Whonnockians lined the seats at City hall Monday afternoon at a committee of the whole meeting, where two local environmentalists presented a detailed report regarding the 40,000 square foot medical marijuana facility under construction in Whonnock.
Klaus and Betty von Hardenberg, who are a part of an organization known as the Thornhill Aquifer Protection Study (TAPS), posed a number of questions to council regarding the contentious greenhouse facility.
The most pressing of these questions: “how could this have happened, and why?”

VANCOUVER - Don Briere stands behind the counter at Weeds Glass and Gifts in downtown Vancouver, surrounded by shelves of multicoloured pipes and clear boxes overflowing with fragrant B.C. bud.

The affable 63-year-old owns 10 stores, making him the owner of the city's largest marijuana business chain, even though selling pot over the counter remains illegal in Canada.

When asked how a customer would buy cannabis, Briere says all one needs is photo ID and proof of a medical condition that might be alleviated by pot — for example, a prescription for pain medication or a bottle of antidepressants.

"We're making it easy for people to get ahold of a real medication that is natural and safe for you," he says proudly. "Every day we sign people up. Every day."

Former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress in Ontario may soon be able to access medical marijuana with ease.

Marijuana for Trauma Inc., an organization that specializes in helping veterans get medical marijuana, just opened a new facility in Markham, Ont. The organization's founders, who have opened operations in several other provinces, say there are already 40 veterans in this region looking for assistance.

Former soldier Chris Dupee is one of those veterans. He used to drive 14 hours to New Brunswick to have his prescription for medical marijuana filled and paid for by Veterans Affairs.

"I could't even eat this morning," said medical marijuana patient Anne Genovy as she sat in the front row of audience seats in Vancouver's Federal Court on Thursday. 

"My hands were shaking. The weed relaxes me, but not knowing where I'll get it (marijuana) from or if I'll be arrested is torture."

Genovy is one of an estimated more than 175,000 people with a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana as medicine.

Collectively, they wait to exhale as Federal Court Justice Michael Phelan weighs evidence in Allard V. Health Canada. At stake is the future of who will supply patient prescriptions and who is allowed to grow marijuana in Canada.

After a six week break the case has returned for summations.

VANCOUVER — Medical marijuana users’ fight to continue growing their own plants is now in the hands of a Federal Court judge after lawyers delivered their final arguments in Vancouver late last week.

New rules that force patients to purchase medical marijuana from licensed commercial growers ensure they are supplied with safe, good quality marijuana that is grown by industry producers who are subject to stringent standards and government oversight, federal lawyers told the court.

But lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the new rules are overly restrictive and by making marijuana unaffordable for their clients — all B.C. patients — the regulations infringe their rights to liberty and security under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A who’s who of British Columbia’s medicinal marijuana industry is gathering in Vancouver on May 7.

The event, a forum hosted by Lift Cannabis Inc., features some of the most experienced suppliers from across Canada and promises to attract stakeholders from both the legal and illegal sides of the business.

David Brown, a spokesperson for Lift Cannabis, told the Straight the conversation was originally scheduled to focus on Canada’s official medicinal marijuana production and distribution system that exists under the Conservative government’s Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).

TORONTO – Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair says he supports the legalization of marijuana in Canada as long as there is a strong regulatory component to it.

“In the regulation of marijuana, then you can control who it is sold to, where it is sold and when it is sold. You can control the price. You can tax the thing,” Blair said during an interview on Global’s The Morning Show Thursday morning.

“You can make sure the decision to not sell it to a 14-year-old is left to a responsible adult, not some gangster in a stairwell.”

Blair, who is currently seeking the federal Liberal nomination in the riding of Scarborough Southwest, said using the criminal model to prohibit the use and trafficking of marijuana isn’t working.

The first thing that struck me about Mike Dawe when I met him about a year and a half ago was how tall and slim he is, how long and slender his fingers are, and how his big shoes suggest equally long and slender toes.

To anybody familiar with his chronic condition, all that comes as no surprise.

Mike Dawe says a federal rule could hurt his ability to take care of his illness. (CBC)

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder of the connective tissue which afflicts those who have it with debilitating symptoms too numerous to list here. Long limbs are a prominent part of the syndrome's profile. So are pain and insomnia.

Cities and the people who live within them, should be able to have a say in where medical marijuana operations set up within their boundaries, says the mayor of Maple Ridge.

"It should be a formal requirement that Health Canada make the location of these potential sites known to the public and hold a public meeting and consider the comments of our citizens in determining if such a facility should be considered for licensing in our city," Nicole Read said in a release Friday.

The mayor wrote to federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose pointing out there's no formal public process relating to locations of medical marijuana facilities in Maple Ridge.

What were Ready to Build letters (“RTBs”)? In a nutshell, they amounted to a conditional MMPR production licence. In an affidavit filed by the government in Allard et al. v. Her Majesty, Health Canada employee Todd Cain explained: