The Toronto Dispensary had a quiet opening in the neighbourhood last February,

It now provides medicinal marijuana to more than 1,000 patients for home consumption.

Along with glass canisters containing several varities of weed, three LCD screens on the wall list what’s on the menu including marijuana-infused fudge, cake pops and fizzy soft-drinks.

Before you get to the main showroom, you walk through the reception area with its calming grey walls where patients present their prescription and undergo an interview and a lounge area where family members of patients can watch TV or play Xbox - and in some cases, learn how to roll joints.

TORONTO  - 

They line up to see God at this dimly-lit emporium in the Church and Wellesley area — and then they go home and smoke it.

Before opening at 11 a.m., Toronto Dispensary operations manager Marina gingerly reaches into a safe and pulls out more than a dozen glass canisters filled with different types of green bud, mainly imported from British Columbia.

Each jar contains different strains of marijuana with funky names — LA Chocolate, Chemo, Purple Paralysis and, of course, the earthy-smelling God — and she places them in glass cabinets that her customers can peruse before purchasing.

The price for a gram is about $10 — or $225 for an ounce.

Don Briere already runs the biggest chain of illegal marijuana dispensaries in the country, with 19 locations throughout B.C. Now, he’s expanding eastward, inking deals to open six pot-shop franchises in Toronto.

Sent to prison for once heading British Columbia’s biggest network of marijuana grow operations, Mr. Briere is just one of dozens of entrepreneurs rushing to take advantage of Toronto’s rapid rise as a centre for the illegal storefront sale of cannabis.

The gym rats who join the still-under-construction recreation centre in central Denver, Colo., will owe their workouts to weed smokers.

In Pueblo County, south of Denver, students will soon be able to walk to school on a sidewalk paid for by marijuana tax revenue, or apply to the world's first cannabis-funded scholarship program.

"We're taking dollars that were previously going to drug cartels in Mexico and using them to provide opportunity and education to the next generation," says Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace. Elected officials there recently approved the use of $2.5 million U.S. in pot taxes to fund a mix of community projects.

Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd wasn’t in her Cobourg office when a post-New Year’s present arrived last week: a plastic bag containing marijuana.

Rudd is just the latest in a series of MPs across the country whom author Dana Larsen has written, including in his package a copy of his book, Cannabis in Canada: the Illustrated History, plus some of the actual topic of his book, in dried form.

Rudd’s communications director Jamie Simmons told Northumberland Today in an interview they had heard “someone was sending marijuana to MPs.”

Then the local MP’s office received a call from a person who asked itf it had arrived yet.

“Within a couple of days it showed up,” he said.

British Columbia stands to lose a $2 billion market if legal marijuana production space shifts from BC to Ontario

By Aaron Bockner

As Ottawa prepares to legalize recreational marijuana, the 27 companies licensed to grow and sell medical pot in Canada are getting ready to cash in.

Ontario grower Tweed is among those planning to expand. The company grows about one-quarter of all medical marijuana sold in Canada, on the site of a former chocolate factory in Smiths Falls, Ont.

“This facility is ready to expand to meet a growing market,” President Mark Zekulin told CTV’s Richard Madan, while offering a tour of the facility Friday.

Zekulin said he expects Canada to take “a slower, more prudent approach” than the U.S. state of Colorado, which legalized the drug in 2012 and immediately allowed it to be sold in many retail locations.

It didn’t take long for police to arrest five burglary suspects trying to break-in to a medical marijuana production facility Monday thanks to a surveillance system at the Cookstown company.

Employees at AlternaMedz Canada Inc., which is staffed around the clock, were able to describe the suspects’ vehicle to officers as the attempted break-in was happening.

The presence of employees on site scared off the burglars, police say.

The employees called police for help at about 12:17 a.m.

South Simcoe Police tracked down five suspects, who were wearing disguises at the time of the break-in, about one-kilometre from the scene of the crime.

The men were arrested and the vehicle was seized.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 30, 2015) -

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MedReleaf Corp. Becomes the First and Only ISO 9001:2008 Certified Licensed Producer of Medical Cannabis in Canada MedReleaf
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MedReleaf is now the first and only medical cannabis producer in Canada to be officially certified an ISO 9001:2008 company, solidifying their position as a leader in quality assurance within the industry. This latest accomplishment is not only a Canadian first, but also a rare achievement in the cannabis production space anywhere in the world.