A federally-licenced medical marijuana producer in Nanaimo, B.C., is contributing so much to the local economy that city council has approved a proposal to roughly quintuple the size of the facility.

"At this particular point in time, [Tilray has] contributed about $3.2 million in direct wages in just over a year in operations, and they will continue to do so," Mayor Bill McKay told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"When they are involved in their building process … 95 per cent of the contractors were locals, so you can imagine when you're going from a 65,000 square foot-facility to a 265,000 square foot-facility — that's good jobs, that's great impact."

Oceanside RCMP executed a search warrant on a Parksville compassion club last Thursday, seizing an unspecified amount of dried marijuana and cannabis-based products, as well as cash.

Police carried out the search at 3:30 p.m at the Phoenix Pain Management Society, located at 120 Middleton Ave. in Parksville.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Jesse Foreman said investigators have asked that details of the search and seizure of property not be disclosed as the matter is before the courts.

A 29-year-old man who was on the premises at the time the search was carried out was arrested. He was later released on a promise to appear in provincial court. Police are recommending a charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking against the man.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 6, 2015) - Abba Medix Corp., ("Abba Medix", a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saratoga Electronic Solutions Inc., "Saratoga", or the "Company") (CSE:ABA) is pleased to report that it has entered into a Letter of Intent with 9037136 Canada Inc., operating and known as Redecan Pharm ("Redecan"), a Health Canada licensed producer and distributor of medical marijuana.

Redecan is focused on developing premium quality medical marijuana products and is a licensed producer and seller, able to cultivate marijuana under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations ("MMPR") in Canada.

TORONTO -- The people who own restaurants, bars and pubs in Ontario have an idea to give consumers another option to buy beer -- so-called "off sales" from their establishments.

The industry group Restaurants Canada says six provinces, including Quebec and British Columbia, already allow restaurants and bars to sell beer for home consumption as part of their liquor licences.

Restaurants Canada vice-president James Rilett says staff in restaurants and bars are trained to sell alcoholic beverages, and calls the idea of "off sales" a natural evolution in Ontario's retail system.

Rilett says "off sales" would also mean wider distribution for craft and micro brewers who complain about their limited access to the LCBO and Beer Store.

Canadians can claim a wide array of medical expenses on their tax returns — from wigs to gluten-free bread to medical marijuana — yet the Medical Expense Tax Credit is among the least used.

While the paperwork may be complicated, the return can be worth it for many people, says John Crawford, a chartered accountant and chief financial officer of Pacific Blue Cross.

Among the more surprising deductible expenses are:

 CANADIAN company is seeking to tap into the Jamaican market for the supply of dried marijuana to the medicinal marijuana industry in Canada.

Marketing director of FLOR, Raymond Grant, (the local agent for the company), toldThe Gleaner that 80 per cent of the shares of the company are owned by Jamaicans living in Canada who are ready to invest in Jamaica.

Grant has been meeting with local farmers and laying the groundwork for the development of a supply industry in Jamaica.

"I believe this is the first Canadian company formed to export cannabis from Jamaica to Canada. There are about 15 licensed dealers (in Canada), so we would be the wholesalers. We would supply the dealers in Canada. That is how we see our role," he said.

The mayor of Nanaimo says his city is rolling in the dough from a new medical marijuana facility opened by Tilray a year ago

“They are providing jobs out there that are good paying, they’re family incomes. They have hired 95 per cent of their work force [from] local, long-time people,” says Bill McKay.

“It’s just a whole new industry, and there are a lot more of those industries coming, at least we hope so, to Nanaimo.”

McKay says the city has just approved an expansion of the plant, which will let Tilray grow from 50,000 to 250,000 square feet. Currently 115 people are employed at the plant, and Tilray has plans to hire 275 more.

One of Canada's licensed medical marijuana facilities will double in size this summer, a year after Health Canada radically changed industry rules.

Aphria Medical Marijuana cultivates 17,000 marijuana plants in a 3,000-square-metre facility operating in Leamington, Ont., south of Windsor. By summer, it will be twice that size and operating in two buildings, rather than one.

The company won't start producing double the amount of pot until late fall.

Aphria has 25 full-time employees with no casual workers.

In April 2014, Health Canada moved medical pot production from a cottage industry of thousands of loosely regulated growers to a commercially competitive sector.

SEATTLE, April 4, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Many U.S. states are changing laws on cannabis products like cannabidiol oil extract, used to treat epilepsy patients, while Canada still only allows licensed marijuana growers to sell dried crop, and be that as it may, prohibit tinctures, edibles, and oils.

There’s a yoga class in Toronto that comes with an added perk: smoking weed.

No, it’s not a late April Fool’s Day joke.

At Ganja Yoga – located in High Times café in Kensington Market – each class begins with a few tokes of marijuana via a vaporizer, which is passed around a circle.

The desired result is heightened relaxation, spiritual growth, and focus.

Often, a musician will play a guitar, adding to the chilled out vibe.

Health-conscious stoners will appreciate the use of the vaporizer as opposed to a pipe or rolled joints, which heats the hemp to create THC rather than burning it. It’s basically the “healthy” way to get high.