Police question Buzz On owner Wayne Robillard show while Robillard was unveiling his lounge to the media.

Let’s start with how Mayor Jim Watson is right.

He’s right to be frustrated over the city’s apparent inability to do anything about the marijuana smoking going on at Buzz On.

It’s a ludicrous set of circumstances that finds the city with the authority to strictly regulate the smoking of tobacco — which is perfectly legal — while simultaneously having its hands tied when it comes to restricting the consumption of a largely illegal substance.

That’s why Watson called this week for the police to crack down on the patrons of the marijuana vapour lounge.

A couple from St-Anselme, Que., is suing Quebec provincial police for $65,000 for mistaking fruit experiments for a marijuana grow-op.

Jean-François Pinault and Liv Larsen filed court documents earlier this week in provincial court. 

They say police executed a search warrant and raided the couple's home on Feb. 19, 2014, while the two were away.

Pinault and Larsen were growing melons, strawberries and giant ground-cherries in their basement.

Police obtained the warrant after seeing Pinault, who has a master's degree in organic chemistry, at a store specializing in hydroponics.

Officers had arrested several people from the store, called Hydrobec, alleging they supplied seeds and gave advice about growing marijuana at home.

The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine has drafted a bylaw to regulate medical marijuana grow-ops.

The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine (RDKS) has drafted a medical marijuana bylaw aimed at preventing grow-ops from cropping up near schools, daycare centres and hobby farms.

Prompted by changes to the way medical marijuana is being handled by federal and provincial law, the regional district started reviewing its zoning policies in July 2014.

Growing marijuana is legally permitted in areas within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and some of that land is close to public facilities, including schools, in Terrace and Hazelton.

The Vancouver Police Department executed a warrant on Weeds Glass and Gifts, located at 2916 West Fourth Ave, April 29. 

The investigation started in March due to public safety concerns, including a 15-year-old being hospitalized after allegedly buying edible products from the store, as well as other incidents involving young people, according to a VDP press release.

Liberal candidate Bill Blair may now be in favour of legalizing marijuana but the national chief’s organization he often boasts having led is certainly not.

“Our position has not changed,” Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) spokesman Tim Smith said Monday.

No longer Toronto’s chief of police, and now a federal Liberal nomination hopeful, Blair’s position is clearly different than his chief of police brethren.

With the City of Vancouver looking at new rules to regulate the booming retail marijuana business, one of the hurdles some pot shops will face is police background checks of their operators. 

CBC decided to do its own background checks and quickly found some local operators have had serious run-ins with the law, including instances not involving the marijuana business. In one case, two of the operators of the Sea to Sky Alternative Healing Society — well aware their police involvement could back to haunt them — have removed themselves as directors of the pot dispensary at least on paper. 

They say they welcome Vancouver's move toward regulation of the city's 80-plus pot dispensaries. 

People under the age of 25 or suffering addiction should not be prescribed medical marijuana, according to stricter standards being introduced by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.

A version of the new professional standards was published on the college's website earlier this month, but has since been taken down.

College registrar Dr. Heidi Oetter said the statement is being reworded to allow for some exceptions for palliative-care patients and patients with seizure disorders.

Oetter said the new policies will also prohibit doctors from charging patients for completing a medical document prescribing cannabis.

"We certainly have learned from our colleagues to the south, particularly in places like Colorado and Washington state," she said.

Canada’s minister of public safety has weighed in on Vancouver’s plan to regulate the over-the-counter sale of medicinal marijuana

“We are deeply concerned about upcoming council discussions on a proposal to ‘regulate’ illegal drug dispensaries,” it reads. “Storefront sales of marijuana legitimize and normalize the use of marijuana and can have only one effect: increasing marijuana use addiction,” it continues.An April 28 letter co-signed signed by Steven Blaney and Health Minister Rona Ambrose emphasizes the storefront sale of cannabis is illegal and warns Vancouver not to go ahead with a proposed legal framework for the industry.

A Moncton-based medical marijuana company that went public last summer has secured $5 million in credit, which it plans to use to accelerate its growth strategy.

OrganiGram says demand for its medical marijuana is growing. (CBC)

OrganiGram Holdings Inc. has experienced a "significant increase" in patient registrations over the past few months and recently completed four new grow rooms, president Roger Rogers said in a statement on Wednesday.

The new rooms are expected to be in operation by the end of June, pending inspection by Health Canada, he said.

"We are very pleased to have negotiated a non-dilutive form of financing," said Rogers, referring to two letters of interest that will provide long-term debt totalling $5 million.

'People make mistakes,' says other pot shop owner with criminal record

With the City of Vancouver looking at new rules to regulate the booming retail marijuana business, one of the hurdles some pot shops will face is police background checks of their operators. 

CBC decided to do its own background checks and quickly found some local operators have had serious run-ins with the law, including instances not involving the marijuana business. In one case, two of the operators of the Sea to Sky Alternative Healing Society — well aware their police involvement could back to haunt them — have removed themselves as directors of the pot dispensary at least on paper. 

They say they welcome Vancouver's move toward regulation of the city's 80-plus pot dispensaries.