Shaun Charles Howell’s unlicensed Innisfail cannabis grow was busted by the RCMP in March 2017. He was charged with unlawfully producing cannabis and possession of over three kilograms of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.

In addition to himself, Howell was providing cannabis to a few patients, including a disabled homeless man to whom he provided cannabis products at no cost and his daughter who suffers from epilepsy.

The judge agreed that the man’s constitutional rights had been violated under previous, pre-legalization drug legislation. But his bid to have the charges stayed was denied.

If you’ve ever pined for a slushie after a cannabis session or wished you could grab some snacks alongside your weed, Fire & Flower and Circle K have some good news for you.

The convenience store chain, owned by Quebec-based company Alimentation Couche-Tard, is partnering with the cannabis retailer to open adjacent locations across Alberta. The first co-location is opening this week in Grand Prairie, with a second location set to open next week in Calgary.

Fire & Flower is expecting to benefit from the volume of traffic to Circle K locations while offering consumers online ordering through its Spark Perks program.

A new cannabis-infused gummy producer near Edmonton is set to be the largest in the country.

Dynaleo received its production licence from Health Canada last week. The company has a 26,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial park just south of the city. 

"The next phase of that would be getting our sales licence which we're currently very excited about," said Kristy Skwaruk, Dynaleo's director of people and culture.

The gummy product is a mixture of gelatin, sugar and cannabis oil. The company is banking on a demand for edible cannabis products.

Canadians are clearly in love with cannabis, but not all provinces were created equal when it comes to permitting pot. While the historic Cannabis Act applies to all provinces, the rules around distribution and consumption fall to the provinces — and municipalities have some say on it, too.

That’s why for Canada Day, The GrowthOp takes a look at the growing industry from coast-to-coast — crunching the data on price, consumption habits, number of stores, public consumption options and the ability to grow at home — to find out which provinces are rolling out the red carpet for weed and which are still warming up to the country’s second favourite leaf.

Here are our findings.

Pure Sunfarms, the joint venture between veteran vegetable grower Village Farms International Inc. (TSX and NASDAQ: VFF) and medical cannabis company Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: EMH), began shipping its products to Saskatchewan Wednesday.

Between the black market and Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), retailers in Alberta are having a difficult time staying afloat.

A committee made up of retailers, developers and experts in the field, Alberta Cannabis Council is trying to work with the Province and AGLC to move the industry forward.

However, there are road blocks in place for the retailer making the industry stall, says John Carle, executive director for Alberta Cannabis Council (ACC).

“We’ve actually seen the black market become embolden since cannabis was legalized,” Carle said.

The ACC says roughly 70 per cent of pot sales in Alberta are through illegal means, such as third party websites who claim delivery.

Alberta minors will be prohibited from consuming or purchasing vaping products under new legislation introduced Tuesday, but the province will not immediately ban or restrict flavours.

If passed, the legislation would set the minimum age for purchasing, possessing, and consuming products at 18 and restrict any sharing of products to youth under that age. It would also align with and expand on federal and provincial tobacco laws by banning usage in public areas, including playgrounds, around hospitals, sports fields, and on school properties.

Scientists have claimed some strains of cannabis could be used in the fight against coronavirus.

Some strong strains of cannabis could be used to prevent infection by the new coronavirus - and treat Covid-19.

Scientists from the University of Lethbridge in Canada are among those seeking answers to the global pandemic.

And they say some strains of cannabis affect the ACE2 pathways the virus uses to get into the body.

Speaking to  CTV News, Olga Kovalchuk, one of the researchers, said: “We were totally stunned at first, and then we were really happy.”