The Vancouver-based biotech company has the upper hand in research and development in cannabis that is otherwise not permitted legally without a license.

With the federal government on the verge of legalising marijuana, high-value strategic assets in the cannabis sector are becoming valuable.

That is how Ottawa-based cannabis firm CannaRoyalty Corp. explained its interest in buying a 20% stake in Vancouver’s Anandia Laboratories.

The companies announced January 9 that they have signed a letter of intent for CannaRoyalty (CSE:CRZ) to acquire that 20% stake in Anandia for C$4 million (US$3,029,041).

Minister says pot shops will have to meet the province's distribution requirements.

With marijuana legalization about to become a reality across Canada, the provincial government says it is not sure what taxes and distribution will look like in B.C. but warns many of the current pot shops in the province may not meet their requirements.

A federal task force appointed by the federal government to study how marijuana could be legalized and regulated in Canada released a report Tuesday with more than 80 recommendations.

B.C. mom Scarlett Ballantyne wonders if Ottawa's plans to legalize marijuana will make her 14- and 16-year-old daughters more inclined to try it. But she's not waiting to find out.

Ballantyne says her family has been discussing the dangers of drug use since the girls were 13 -- a pre-emptive strike as pot shops and marijuana headlines have been popping up everywhere they turn.

She's proud to say they are athletic, self-confident kids, but she also gets the impression that their generation sees marijuana as "not that big of a deal."

"As parents, it's just (about) stressing to them that it is a big deal," she says from her home in White Rock, south of Vancouver.

Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has teamed up with one of the first licensed cannabis growers to bring medical marijuana to First Nations.

Indigenous Roots is a joint venture between Mr. Fontaine and Cronos Group, which operates the Peace Naturals Project in Ontario and The Zone Produce Ltd. in British Columbia.

It would work co-operatively with First Nations to supply people living on and off reserves with the drug.

In a news release issued Tuesday morning, the partners say the idea is to allow First Nations to invest, operate, and participate in the economic opportunities related to the emerging cannabis industry.

Tantalus Labs announces today that it has received the first Water License issued to a cannabis company in British Columbia. Furnished under the Water Sustainability Act (WSA), the license showcases Tantalus Labs' commitment to effective groundwater resource management and sustainably produced cannabis.

Tantalus Labs utilizes specialized sungrown cultivation technology, natural odour filtration, and an innovative rainwater collection and filtration system. The team is working to establish its facility, SunLab, as an industry leader in reducing the environmental impact of cannabis production.

SunLab was developed to provide plants with the purest natural inputs of water, nutrients, air, and sunlight, at the lowest environmental impact.

Vancouver dispensary owners are anxious about the federal government’s plan to legalize recreational marijuana but confident the process will eventually be to their benefit.

“We’ve sat with the federal task force and apparently made some really good impressions there,” Jeremy Jacob, president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries (CAMCD), told the Georgia Straight.

“Anne McLellan, the chair of the task force, she spent three hours at the Vancouver Compassion Club,” Jacob recounted. “And she came out saying, ‘How are we going to regulate these shops?’ And according to Mark Ware, the vice chair, he said that certain members of the task force had life-changing experiences while visiting dispensaries.”

Preliminary evidence suggests cannabis may be useful in the treatment of substance use disorders, possibly serving as an effective, but less harmful, substitute for pharmaceutical and recreational drugs, with more acceptable side effects. However, at least one expert is sceptical.

A new review suggests that rather than acting as a "gateway" to other, possibly more dangerous substances, there is an "emerging stream of research" suggesting that cannabis may serve as an "exit" drug, with the potential to facilitate a reduction in the use of other substances.

Using marijuana could help some alcoholics and people addicted to opioids kick their habits, a UBC study has found.

"Research suggests that people may be using cannabis as an exit drug to reduce the use of substances that are potentially more harmful, such as opioid pain medication," says the study's lead investigator Zach Walsh, an associate professor of psychology at UBC's Okanagan campus.

This comprehensive systematic review of research on the medical cannabis use and mental health also found some evidence that cannabis may help with symptoms of depression, PTSD and social anxiety. However, the review concluded that cannabis use might not be recommended for conditions such as bipolar disorder and psychosis.

A B.C. Human Rights Tribunal case involving a gymnastic coach suspended after co-workers claimed she was “stoned” at work when she used medical marijuana raises a difficult issue for employers, according to experts.

How do you balance the needs of an employee who requires medical marijuana with ensuring there is no “intoxication” at work, asks adjunct professor Mark Haden of the University of B.C.’s School of Population and Public Health.

“The real issue is impairment testing, and that’s hard to do right now. Urine analysis testing isn’t useful, since marijuana can be detected for 30 days — long after any psychological or physical effect has passed,” he said.

National policies on marijuana use are needed for the workplace, Haden said.

As California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts appear set to join the growing list of states that have legalized recreational pot, one of B.C.’s biggest medical marijuana producers is seeing big opportunities in the American market.

After there were several successful ballot initiatives south of the border this week, B.C. will soon be the only West Coast jurisdiction between the Bering Sea and Tijuana where toking up is still restricted to medical use. But the people behind Tilray, the federally licensed cannabis production facility on Vancouver Island, aren’t concerned about losing their edge to rivals south of the border when Canada eventually legalizes pot.