Some provinces and territories say they may need more time to design and implement rules to govern how cannabis is distributed and sold, and with what age limits. While there is a great deal of experience and expertise around these issues in Canada and abroad, connecting those with questions...

The Lifeline

Is cannabis a solution for Vancouver’s opioid overdose crisis? Researchers and community advocates have high hopes for the plant’s potential. Sarah Blyth has witnessed the progression of Vancouver’s opioid overdose epidemic firsthand. “We were seeing overdoses in the alley,” says Blyth, who manages the weekly Downtown Eastside (DTES) Street Market. “There...

Pain, Relieved

Cannabis activist Daphnée Elisma shares how cannabis’s pain-reducing powers helped her through some of the darkest moments of her life. Back in 2010, I started having really bad headaches. I hadn’t been prone to migraines or anything before, so even though my vision began to blur, I didn’t take my...

Magic potions

The beauty industry embraces the power of the plant. The benefits of hemp oil have long been known to the health and beauty industry, and high-profile brands such as the Body Shop and Dr. Bronner’s have used the ingredient for years. Now, with the mainstreaming of marijuana in North America,...
Why Lori S. couldn’t wait for the law to save her life. I found out five years ago that I had triple negative breast cancer. Half of the women diagnosed with this disease die within two years, forty percent die after five years, and the other ten percent are somewhere...
Last week our company was invited to participate in a stakeholder meeting with Health Canada in Ottawa along with a select number of other stakeholders. As has always been the theme song with Health Canada in the last six months, the atmosphere was forward-thinking and transparent. The goal of...

Taking the leap

The new Canadian dream? Creating a home-grown cannabis empire. Meet three locals who have traded it all in to pursue the green rush. Since the dawn of the internet, there is arguably no other emerging industry in the modern era more disruptive, polarizing, terrifying, contentious and potentially more lucrative than...

The game changer

Health Canada caught the cannabis industry by surprise in November when they unveiled sweeping changes to the regulatory approach to cannabis. The proposed regulations outline how the government will control production and distribution come July 2018. Among other changes, the new rules they have proposed open the door to craft...

The boomer boom

As the baby boomer population ages, its members are turning to cannabis in record numbers—and changing the expectations of the industry. Walter Sorto wasn’t sure how his mother would react when he told her he wanted to get into the cannabis business. She didn’t like it when he smoked cannabis...

West meets east

Synergies between medical marijuana and traditional Chinese medicine treatments are growing as we move into a new era of patient care. he advent of spring in Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province, is a time when the annual rush for “green gold” begins. Here on the frosty Chinese-Russian border, naturally divided by the...