Emblem has agreed to purchase two contiguous parcels of land, aggregating approximately 80 acres of industrially zoned land within very close proximity to the company’s current production facilities in Paris, Ontario, in preparation for the anticipated demand for cannabis and cannabis derived products stemming from the proposed legalisation of adult recreational use in Canada. 

The aggregate purchase price for the land is $7.7 million.

New production facilities on newly acquired land

Moments after receiving the email they had been awaiting for years, executives at Beleave Inc. (CSE: C.BE, 

After two decades in the pharmaceutical industry, Vic Neufeld entered the cannabis space in 2014 as the CEO of the low-cost, large-scale cannabis producer Aphria.

What makes your company different from others in the cannabis space?

There are three components that differentiate Aphria from others in the industry: First, our strategic growth plan is factual, a reality and committed. This includes a four-part expansion of our facility in Leamington, Ontario, which will increase our greenhouse footprint from 100,000 square feet to 1 million square feet by August 2018. The expansion will give us the capacity to supply more than 75,000 kg of high quality cannabis at one of the lowest costs in the industry.

Workers at a medical marijuana dispensary in Toronto’s east end have joined Unifor, the country’s largest private-sector union.

Forty workers — including reception, production, supervisors and packaging and retail staff — at the Broadview Avenue location of Canna Clinic are now represented by the union.

Unifor says it’s believed to be the first time that marijuana dispensary workers in Canada have unionized.

Marijuana dispensaries are currently illegal in Canada. The only legal way for Canadian patients to purchase medical marijuana is directly from Health-Canada licensed producers, who ship it via mail.

Unifor president Jerry Dias said all workers have a right to unionize, regardless of an industry’s status.

Ample Organics Inc., the most widely adopted enterprise seed-to-sale cannabis platform in Canada and Braingrid Corporation, a provider of affordable, scalable, and rapidly deployable sensor platforms for precision agriculture, today announced a strategic partnership to enhance Ample Organics’ customer offering. This solution will combine Braingrid’s wireless sensing and data collection expertise with Ample Organics’ enterprise software platform to create an unprecedented offering for medical cannabis growers.

Does the controversy over a $13,000 space-age water pipe signal the takeover of stoner culture by big-money hipster trendsetters?

What happens when you put an ex-Google employee, a hot Toronto design firm, substantial resources and some weed in a room together? A bong made of space-age steel that costs $13,000.

The Io Water Pipe is a collaboration between Tokyo Smoke, a high-end “lifestyle brand that brings sophistication and design to the cannabis space,” and Partisans, an award-winning Toronto-based design firm. The two companies’ cannabis-related line  – ranging from the porcelain Crater Pipe ($135) to the $13,000 stainless steel bong – “demonstrates how cannabis products can combine art and functionality.”

Union wants to provide pain-relief alternative to discourage opioid prescriptions.

In a bid to discourage opioid prescriptions and to give workers a healthier alternative to the highly addictive drugs, an Ontario union is now offering medical cannabis products through its benefits plan. 

LIUNA Local 625 in Windsor announced the change to its plan Tuesday after two years of widespread consultation with pharmacies and cannabis suppliers.

"Now that we've added this, we're hoping more doctors ... will move towards prescribing the cannabis oil as opposed to the opioids," said Rob Petroni, business manager at LIUNA. "The most important part of this is to reduce the opioid use and or abuse."

Canada’s medical marijuana growers will have to start testing all their products for unauthorized pesticides, says Health Canada, stepping up the government’s response to concerns about tainted marijuana.

The policy was announced Friday night as the department released test results that showed another marijuana producer, Ontario-based Peace Naturals Project Inc., had a plant test positive for a pesticide ingredient not approved for use on cannabis. Peace Naturals identified the source of the problem as cross-contamination from a product used to sanitize a plant harvest room.

USA

New York City
Parade Assembly: 11:00 a.m. | West 31st & Broadway, Koreatown, NYC
Parade Start Time: 12:30 p.m. | Parade will march to Union Square (Route South on Broadway)
Rally: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Union Square South Plaza
“The NYC Cannabis Parade is the longest running public expression of drug policy reform in New York City, with roots as far back as the early 70’s. This event have gone by many different monikers, but our purpose remains the same, to spread awareness throughout the world! In 1999, the Million Marijuana March brand exploded and has since turned into a annual event held in hundreds of cities across dozens of countries.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to legalize marijuana and his Liberal government recently introduced Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, to Parliament.

The historic move places Canada at the forefront of global cannabis law reform, but critics across the country are speaking out about the potential dangers of the governments new plan.

I spoke with Kirk Tousaw – one of Canada’s most successful pot lawyers – about the good, bad and ugly of the new bill and how Canada’s cannabis community can continue to make their voices heard.