Vancouver's second night of public hearings Thursday on its proposal to regulate illegal marijuana dispensaries was overshadowed by a Supreme Court of Canada ruling released earlier in the day that could directly affect the city's plan to ban all marijuana-infused products from pot shops.

In upholding a lower B.C. court ruling, seven Supreme Court judges were unanimous in concluding prohibition of non-dried forms of medical marijuana used for making goods such as brownies, cookies and tea violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

To date, the courts have required only dried marijuana be accessible to Canadians when authorized by a doctor, with more than 18,000 British Columbians legally allowed to access marijuana for medical purposes.

Lawyers representing plaintiffs in a proposed class action, claiming Health Canada breached privacy rights and jeopardized the safety of medical marijuana users, will be seeking damages of up to $20,000 per person, a court in Halifax heard Wednesday.

Federal Court Justice Michael Phelan is hearing a certification application for a proposed class action, put forward by medical marijuana users and growers across Canada, who were licensed under the previous federal medicinal marijuana program.

The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously ruled that medical marijuana users have the constitutional right to be able to consume edible medical marijuana products, such as cannabis oils, teas and brownies.

The ruling, which takes effect immediately, is already having an impact on those who rely on cannabis extracts and edibles to treat medical conditions.

"Last night, patients across Canada fell asleep as criminals for making cannabis tea with their otherwise lawfully possessed cannabis," said Kirk Tousaw, the B.C lawyer who argued for the federal government's ban to be removed. "This morning those patients are no longer criminals."

City Hall was standing room only on Wednesday night (June 10) as medical marijuana supporters and opponents crammed into council chambers for a public hearing to regulate the pot business in Vancouver.

The city is considering regulations to licence marijuana dispensaries, which would require them to be 300 metres from any community centres or schools, as well as that same distance apart from each other.

The public hearing began with a presentation from city manager Dr. Penny Ballem, who said the Vancouver has seen a sharp increase in dispensaries this year, up from 60 in January to 94 in June.

In the places where marijuana is legal, more and more children are being accidentally exposed to their parents’ drugs, a study finds.

The good news is that it is still rare for children to be exposed to marijuana when they are younger than 6 — but the trend is not exactly heading in the right direction.

Marijuana is legal now in more places than ever, and as a result, the number of reports that children have accidentally ingested or inhaled the drug is increasing.

The study, published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics, analyzed figures from the National Poison Data System, which is the clearinghouse for data from all of the poison control centres in the United States. The data in the study covered 2000 to 2013.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose says she is "outraged" by the Supreme Court of Canada decision that expands the definition of medical marijuana beyond dried leaves, to include cannabis oils, teas, brownies and other forms of the drug.

In a unanimous decision Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that users should not be restricted to only using the dried form of the drug. They said the current rules prevent people with a legitimate need for medical marijuana from choosing a method of ingestion that avoids the potential harms of smoking it.

But Ambrose says, despite recent court rulings in favour of the use of marijuana, her government maintains that cannabis has never been proven safe and effective as a medicine.

MedReleaf Corp. a leading Canadian manufacturer of medical-grade cannabis has announced that it has entered into an exclusive partnership in New York State with Compassionate Care Center of New YorkTM (CCCNYTM) a leading biopharmaceutical company applying to become one of five Registered Organizations authorized in New York State to serve the condition-specific palliative needs of qualifying patients with safe and accessible pharmaceutical-grade therapeutics derived from the cannabis plant.

Lawyers are in Federal Court in Halifax this morning to certify a class action suit against Health Canada for medical marijuana users who feel their privacy was compromised by a mailing sent by the department in November 2013.

Lawyers representing medical marijuana users are in Federal Court in Halifax this morning asking a judge to certify a proposed class action against Health Canada for violating privacy rights.

It’s not every day groups of people light spliffs on City Hall’s front steps, but it’s not every day city council deliberates becoming the first government in Canada to bring pot shops into a legal framework.

Vancouver city council started hashing out the details of regulating marijuana-related businesses at City Hall on Wednesday evening, the beginning of what will be a marathon public hearing over whether the city should create rules for businesses that are selling an illegal product.

More than 160 people showed up for a chance to speak to the proposed rules, which have been strongly condemned by the federal government.

Related:

OTTAWA – Medical marijuana can legally be consumed in a range of ways – from cannabis-infused cookies and brownies to cooking oils and tea – the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday.

The decision to remove limitations on what constitutes legally acceptable medical marijuana was being hailed by advocates of alternative forms of pot.

It was also yet another rebuke of the Harper government’s tough-on-crime agenda as the court rejected an appeal by the federal government of a lower court ruling that medical marijuana users have a right to a range of products containing the drug.