Inside licensed producer Mettrum’s 1,600-square-metre pot-growing facility — where the rows of Super Lemon Haze really do smell like lemons.

Forget the illegal marijuana “dispensaries” that are popping up like weeds across Toronto and will soon face a crackdown by city staff over zoning.

The only legally available medicinal marijuana is prescribed by a medical doctor, comes from producers licensed — and inspected — by Health Canada, and is delivered directly to patients’ doors by Canada Post.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says storefront shops selling marijuana will continue to blur the lines of the law around pot until the federal government clarifies the rules around the use of recreational weed.

The federal government plans to unveil new legislation next spring that would legalize cannabis. In the meantime, cities have seen a growing number of marijuana dispensaries open up.

Wynne says cities and provinces remain confused over what to do with those pot shops because Ottawa has yet to clarify rules between recreational and medicinal marijuana.

"That clarification hasn't happened and I think there is some blurring of the line," she said. "We're a bit in the weeds.

A group comprised of doctors, patients, health charities and scientists is urging Ottawa to invest $25 million over the next five years for research into the health effects and potential therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana.

In a report released Wednesday, the Medical Cannabis Research Roundtable highlighted the lack of reliable, peer-reviewed Canadian-based research into marijuana as a potential treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions.

A London scientist whose research on marijuana has also paved the way to a commercial enterprise has discovered that when it comes to schizophrenia, the use of pot can be the best and worst of times.

It turns out that though one of the major chemicals in marijuana is linked to psychosis, another may serve as an effective treatment, said Steven Laviolette, an associate professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

“Within the same plant, you’ve got two different chemicals that are producing opposite effects,” said Laviolette, whose study was published in the journal Neuroscience.

The latest report from the federal auditor general urges Veterans Affairs to get a grip on its medical marijuana program for injured ex-soldiers, which is expected to cost taxpayers a startling $25 million this year.

Michael Ferguson says it's just one of the programs where the federal government has critical data available to it that's either not usable, not used or not acted upon at all.

The report tabled Tuesday in the House of Commons also looked at the dire condition of the army reserves, the federal government's inability to detect and prevent refugee fraud and the uncertain impact of the former Conservative government's $400-million venture capital action plan.

But with medical marijuana for veterans, Ferguson paints a picture of program out of control.

New polling data shows that just over half of Ontario voters now prefer a pharmacy or dispensary distribution system for recreational marijuana over the LCBO. This shows a decline in support for both dispensaries and the LCBO. Opposition to the LCBO at 54% opposed is higher than both dispensaries (34%) and pharmacies (40%).

Support for legalized marijuana remains high in Ontario, a new poll released by Forum Research finds.

The poll, which surveyed 1157 Ontario voters, found that nearly 60 per cent are in favour of legalizing pot in the country, a number which has remained steady over the past few months, Forum says.

Only 36 per cent of respondents said they do not approve of legalization and seven per cent claim to have no opinion on the subject.

“These findings confirm not only the steadfastness of support for legal weed, but also validate our polling, in that findings have not statistically varied in the four months between these two waves of tracking," said Lorne Bozinoff , president of Forum Research.

Motivated by love and desperation, an area mother is fighting an uphill battle to treat her daughter’s chronic illness with a special cannabis oil.

The establishment, predictably, is against her: the doctors aren’t keen; the child-welfare authorities aren’t amused; her ex-husband, the child’s father, called the cops.

Still, she soldiers on, with the dedication a mother feels deepest, determined to alleviate her child’s chronic respiratory condition.

“I’m trying my damndest to help my daughter and to fight for other parents who just want to help their kids,” she told the Citizen. “Nothing else has ever worked.”

Jessie Young is the manager of medical marijuana dispensary in Toronto, which opened in February. He says dispensaries follow the same rules as licensed producers and provides patients with in-person options.

Storefront shops 'not what the federal government envisioned,' city official says.

Toronto's growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries are breaking the rules and could pay for it with tens of thousands of dollars in fines, one city official is warning.  

Mark Sraga, the city's director of investigation services for municipal licensing and standards, told CBC News Monday the city plans to start enforcing legislation related to marijuana shops in the coming months.

WeedMD Rx Inc is pleased to announce that Health Canada has officially licenced the company to cultivate medical cannabis for patients across Canada. The approval is in accordance with the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), a set of regulations enacted by parliament in July 2013 concerning the production, distribution and use of medical cannabis in Canada and also pursuant to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act of Canada.

The license will allow the Company to immediately begin cultivation of medical marihuana in its fully expandable 25,000 square foot facility located at the former Imperial Tobacco plant in Aylmer, Ontario.