A constitutional challenge of Canada’s new medical marijuana laws will hear from marijuana law experts from Holland, Israel and the U.S. when it begins Monday in Vancouver.

The expert witnesses will include Robert Mikos, a law professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville; Dr. Yehuda Baruch, the former head of Israel’s Medical Use of Cannabis Program; and Catherine Sandvos, an official with the Netherlands Office of Medicinal Marijuana.

Also on the witness list is Paul Grootendorst, a health economics expert at the University of Toronto, and Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis.

The fire chief is a witness for the defence – the Attorney General of Canada – who will testify about the dangers of marijuana grow operations.

Canadian company Hempearth is producing the world’s first hemp plane. That’s right, an aircraft made almost entirely out of hemp. At least 75% of the plane – wings, seats, pillows, and outer shell – will be built from hemp. And, it’ll run completely on hemp-bio fuel. (Note: Henry Ford’s first Model-T car was built to run on hemp gasoline and partly constructed from hemp!) Hempearth says the plane is 2 to 3 times less expensive to fabricate than one made of fiberglass. And it’s more energy efficient to make.

February 20, 2015

It has come to Health Canada’s attention that Creative Edge Nutrition, Inc. (CEN Biotech, Inc.) issued a February 19, 2015 Shareholder Update Statement which mischaracterizes the meaning of the Department’s recent action in respect of the application for a license to produce under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).

On February 13, 2015, Health Canada sent a "Notice of Intent to Refuse" to CEN Biotech in response to the license application. The MMPR requires that Health Canada give notice to any applicant to whom it intends to refuse a licence. The applicant is provided 20 days to provide written representations.

It is in the public interest to clarify Health Canada’s actions on this matter.

For decades, illegal marijuana has made its way down to the United States from Canada. “B.C. Bud” is a brand name that resonates with recreational marijuana users from Seattle to Sarasota. But could Canada’s first mover advantage in the business of marijuana translate into an industry that we could ultimately export to the United States?

Modern research is showing that cannabis extracts protect and benefit the human brain. Here’s four amazing ways scientists are showing that cannabis actually helps to keep your brain safe from disease, dementia and even death!

#4 – Cannabis promotes new brain cell growth

Government scare campaigns often claim that cannabis kills brain cells, but now we are learning the truth. Those discredited studies were done in the ’70s, by strapping a gas mask onto a monkey and pumping in hundreds of joints worth of smoke. The monkeys suffered from lack of oxygen, and that’s why their brain cells died.

Modern research is now proving the opposite. The active ingredients in cannabis spur the growth of new brain cells!

EDMONTON - Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose says her hands are tied right now over the growing trend of home-based marijuana grow ops because the matter is before the courts.

Ambrose says if she had her way, there'd be no more grow ops for medical marijuana.

However, a federal court granted an injunction a year ago grandfathering those that were already in place.

Ambrose says she has heard about abuses and problems such as mould and fires in homes, as well as illegal trafficking.

She says political pressure is needed from the public to bring about change.

Newly released figures show the Conservative government spent more than $7 million on a 10-week, anti-drug advertising campaign that wrapped up at the end of last month.

Technology is beginning to affect every aspect of the cannabis marketplace, pushing it in unprecedented directions. As Tantalus Labs builds the first ground-up, legal, cannabis-tailored greenhouse in Canada, we can’t help notice others building ancillary services in the marketplace. As with most health innovation, the end result is a better patient experience. Some of these prospects are big bets on the future, and many others can be found in established industries, with the application to marijuana seemingly past due.

Move over, Amsterdam and Vancouver (sometimes known as “Vansterdam” for its notoriously loose, yet still illegal, pot culture): There’s a new plume of cannabis tourism locales on the rise in the U.S.

Amsterdam has long topped lists of destinations for travelers seeking legal recreational marijuana, but new laws across the U.S. are producing a fresh crop of hot pot spots.

In a few weeks, Canadian cannabis patients will find it harder than ever to get information about their medicine.

Last month, Health Canada sent a letter to 16 licensed pot producers saying they can't display photos of plants on their sites, tweet links to articles about the benefits of marijuana, or tell clients what a certain strain tastes, smells, or feels like.

Any of that information is advertising, according to our government's health regulator, and it's illegal to promote the sale of a narcotic like "marihuana."