British Columbia college is looking to supply a fresh batch of professionally-trained budtenders to the province’s growing cannabis retail market.

Okanagan College announced last week a new online Cannabis Retail Sales course set to launch Feb. 17 — increasing the total number of cannabis-related courses it offers to eight.

Okanagan College instructor Christopher Simpson used his industry experience to develop the new cannabis retail course. Photo courtesy of Okanagan College

After a challenging few months, the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club might have a future after all.

Local council has agreed to help the medical cannabis compassion club stay open through a motion voted on earlier this month, reports Mugglehead.

“Council’s motion was to advocate for an exemption, to help the Buyers Club’s efforts to get one – it is the province of B.C. that will need to provide an exemption,” said Bill Eisenhauer, head of engagement at the City of Victoria.

More than 1.5 million British Columbians in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley have no local retail access to recreational cannabis more than a year after weed was legalized for sale.

“In B.C., municipalities have been given veto power over the rights that the federal government has given to Canadians, the right to regulated, dignified access to cannabis,” said Jeremy Jacob, president of the Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers.

Municipalities must support any application for a cannabis retail store, before the province will consider granting a licence.

About 174 cannabis retail stores are concentrated on Vancouver Island, the southern Interior and Vancouver.

There was a time when a pound of “B.C. bud” — high-quality cannabis grown in British Columbia — could go for USD$3000, hustled across the border by backpack-toting smugglers and delivered into the hands of “ganjapreneurs.” To some, these were the good ol’ days — before 9/11 changed border security; before the police caught on, and before legalization and corporate entities got into the game.

Those days are long gone, but the legacy of B.C. bud has endured. So much so that in December, B.C. Premier John Horgan lamented that the culture, created underground, had been negatively impacted by legalization.

At 5:30 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday night, The Dispensary — one of Vancouver’s oldest grey market cannabis stores — is doing booming business. Dozens of people stop in to pick up cannabis flower, edibles, and other cannabis products. Not one of their customers seem concerned that the store isn’t licensed by the provincial government.

After a lengthy wait, B.C. now has 134 licensed cannabis providers in operation. But many consumers are choosing to stay with unlicensed suppliers. Although more than 20 per cent of British Columbians have used a cannabis product in the past three months, according to Statistics Canada, sales per capita are the lowest in the country, averaging at just $10.

With the launch of the highly anticipated Cannabis 2.0 — comprising edibles, topicals and concentrates — cannabis is really having a moment right now. And like any budding industry, cannabis has gained many leaders and followers through the various stages of legalization.

British Columbia — the home of the world-famous B.C. Bud, a variety of high quality, premium cannabis — is no different. Here are seven cannabis influencers you need to know.

Dan Sutton

Founder and CEO of Tantalus Labs, Dan Sutton.

Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation (Ceg-A-Kin Treaty 4 Territory near Sintaluta, Saskatchewan) is partnering with Surrey, B.C.-based licensed producer (LP) Indigenous Bloom with plans to form a wholesale cannabis business on reserve land.

It is the first official partnership with a First Nation from Saskatchewan for Indigenous Bloom.

Carry the Kettle, which bought the land and its accompanying grow facilities years ago, intends to build the new facility at the location formerly occupied by Indian Head Tree Nursery. The 350,000 square-foot property was allocated as reserve land last month.

Beleaguered cannabis producer Zenabis Global Inc. laid off about 40 people on Tuesday as the Vancouver-based company attempts to find a pathway toward profitability.

The staff departures, roughly 10 per cent of the company’s workforce, were confirmed by a company spokesperson, who stated the job losses were mainly from Zenabis’ Vancouver offices. The company also has offices in New Brunswick. Zenabis had about 489 employees as of June 2019, according to its most recent management discussion and analysis filings.

Using fish as a component in aquaponic cannabis cultivation is nothing new, as we’ve seen from producers such as Ontario’s Green Relief.

But one licensed producer is touting itself as the very first aquaponic cannabis cultivator to use coho salmon as is fish of choice.

Some woud argue that the biggest cannabis-related news story of the year revolved around vaping. And they would certainly have a point.

In October, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada outlined the potential risks and offered guidance to the provinces and territories. This followed several deaths and recent cases of pulmonary illnesses related to this activity in the United States.

The following month, Vancouver city council voted unanimously to ask staff to report back in the first quarter of 2020 on regulatory measures and actions that council can take relating to the sale and promotion of vaping products.