The Canada Revenue Agency has confirmed that medical cannabis purchased under prescription is an allowable medical expense at tax time.

The CRA sent a letter to the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association last month confirming cannabis from a licensed producer qualified as a medical expense.

The CRA was responding to a letter sent earlier this year by the CMCIA, the industry association for licensed producers of medical cannabis, asking for a ruling on the issue, according to association spokesman Cam Battley.

The CRA website includes medical marijuana and marijuana seeds on its list of eligible medical expenses.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The BC Compassion Club Society is looking for some more details after the federal government threatened to call in the RCMP unless it and 12 other marijuana dispensaries close.

John Conroy is the Compassion Club’s lawyer and says they’ve written back to Health Canada. “[We are] asking them to comply with the duty to act fairly that falls upon all administrators when they are going to take action that could adversely affect anyone.”

VANCOUVER -- Health Canada has threatened pot dispensaries with police raids, but at least one organization wants more information on what it has done wrong.

The health agency confirmed it has sent letters to 13 compassion clubs and dispensaries warning of possible RCMP raids if they don't stop selling or advertising marijuana and comply with several demands.

The B.C. Compassion Club Society provides legally approved medical marijuana to more than 9,000 members and spokeswoman Jamie Shaw said it doesn't advertise cannabis or cannabis products.

"It's confusing for us right now. We're trying to figure out what the problem is," she said.

John Conroy, the society's lawyer, has fired off a terse letter to Health Canada.

Vancouver police say they are not planning any raids on local pot dispensaries after Health Canada reportedly sent out letters warning operators they have two weeks to shut down or face an RCMP crackdown.

"Our position on the marijuana stores has not changed," said a statement issued by Const. Brian Montague on Friday morning.

"We have a great relationship with the RCMP and work together often to tackle regional issues," he said.

"The RCMP have the authority to enforce the Criminal Code anywhere in Canada, but I doubt they have the desire to spend time, money, and reallocate resources to a city policed by the VPD."

Health Canada has sent out cease-and-desist letters to 13 illegal marijuana dispensaries and compassion clubs across the country, warning the RCMP could raid them if they do not shut down immediately, even those in cities where local police have mostly tolerated them.

The department sent the letters on Wednesday demanding the dispensaries stop “all activities with controlled substances” immediately and submit a written statement confirming this action by Sept. 21. The threat is the first indication the federal government is prepared to intervene directly to shut down Canada’s storefront dispensaries, most of which operate in Vancouver and Victoria.

The Canada Revenue Agency has confirmed that it will allow the costs of medical marijuana purchased from a licensed producer as a medical expense despite the fact that the Income Tax Act does not as yet recognize the enabling legislation.

The news, according to wawa-news.com, came in an August 24 letter from the CRA to the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association, which has been lobbying the CRA to clarify the issue.

As the federal government for the first time threatened police action against some B.C. marijuana dispensaries this week, pot’s prominence in the October federal election is only increasing, says a B.C. criminologist.

SFU professor Neil Boyd believes B.C.’s booming pot dispensary sector is currently competing with Health Canada’s “bizarre” medical marijuana regime and street dealers, in a confusing market roiled by political and legal crosswinds.

“If we get a Liberal or NDP government, we will get something more rational,” Boyd said.

“The medical-versus-recreational-usage debate needs to be thought through. What we have now is bizarre. You have a medical system that is mail-order delivery, and it doesn’t make any sense.”

Joy Davies, the Liberal Party candidate in the B.C. riding of South Surrey-White Rock, has resigned after pro-pot comments she made on Facebook came to light during the federal election campaign.

Her resignation, announced by the party on Thursday afternoon, comes after Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said Davies's promotion of the merits of marijuana does not reflect official party policy or his personal beliefs.

In 2013, Davies commented on Facebook that marijuana reduces family violence and that growing it in a home poses no harm to children. She also wrote that the Canadian Cancer Society is "another outlet for big pharma."

MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK--(Marketwired - Sept. 10, 2015) - OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (TSX VENTURE:OGI)(OTCQX:OGRMF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced non-brokered $3,000,000 financing (the "Financing").

The first $1,000,000 of the Financing has been received from Duce Holdings, LLC ("Duce") and Denaco Group Ltd., a corporation in which Denis Arsenault, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, is a director ("Denaco"). In exchange, Duce and Denaco have been issued subordinated secured debentures (the "Debentures") and 200,000 common share purchase warrants of the Company (the "Warrants").