.m. | West 31st & Broadway, Koreatown, NYC
Parade Start Time: 12:30 p.m. | Parade will march to Union Square (Route South on Broadway)
Rally: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Union Square South Plaza
“The NYC Cannabis Parade is the longest running public expression of drug policy reform in New York City, with roots as far back as the early 70’s. This event have gone by many different monikers, but our purpose remains the same, to spread awareness throughout the world! In 1999, the Million Marijuana March brand exploded and has since turned into a annual event held in hundreds of cities across dozens of countries.”

The countdown to the legalization of marijuana is officially on.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that before July 1, 2018 marijuana will be legal for all Canadians over the age of 18.

Expect legalization to create drastic changes in the way canna workplaces are regulated and product is produced. In the U.S. a legalizing marketplace may mean lower wages, but it will probably mean better working conditions. Across Europe, legalization is being seen as one way to crack down on slave labor as much as standardize product.

As cannabis becomes a legal commodity in both the U.S. and Canada, the production and distribution of the market becomes more structured. This means that the industry can start to produce higher volumes. However, by definition, this also means something else. The specialised workforces that have grown up around the industry are facing massive changes. Automation is making its presence felt.

The channel island's health minister announced on Tuesday that certain cannabis products could be available by the autumn.

But the drug would have to be prescribed by a doctor and using it for recreational purposes would still be illegal.

Health minister Andrew Green said: "This is only about legalising specific cannabis-based medicines for clinical use.

"Therefore, it is not about permitting the smoking of cannabis."

He added that taking cannabis products to the UK and France would be illegal and people could be prosecuted in those jurisdictions.

This is only about legalising specific cannabis-based medicines for clinical use

An activist group is encouraging people charged with marijuana-related offences to purposefully clog up the courts, to punish the system for prosecuting them.

Quebec-based marijuana activist Ray Turmel says if the government is going to treat people like criminals for what he calls "peanut" offences, then he's going to hit back the best way he knows how.

"What I'm doing is trying to bottleneck the court system and cost them a lot of money," he says.

'Let's leave the court system for the people who really need to be tried.' - Ray Turmel, marijuana advocate

The CEO and chair of Loblaw Companies says he hasn't ruled out the possibility of selling recreational marijuana, a slight shift in position for Canada's largest grocery and drugstore chain.

Galen G. Weston said his focus remains on dispensing medical cannabis. But when asked whether Loblaw has closed the book on entering the recreational marijuana market, Weston said, "You can never predict the future," adding that the company is closely watching for more details about the federal government's proposed legalization of the drug.

"It's fair to say that at this point, based on everything we know today, medical is a place where we see an opportunity," Weston said at Loblaw's annual general meeting.

Policymakers seem to be conflicted about marijuana, and as a result, they're sending the public mixed messages. Laws regarding cannabis vary from state to state, and state laws may even conflict with federal law.

"Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form. Three other states will soon join them after recently passing measures permitting use of medical marijuana," according to Governing.

This information was up to date as of March 23, 2017. That said, "Marijuana possession remains a federal offense," as Norlm points out.

In a data-driven business environment, everyone is waiting on the latest statistical reports to show what directions consumer spending -- an obvious clear indication of consumer attitudes -- is heading. As a relatively new industry, the legalized marijuana sector still is working on how to best serve consumers and discern trends to sort out the hype from the reality.

That’s created a whole new side business in marijuana: data analytics.

A company that has stepped to the forefront in this area is New Frontier Data. The company has partnered with Baker Technologies, which provides customer relationship management and marketing automaton platforms to cannabis businesses, for access to an immense database of legal marijuana transactions.