College and university graduates will be able to earn a certificate in cannabis production starting next fall, when Niagara College will launch Canada's first accredited program in the field. The program will begin months after the deadline imposed by the federal government for legalizing production, distribution and sale of the weed that is eventually expected to generate $8-billion in annual sales. With regulations not yet in place for legalized marijuana, the program may have to shift with politics. "We heard that the licensed producers need highly skilled, well-trained individuals who know more than how to grow two or three plants in a room somewhere," said Al Unwin, the associate dean of Niagara College's School of Environmental and Horticultural Studies. "They need a graduate who knows how to create a healthy crop in a very large facility and a graduate who is aware of the regulatory reality," he said. [continues 517 words]
A southern Ontario college says it will be the first to offer a post-secondary credential in the production of commercial cannabis. Niagara College says the graduate certificate program will launch in the fall of 2018 and aims to prepare students to work in the licensed production of cannabis, which includes marijuana, hemp fibre and hemp seed. The school says the one-year postgraduate program was approved this summer by the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development. It will be open to those with a diploma or degree in agribusiness, agricultural science, environmental science/resource studies, horticulture or natural sciences, or an acceptable combination of education and experience. [continues 213 words]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A federal anti-drug program has asked Rhode Island - -- and more than two dozen other states where medical marijuana is legal -- to turn over data about patients in the program. The move has alarmed some who question why the federal government, which has at times appeared to be antagonistic towards the drug, is interested in the information. The National Marijuana Initiative, an arm of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, which reports to the White House, contacted the Rhode Island Department of Health in August seeking data from 2012 to 2016 on the number of patients in the program, as well as patients' age, gender and a breakdown of the medical conditions under which they qualified. [continues 583 words]
Two initiatives that would amend Detroit's medical marijuana ordinance to allow dispensaries to open near liquor stores, and grow facilities to operate legally, will appear on the November ballot, after a Wayne County circuit judge's ruling earlier this week. If approved by voters in November, the changes could have a wide-reaching impact on the city's budding marijuana industry. Detroit corporation counsel Melvin Butch Hollowell told the Free Press that the city respects the right of voters to decide but concerns have been raised about the measures, particularly the one that would impact zoning regulations. [continues 940 words]
Initiative aims to keep industry jobs local Todd Veri dreams of fields of marijuana. The Kaslo farmer was reading a government report on cannabis legalization last year when he noted that there were plans to allow outdoor operations - which he's already perfectly set up for. "I looked out my window at my fields, and thought to myself, 'I would love to grow a hectare of marijuana, that sounds great.' My next question was: 'How do I do that?'" the president of the newly created Kootenay Outdoor Producer Co-op told the Star. [continues 946 words]
B.C.'s former health minister, Terry Lake, is moving to the Ottawa area this weekend to become a vice-president of a medical marijuana company that is poised for massive growth. Hydropothecary Corp. is a Health Canada-authorized producer of medical marijuana with a 26-hectare facility in Gatineau, Que., that is about to get six times larger. The firm was co-founded in 2013 by a stalwart Liberal, Adam Miron, who also helped start the news website ipolitics.ca. [continues 605 words]
Opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Florida naturally comes with a lot of red tape. Marijuana is still considered an illegal substance at the federal level, despite the 29 states that have legalized it for recreational or medicinal use in recent years. That makes it nearly impossible for banks to fund marijuana distributing companies, which in turn makes it hard for those companies to sign a lease for a store or warehouse or even get insurance. But one Orlando area community bank is willing to take on the risk. [continues 695 words]
After decades of dodging law enforcement and fighting for legalization, U.S. marijuana growers face a new challenge: low prices. From Washington to Colorado, wholesale cannabis prices have tumbled as dozens of states legalized the drug for recreational and medicinal uses, seeding a boom in marijuana production. The market is still tiny compared with the U.S. tobacco industry's $119 billion in annual retail sales, but the nascent cannabis business has grown to more than $6 billion a year at retail, according to data from Euromonitor International Ltd. and Cowen & Co.. [continues 851 words]
KASLO - A local group of workers, farmers and investors is pressing the federal government to keep the door open for co-operative outdoor cannabis production in the Central Kootenay region of B.C. There is a new market coming for legal recreational marijuana in Canada, and the Kootenay Outdoor Producer Co-operative is organizing a co-op that will keep the profits and high-paying industry jobs local. Organizers from across the region need your help now to let the government in Ottawa know that Canadians want to see other business models flourish besides the big corporate warehouse grow shows. Regulations being drawn up this summer will determine the future of the industry, and could shut the door on the potential for community-based outdoor organic marijuana co-operatives. [continues 193 words]
Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS) is not in favour of the proposed Federal Government's cannabis legalization legislation. "Nova Scotia's Cannabis Legalization Working Group must take into consideration multi-family unit dwellings' high-density living environment when writing cannabis regulations," says IPOANS president Jeremy Jackson. Adding "The current legislation, as is, fails to protect tenants' right to peaceful enjoyment of their homes, a right guaranteed under the Nova Scotia Residential Tenancy Act." According to Statistics Canada's 2011 National Household Survey, there are 111,000 renter households in Nova Scotia. Taking into account an average 1.5 occupancy factor per renter household, marijuana use and cultivation places 166,000 Nova Scotians' health and safety in jeopardy. [continues 279 words]
City man alleges bank discriminated against his family because his son and daughter-in-law were growing medicinal marijuana A federal judge has granted a Greater Sudbury man's application for judicial review of a Canadian Human Rights Commission decision last year to dismiss his 2010 complaint, which alleged the Bank of Nova Scotia discriminated against his family by demanding repayment of a mortgage because his son and daughter-in-law were growing medicinal marijuana. Robert McIlvenna filed the complaint on Aug. 23, 2010, but the commission dismissed it in a letter in March 2012, deciding that the facts as alleged did not constitute a discriminatory practice. That decision was quashed through the Federal Court of Appeal, which sent it back to the commission for further investigation, but the commission dismissed it again, after further investigation, on June 16, 2016. [continues 1430 words]
An initiative to amend Detroit's medical marijuana ordinance to allow dispensaries to operate near liquor stores, child-care centers and parks could appear on the November ballot, after a group behind the effort submitted thousands of signatures backing the measure. Citizens for Sensible Cannabis spokesman Jonathan Barlow confirmed his group submitted petitions late last month seeking to amend Chapter 24 of the city's code. Elections Director Daniel Baxter said the group met the threshold of required signatures and his department has since turned the initiative over to the Detroit City Council, which is expected to consider it Tuesday. [continues 935 words]
Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday made 10 appointments to the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, filling vacant positions and replacing six commissioners whose terms had expired. The commission is charged with implementing Maryland's medical cannabis program. The appointments include doctors, business people and several members of law enforcement. The appointments are: * Charles P. LoDico, a chemist and toxicologist for the Department of Health and Human Services. His appointment fills a vacancy for a scientist with experience in cannabis. * Barry G. Pope, a clinical pharmacist for Conduent State Healthcare LLC. He has been a registered pharmacist for 20 years. Pope was recommended for this appointment by the Maryland Pharmacists Association, and fills a vacancy for a licensed pharmacist on the commission. [continues 268 words]
When it comes to drug and alcohol rehab centers, California channels its inner Texas: few burdens on business and as free-market as possible. That stands in sharp contrast to New York, Massachusetts and a dozen other states, where would-be rehab operators must prove there's a local demand for their services and obtain a "certificate of need" before snipping opening-day ribbons and scaling those legendary 12 steps. The lack of such a system is a key reason why Southern California is known as Rehab Riviera, with far more centers than the region's population could possibly support, critics say. [continues 1893 words]
Detroit's crackdown on illegally operating medical marijuana dispensaries has shuttered 167 shops since the city's regulation efforts began last year and dozens more are expected. Detroit corporation counsel Melvin Butch Hollowell told the Free Press that 283 dispensaries were identified last year, all of which were operating illegally. "None of them were operating lawfully," Hollowell said. "At the time I sent a letter to each one of them indicating that unless you have a fully licensed facility, you are operating at your own risk." [continues 665 words]
An environmental group has collected another 50 used needles from Mohawk Lake. "That's a lot of used needles and we were only out there for an hour-and-a-half," said Tracey Bucci, of the Grand River Environmental Group, whose cleanup effort at Mohawk Park on Saturday attracted 13 volunteers. "It has really become a major problem. "Most of them had caps on them but many did not and that's a safety concern for people, especially young children and pets." [continues 457 words]
For a while, it appeared that I was attending the wrong news conference on Thursday. The usual Liberal government suspects were there, with their typical tendentious talk, including Health Minister Jane Philpott and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. But I was waiting to hear about the legalization of marijuana, and all these people wanted to advertise was how some new legislation was going to "protect children" and "make safer communities" and even obviate organized crime. What was this announcement all about? It all started with Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary Bill Blair, who led the public relations charge and hit every talking point with an ease and skill that you might not expect from a former Toronto police chief. [continues 551 words]
Authority will take action on marijuana dispensaries that sell food items such as brownies Pot dispensaries run the risk of action from Island Health if they continue to sell marijuana edibles, according to the health authority's top medical health officer. Marijuana-infused food, from cookies, to candies, brownies and chocolate bars have appeared on the menus of Nanaimo dispensaries but Island Health is now making it clear that preparing, selling or distributing the edibles is not allowed. Island Health banned the sale of marijuana edibles at Victoria's Gorge Medijuana Dispensary after environmental health officers responded to a complaint about sanitation in the customer service area and that it was selling edible products. It's through that process that the health authority learned several other dispensaries are also selling edible marijuana products, according to an e-mailed statement. [continues 754 words]
Patients who consumed tainted medical marijuana from government-regulated suppliers are questioning how safe the industry is in the wake of several high-profile recalls due to banned pesticides, which have exposed serious gaps in Health Canada's oversight. After a string of recent recalls by Mettrum Ltd., OrganiGram Inc. and Aurora Cannabis Inc. because of the presence of myclobutanil - a banned pesticide that produces hydrogen cyanide when heated - a number of patients told The Globe and Mail they don't see how Health Canada can assure them the product can be trusted. Revelations that the government isn't testing regularly to prove all companies aren't using harmful chemicals have left consumers concerned for their health. [continues 955 words]
Volunteers clean up 1,000 discards a year in a city weighing supervised drug injection site. Tom Cull has more than 1,000 reasons - discarded needles - for London to support a supervised drug injection site. "We pick them up under bridges, along the watercourse, on the (river) banks, in parks," he says. Once a month, from the beginning of April to the start of winter, he and his crew of volunteers with the Thames River Rally pick up garbage along the river in London. [continues 328 words]
