It could still be several years before Health Canada lets companies make health claims for marijuana products but industry is getting ready.

Three months after announcing a deal with cannabis grower Tilray Inc., generic drug major Sandoz Canada Inc. has signed off on the use of its name for marijuana products.

On Tuesday, the company, a subsidiary of Novartis International AG, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, announced that eight of Tilray’s non-combustible products, already sold under Canada’s mail-order medical marijuana system, would start carrying Sandoz branding.     

As recreational marijuana legalization approaches, even the most committed narc might be getting a little…curious. We cornered activist, writer and decade-long cannabis smoker Sarah Hanlon for a no-judgment, ask-me-anything session on the subject—a little clearing of the smoke, if you will.

How will it all work when recreational marijuana use is legal in Canada? Will you just go to the store in the same way you’d go to the LCBO to buy wine?

“Yes, actually. It’s all regulated provincially, but in Ontario, for example, you’ll go to the Ontario Cannabis Store or you can still get it online. If you’re going on the day they open, I’d say plan to get in line because I think they’re going to be very busy.”

As Canada’s provinces get ready for the advent of legal recreational pot, many questions remain about Ontario’s plans to sell cannabis through a subsidiary of the LCBO. But there are no quick answers from the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp., which is responsible for both online sales and stores.

While Alberta’s premier says that province’s privately run stores will be ready and waiting for legalization, and New Brunswick’s provincial cannabis authority recently gave a tour of a store, Ontario is plodding along carefully and keeping a tight lid on information.

As the movement to legalize recreational cannabis use gains momentum, investors are looking to get in on the action in any way they can. And that's a huge win for Canada because it's basically the only game in town, writes Brandon Hicks.

CHATHAM, ONTARIO - June 15, 2018 – AgMedica Bioscience Inc. ("AGMEDICA" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Health Canada issued an amended licence to AGMEDICA to permit sales of dried medicinal cannabis products from its Riverview Cultivation Facility in Chatham Ontario.

This is another critical milestone in the growth of AGMEDICA. The expedited nature of the sales amendment comes 12 months after construction started and just 6 months after being granted their cultivation licence at the Riverview Facility. These significant achievements accelerate the timeline to revenue generation and are a direct result of the dedication and efforts of the entire team.

City bureaucrats are floating the idea of allowing rural pot-growing greenhouses that are bigger than Lime Ridge mall.

The City of Hamilton is floating the idea of allowing rural pot-growing greenhouses bigger than Lime Ridge mall.

The potential policy change would allow legal medical marijuana growers to build greenhouses up to 90,000 square metres in size, or close to 1 million square feet. By comparison, the city's largest mall complex at Lime Ridge has 814,000 square feet of store space.

The option will be discussed at a Tuesday planning meeting, but not voted on until public feedback is gathered for a future report to council. Such a change would be a radical U-turn for a city that currently restricts rural grow-ops to 22,000 square feet.

Billions of dollars in potential tax revenue lost in a decades-long fight against a stubborn enemy.

Cross-border smuggling, home-grown factories that operate in defiance of the law and — some would argue — a weak-kneed approach to enforcement.

Ontario’s war on illegal cigarettes has done nothing to butt out the black market business, which by some estimates accounts for almost 40 per cent of all the smokes sold in the province.

With Ontario moving to monopolize marijuana selling as the only legal retailer of recreational pot once the federal government legalizes the drug later this year, the experience with tobacco raises a critical question: How can a province that can’t break the back of illegal smokes be expected to keep a grip on legal weed?

HotBox Lounge + Shop announces the incorporation of HotBox Holdings Inc., a new organization that will focus on further development of HotBox-branded cannabis and hemp products. HotBox Holdings Inc. will expand on its existing brand by opening seven new Lounge + Shops across Canada and multiple locations in the U.S. through the end of 2019.

The London-based medical grade cannabis producer is looking to expand production.

London's only medical grade cannabis producer, INDIVA has announced plans to expand, adding 30,000 square feet of space and dozens of jobs to its current 10,000 square foot growing and production facility. 

The announcement was made at an open house Wednesday at the company's high security facility in London's south-end. 

"We're in for a lot of growth, no puns intended," INDIVA co-founder, president and CEO Neil Marrotta said Wednesday. "We're up to 25 employees now, I think we'll get close to 50 by the end of the year." 

Marrotta said that INDIVA would also increase its production.

Western’s education faculty is getting nearly $100,000 from Ottawa to develop tools for schooling teens on pot.

The Public Health Agency of Canada on Wednesday announced $223,000 for three organizations to develop public education tools and resources for public health professionals, educators and other stakeholders.

Western will get $99,000 to work on school-based interventions aimed at promoting positive youth development and preventing cannabis use and substance abuse by young people.

“This investment allows us to use evidence-based research to ensure critical key messages are reaching those adults who interact with youth daily,” Claire Crooks, the education professor who heads Western’s Centre for School Mental Health, said in a release.