BROCKTON – Dr. Charles Walker wants his colleagues to know that patients can find medical marijuana treatment in a secure and supportive place.

“We want people to feel comfortable sending their patients to a place that is legitimate, that is credible, and to a doctor that has experience in chronic pain and chronic conditions,” Walker said. “We want to focus on follow-up, make sure the patient is doing well.”

Walker opened MedWell Health and Wellness on Pearl Street in Brockton on June 1.

A former family physician from Lakeville and longtime rehabilitation doctor, Walker is one of dozens of physicians statewide registered with the state Department of Public Health to certify patients for the use and possession of medical marijuana.

Maclean’s is your destination for the 2015 election. Start with our in-depth primers on the 12 big issues, including marijuana

If there is one file on which Justin Trudeau has definitively put his stamp as Liberal leader, it’s marijuana policy. Back in 2013, Trudeau surprised many by speaking out in favour of legalization and regulation, then admitted he “took a puff” on a joint being passed around at a dinner party at his Montreal home—after he was elected an MP in 2008. Ever since, Tories have taken aim at him over the stance. Pro-legalization advocates say criminalizing pot clogs prisons and feeds organized crime. Defenders of the status quo argue that legalization would only give young people, in particular, easier access to dangerous drugs.

The founder of a Saskatoon-based compassion club hopes to bend the ear of city council to get them to look at medical marijuana dispensary regulations.

Mark Hauk submitted a letter to Saskatoon city council requesting to speak at their Aug. 20 meeting to try and get officials to see marijuana as medicine rather than a street drug.

What I'd like to ask of city council is that they consider implementing medical marijuana dispensary regulations similar to what Vancouver and Victoria have recently done,€ Hauk told News Talk Radio.

Hauk said it'€™s important local governments tackle the issue of regulating dispensaries before they start popping up haphazardly all over the city.

Health Canada officially listed the first 2 licenses to produce cannabis oil under the MMPR today. Ontario’s Peace Naturals and British Columbia’s Whistler Medical Marijuana have both been given permission to produce oils, although it may still be several weeks or months before the companies are prepared and allowed to begin selling the product.

MONTREAL — Health Minister Rona Ambrose ordered a crackdown on groups that illegally advertise marijuana and re-stated the Conservative party’s pledge to keep storefront dispensaries illegal Saturday on the eve of the expected launch of a federal election campaign.

“Today I directed Health Canada to create a task force to crack down on illegal marijuana advertising,” Ambrose said in a statement.

“This task force will ensure that those who engage in such illegal activities are stopped, and should these illegal activities continue, promptly referred to law enforcement.”

Health Canada issued a statement saying it will begin actively monitoring marijuana advertising instead of acting mostly on the basis of complaints.

For the past year and a half, David Hepburn has been travelling Canada, educating his fellow family doctors on why and when to prescribe medical marijuana. Speaking at conferences, sometimes sponsored by the commercial growers licensed by Health Canada, Dr. Hepburn runs through the history of cannabis prohibition and the research that has been done on the plant. He says he is trying to change the minds of a medical establishment loath to endorse a drug that has vast amounts of anecdotal evidence, but scant clinical trials, to support its use. He said cannabis can be a suitable medicine for patients suffering migraines, nerve-related pain, neurodegenerative conditions, such as MS, and symptoms such as insomnia or anxiety.

August 1, 2015 - Ottawa, ON - Health Canada

The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, today announced she has directed Health Canada to take a more proactive approach to monitoring illegal advertising of marijuana by non-regulated parties. This will be done using existing authorities under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

UBC’s medical school is rolling out a new curriculum next month, but it won’t include more training on medical marijuana.

Three hours of class time is currently dedicated to the controversial medicine, even though doctors have now become the gatekeepers of the drug.

The Assistant Dean of Curriculum for the medical undergraduate program, Adam Peet, says there are few rigorous studies to guide even experienced physicians, much less medical students.

He was asked if education could be expanded one day.

As Vancouver struggled to regulate its explosion of marijuana dispensaries, top provincial health officials considered how they could legalize the recreational use of the drug across British Columbia.

In a series of e-mails released through a Freedom of Information request, the health officials acknowledged there would likely be little progress toward legalization while the staunchly anti-drug Conservatives hold power in Ottawa, instead suggesting such a radical change would likely come about only if the Liberals win the fall election.

THIS Will Send Marijuana Stocks Through the Roof!

Although few want to admit it, health insurance companies are not in business to make you feel safe and secure.

Insurance companies exist to make money.

I don’t say this to be negative. In fact, it’s not really a criticism — more like an observation. Because the bottom line is that if an insurance company can’t make money, it can’t exist.

Pharmaceuticals, MRIs, doctor visits — this stuff ain’t cheap. So I’m never surprised when I hear that a health insurance company is looking for new ways to make a buck.

One of the more interesting that recently came across my desk was a new policy that would allow patients to get insurance coverage for medical marijuana.