City of Camrose administration is proposing a 150-metre buffer to be put in place between any school or health care centre and businesses selling cannabis.

The regulations were brought forward to the committee of the whole meeting on June 4 for discussion. Council will now seek public input at two open houses, this past Tuesday and on June 19 at the Recreation Centre.

The guidelines policy has become necessary as the federal government is set to legalize the use and retail sale of cannabis sometime this summer. It has been left up to the provinces to determine distribution regulations, much like alcohol, and Alberta, while maintaining control of distribution of cannabis and online sales, is moving forward with private sector sales.

Clearwater County Council has granted the first reading to a bylaw to clear the way for a 55,000 sq. foot micro-climate controlled cannabis facility southeast of Caroline.

Element GP Incorporated submitted an application to have the 157-acre location along Highway 22, just north of Secondary Highway 587, re-zoned from Agricultural to Light Industrial.

The applicants say the facility aims to source all electrical power, heat and air conditioning from Shell’s Caroline Gas Plant, which is only six and a half kilometers away.

The facility plans on using complex technology to destroy odor, recycle water, and a controlled CO2 system to improve plant photosynthesis.

'To a 5-year-old, smoking is smoking, whether it involves tobacco, cannabis, cigarettes or vaporizing'.

More municipalities around Alberta are crafting bylaws to deal with the issue of smoking and vaping marijuana in public places once recreational cannabis becomes legal later this year.

On Monday, the Town of Banff banned vaping and smoking pot in all public places once cannabis becomes legal, and the City of Lloydminster went one step further, banning the smoking or vaping of all substances in public.

"We applaud the City of Lloydminster for making public health a top priority by banning all forms of smoking and vaping in indoor and outdoor public areas," said Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health.

The City of Calgary will allow festivals to set up tents where marijuana can be consumed once it’s legalized.

The so-called cannabis festival tents will have to undergo a review and be approved by city administration.

The aim of setting up the separate pot-smoking areas is to avoid offending other festival-goers with the smell.

Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart says it’s good to err on the side of having tougher regulations, with the option of loosening them once the impact of legalization is known.

But Coun. Evan Woolley says it’s a solution in search of a problem and there’s been cannabis use at the Calgary Folk Music Festival for years without incident.

With marijuana set to be legalized in Canada, the market for retail office space has lit up big time in Red Deer.

Jeremy Makila with RE/MAX Commercial in Red Deer says businesspeople are coming from far and wide to snatch up what’s currently available with the hopes of opening up a retail cannabis store.

“You’re seeing some spaces leased up that likely would’ve sat a bit longer if it weren’t for this almost artificial rush. There are no new industries that come out that would cause this. To have an influx like this is very artificial in the market,” he says.

Councillors still have chance to adapt bylaw in July meeting.

A city committee thinks Edmontonians should be allowed to smoke cannabis in outside public places like parks and sidewalks — as part of the new bylaw governing cannabis use.

On Wednesday, the city's community and public services committee agreed to those rules, which are similar to current tobacco bylaws.

People smoking cannabis outside would have to be 10 metres away from doors and open windows and 30 metres away from children's amenities, like playgrounds.

Smoking weed would also be banned on patios and at places like schools.

Similar to tobacco and electronic cigarettes, you won't be able to smoke legally in Churchill Square, Fort Edmonton Park or the zoo.

Alberta is one of the first Canadian provinces to launch a mandatory “safe selling” course for employees of its soon-to-be-legal retail cannabis industry.

The program, called SellSafe Cannabis Staff Training, is required for Albertans hoping to work in cannabis retail sales.

To attain such a retail job, a citizen must be included on the province’s list of “qualified cannabis workers.” To get on the list, a citizen must take and pass the SellSafe course.

To get a closeup view of the knowledge that Alberta’s looking to instill in its retail cannabis workers, I signed up for Alberta’s SellSafe program. Here’s what I learned.

Assure Occupational Safety flagged down the latest information on cannabis in the workplace for a day while legislation continues to change at federal, provincial and municipal levels.

The Lloydminster company hosted its Cannabis & Workplace Safety Conference for safety-sensitive employers and company owners at the Royal Hotel on May 29, while Canada’s recreational cannabis legalization bill makes progress in the Senate.

“As cannabis legislation keeps evolving —both governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan have shared with us what they’ve decided and what they know so far today,” said Assure CEO Jon Rokochy at the event.

“There is still more things to be answered, so as details come out in the months ahead we will have updates for the public.”

But BYOP gardens won't be the cash cows that beer gardens have been.

You've cut loose to the music. You've danced up a storm. You've been to the beer gardens, but are you ready for a pot gardens?

With the legalization of cannabis fast approaching, our city and society are facing some debates over, well, dubage.

A host of Calgary summer festivals are gearing up to throw open their gates and welcome thousands of patrons to outdoor events that combine every conceivable musical genre, fireworks, culinary delight and culture. But there's the question of where legalized weed fits into all this summertime frivolity?

Despite ongoing uncertainty over when cannabis will officially become legal, Premier Rachel Notley says the Alberta government will be ready to roll when it comes to regulating and selling legal weed.

Bolstering the premier’s claim, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission says its online site for cannabis sales has staff and suppliers, and could be operational by the end of the month, while more than 600 applications for private pot shops have come in to the province.