Impaired driving enforcement, drafting bylaws and zoning changes are just some of the concerns officials have.

As cannabis legalization looms, municipalities across the country are trying to make sure they're prepared.

Mark Phillips, the chief administrative officer for the Town of Kentville, N.S., said the provincial and federal governments have laid out their own rules around marijuana consumption, but there are still many questions about how municipalities will enforce those laws and pay for the necessary policing.

City staff will also be on the front line since citizens will be more likely to call their town councillor or city helpline with questions or concerns, not the federal government.

"It's a bit of an unknown," Phillips told CBC News.

While a recent court ruling has given some relief to plan sponsors concerned about having an obligation cover medical marijuana under their benefits plans, they still face a number of questions with legalization of the recreational version of the drug coming fast.

That was a key message from Loretta Bouwmeester, a partner at Mathews Dinsdale & Clark LLP, during a session at Benefits Canada‘s Calgary Benefits Summit last week.

“Do you have to cover it? The answer is no. It’s a benefit that you can add on,” Bouwmeester told participants at the event at Calgary’s Fairmont Palliser hotel last Tuesday.

Marine Atlantic, like many large corporations, is preparing for and struggling to get policies in place prior to the legalization of cannabis.

There are “concerns for both crew and passengers,” says Marine Atlantic’s David Frew, vice-president of corporate strategy and human resources.

“That’s important to us given the nature of the service that we provide and where we provide it,” Frew said during Sydney Port Days recently.

The ferry service operates four vessels on two routes between North Sydney and Newfoundland. Last year, it carried 328,000 passengers and 95,000 commercial vehicles.

The race is on for growers to achieve the next level of licensing from Health Canada — the licence to sell.

It might sound like a setup line to a joke.

What do an old slaughterhouse, an empty Bowater building and a former military facility all have in common?

The punchline: All three are now being used to grow cannabis in Nova Scotia — the start of what the farmers say will be a bumper crop in three communities.

In the Wentworth Valley, there are hundreds of plants in various stages of growth at Breathing Green Solutions.

Marine Atlantic expected to release new policy in the ‘coming weeks’.

Marine Atlantic, like many large corporations, is preparing for and struggling to get policies in place prior to the legalization of cannabis expected this summer.

The ferry service operates four vessels on two routes between North Sydney and Newfoundland. Last year, it carried 328,000 passengers and 95,000 commercial vehicles.

There are “concerns for both crew and passengers,” said Marine Atlantic’s David Frew, who is the vice-president of corporate strategy and human resources.

Robinson's Cannabis building new facility to open Dec. 1.

A Kentville cannabis producer says a new partnership between his company and a national investment network will grow local economic benefits and jobs.

Andrew Robinson is the owner of Robinson’s Cannabis, the soon to be Kentville-based cannabis production facility newly acquired by Cannabis Wheaton’s, a network of investors that provides capital support to cannabis enterprises across Canada and is excited about this new partnership.

Robinson described how the partnership will take his budding company from a local enterprise to the national and global markets, saying this is “something our team is so excited about.”

Creso Pharma’s cannabis production facility is currently under construction in Windsor, Nova Scotia. According to documents from the Australia-based company’s website, the site is approximately 20,000 square feet and could produce between 2,000 and 4,000 kilograms of cannabis annually. (COLIN CHISHOLM / Hants Journal)

WINDSOR, N.S. — An Australian company will become a tenant in Windsor’s industrial park just in time for marijuana use to become legalized.

Creso Pharma, a publicly traded company based in Australia, is hoping that the impending legalization of marijuana in Canada will be a boon for its growing cannabis industry, which includes supplying recreational and medical marijuana products.

'You want to make sure that risks are properly conveyed to the general public,' says food policy researcher.

Put away the gummy bears, lollipops and chocolate bars — at least the ones containing THC.

When marijuana is legalized in Canada this year, edibles won't be included on the approved list in 2018.

That's a mistake, according to Sylvain Charlebois, a food policy researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax. In a survey he co-authored, he found that more than half of Canadians are willing to try edibles if they're legalized.

"So, when C-45 [the bill allowing legal access to cannabis] didn't include edibles, it was shortsighted because a lot of people would be willing to try," Charlebois told Checkup host Duncan McCue.

Baby boomers expected to drive sales as they switch to cannabis from other medications.

Cannabis-sector CEOs are bullish about the prospect for sales once Canada legalizes marijuana and say that the market will soar far above many estimates.

At the Arcview Group’s cannabis investment conference on May 2, the CEOs of three Canadian cannabis companies were united in predicting the legal cannabis market in Canada will fast outpace expectations.

A recent New Frontier Data report pinned the domestic cannabis market in Canada at $9.2 billion by 2025, sustained by higher average medical consumption. More conservative estimates pin federal sales at $4.5 billion by 2027.

Campaign tackles assumptions about how cannabis use affects driving and mental health.

Posters at Halifax bus stops and hockey rinks with the banner Weed Myths are part of a new public awareness initiative about cannabis use, not an anti-drug crusade, says the director of the program behind the campaign.

The strategy, which includes short videos on social media, is to motivate young people to ask questions about cannabis, says  Dr. Phil Tibbo, director of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program. 

Weed Myths looks at some assumptions people make about cannabis and driving as well as its effect on mental health.

Young people were consulted about the message and the way it is being delivered, Tibbo said.