Anita Roy, assistant manager at Trees Dispensary, Nanaimo, offers cannabis-based products said to relieve everything from stress to relief from physical symptoms of illnesses at the company’s location on Bowen Road.

A steady stream of customers file into Trees Dispensary Nanaimo, one of several places to pick up medical marijuana in the Harbour City.

Cookies, brownies and B.C bud can all be found behind glass cases at the Bowen Road storefront, estimated to serve 1,500 people each week. Clients don’t have to be medical marijuana patients as long as they declare they have a serious medical condition.

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose can’t seem to catch a break. First, Kimberley, B.C., grants a business licence to a medical cannabis dispensary and then Vancouver City Council votes to regulate and license medical cannabis dispensaries. Coupled with the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that patients can possess all forms of cannabis for medical purposes, Ms. Ambrose is left with feelings of sheer “outrage.”

The City of White Rock, B.C. is looking into launching a pilot medicinal marijuana dispensary project after the idea was proposed by a local business owner.

There are currently no medical pot dispensaries in White Rock, but Randy Caine, who owns the store Hempyz and is part of the local Releaf Compassion Center, believes they will inevitably come.

Caine recently presented a proposal to city council to develop a governance framework for dispensaries. This way, it can be prepared for any of the businesses possibly opening up in the city. 

A boutique brand aims to give medical marijuana the white-glove, apothecary-chic treatment

Adam Miron handles the package as though it were a newborn. “Look how thick this silk ribbon is,” he says. He points out the embossed gold seal and the acre of tissue paper it holds. He notes the quality of the glass bottles inside, the colourful logos he himself designed, the childproof tops. He is delightfully frank about his desired customer. “Give me a soccer mom who takes a couple of Ambiens,” he says, sunburned, sweaty and grinning in his linen blazer.

Pot shops: Washington state versus B.C.

One year after Washington state legalized the sale of marijuana, B.C. remains bound by Canadian drug laws that consider pot sales, except to about 40,000 authorized medical users, illegal.

This status quo is being challenged, not just by marijuana activists, but also by municipalities, which are grappling with ways to handle consequences of pot prohibition, including illegal grow-ops, gang violence and organized crime.

Most residents agree with the City of Vancouver’s recent decision to approve new regulations for marijuana dispensaries.

Vancouver, BC – The notion of legalizing and taxing marijuana is very popular in British Columbia, although concerns over an increase in cases of impaired driving persists, a new Insights West poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative sample of British Columbian adults, two thirds of residents (67%) say they support the legalization of marijuana in Canada, including 72% of those aged 18-to-34 and 77% of Vancouver Island residents.

Vancouver taxpayers regularly subsidize public booze parties that cost millions, yet city officials are trying to rouse anger against pot protestors for the meager expense of their legalization rallies.

In Vancouver, the annual 4/20 rally has a peak crowd of about 25,000 and total attendance closer to 35,000. It has been attacked by city officials for supposedly costing the city $93,000.

But majority of British Columbians are opposed to banning the sale of edibles

The City of Vancouver’s regulations governing marijuana dispensaries are overwhelmingly supported by people throughout the region and province, according to a new survey by Insights West.

Sixty-seven per cent of British Columbians support the bylaw overall, including 65 per cent of respondents in Metro Vancouver and 75 per cent on Vancouver Island.

Charging dispensaries a $30,000 licence fee was supported by 64 per cent in B.C. and 68 per cent in Metro Vancouver.

TAMPA, Fla.--(Business Wire)--Neutra Corp. (OTCBB:NTRR) and Surface to Air Solutions (S2O2) could soon take their partnership international as talks opened this week to bring the joint venture’s pesticide-free growing solutions to cannabis growers in Canada.