Nova Scotia will be launching its public consultations for marijuana legalization within days, with results expected to be compiled and released before the end of the year, the premier's office has confirmed.

Of the Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia is the last to launch its consultations, which will include telephone and online surveys. P.E.I. just completed an online consultation, garnering around 3,000 responses, Newfoundland released a report of its consultation period in August, and New Brunswick - the furthest along - last month announced its framework for legalization, including plans to follow Ontario in creating a Crown corporation to oversee all pot sales.

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A RCMP officer's decision to arrest and search two people because he could smell fresh marijuana in the vehicle has resulted in drug and weapon charges being dismissed against an Ingonish couple.

Provincial court Judge Peter Ross ruled Monday that it is widely held that police officers can give evidence on what they detect or recognize by smell.

"But difficulties arise when the police claim to be able to recognize this particular smell (raw marijuana) as a basis for arrest, with no other supporting grounds," said the judge. Ross ruled that the seizure of the marijuana and the arrest of the two individuals violated their rights not to be arbitrarily detained and to be protected from unreasonable search. The decision meant that items seized would not be admitted into evidence at trial.

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A lot of sides want a piece of the action - not surprising considering the high hopes many have for profits in selling legal marijuana.

What provinces decide about the matter is coming very much under scrutiny these days, particularly after Ontario announced rules that put sales entirely in government hands - much to the chagrin of the private sector. The province will sell the product, when legal as of next July, through the corporation that sells liquor, the LCBO, although in separate outlets.

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When it comes to two of the big policy battles that loom as the fall sitting of Parliament gets underway this week, prudence dictates that a journalist keeps his or her powder dry.

In the debate over the government's proposed tax changes for people with private corporations, as in the case of the Liberal plan to legalize marijuana, what we have so far seen are just the opening manoeuvres in a tug-of-war, the outcome of which in the court of public opinion is far from decided.

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NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh's recent promise that, as prime minister, he would move quickly to drop criminal penalties for possession or purchase of small amounts of all drugs will no doubt seem radical to many.

Broad-based decriminalization would beast ark reversal after decades of increasingly punitive policies. And this would certainly add a layer of complication to the already complicated task of legalizing marijuana, which Ottawa and the provinces are struggling to do by next summer. The Trudeau government' s current position on decriminalization is understandable: Ottawa already has its hands full with pot.

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We need to figure out how to sell weed in Nova Scotia - we also need to get more stores to sell healthy food.

Maybe we can use one problem to solve the other: allow stores to sell weed if they also offer a minimum quantity and quality of fruit and vegetables.

Access to healthy food is a major problem in Halifax. Getting to a store that sells broccoli can be a struggle for residents in Harrietsfield, Middle Musquodoboit and parts of urban neighbourhoods like Spryfield and north-end Halifax and Dartmouth.

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I don't really know where to go with this other than The Coast, since you appreciate input from us random faces in the crowds, and it shows. I recently stumbled across this article on the Metro chain's Halifax website: "Woman high on weed in wreck that killed grandkids." That is terrifying news as our country is striving to make marijuana legal, so I clicked and read briefly into the article-only to realize it was a poor copy-paste job from an Associated Press story that omitted half the information.

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Government, business community and advocacy groups have varied opinions

As the deadline for the federal government's move to legalize marijuana in July 2018 approaches, users, stakeholders, business people and politicians involved in the matter offer a variety of concerns.

Hank Merchant, CEO of HBB Medical, a medical marijuana dispensary, welcomes the introduction of guidelines and regulations on the sale of marijuana, "because there are people who have no qualms about operating outside the law."

"We, as medical marijuana dispensaries, don't do that," Merchant added.

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Harm reduction is one kind of treatment approach for helping people with substance abuse disorders and it can be confusing for people not familiar with it.

"Sometimes people think it's abstinence versus harm reduction but that isn't true," said Laura Chapman, health promotion specialist with Mental Health and Addiction Services.

"Harm reduction absolutely includes abstinence."

Chapman and many other clinical therapists, counsellors and other professionals working directly with people suffering from substance abuse disorders feel harm reduction is an important tool.

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With the release of Ontario's marijuana legalization framework on Friday, Nova Scotia's opposition is concerned the provincial government is dragging its heels.

The first province to have constructed a comprehensive legalization plan, Ontario's framework includes plans to open 150 standalone stores, and to have the province's liquor control board oversee all recreational pot sales.

Ottawa will legalize pot by July 2018 but has left it up to the individual provinces to design their own distributions.

So far, the Nova Scotia government has been tight-lipped on its plans surrounding legalization, but Progressive Conservative Pictou West MLA and opposition justice critic Karla MacFarlane said they need to start talking.

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There are concerns Nova Scotia isn't moving fast enough to deal with new standards regulating the legal sale of marijuana, and it could mean other provinces get a leg up. Nova Scotia's plans to get into the pot business are eerily reminiscent of a late-20th century, would-be-pusher - distinguished by stealth and uncertainty. No one knows what, if anything, the province has done to prepare for July 2018, when cannabis is legal in Canada, and the province's vague statements are neither illuminating nor reassuring.

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Canada is edging closer to the July 2018 target date for the legalization of marijuana in a haze of political smoke.

With every new development, the gap between the political narrative attending the initiative and its actual implementation is harder to bridge.

Take the federal government's talking points. They have greatly evolved since Justin Trudeau was campaigning on university campuses in the last election campaign. Logic has not always benefited from that evolution.

To hear the prime minister these days, the point of the policy is to make it harder for minors to buy marijuana. Clearly, Canada is making its peace with marijuana the better to fight it.

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After the RCMP raided three local medicinal marijuana dispensaries last week, one store has already re-opened.

Maritime Medicinal, one of the three Bible Hill dispensaries, reopened its Main Street location immediately after officers cleared out Friday afternoon.

"We were open right after they left," said Ashley Brown of Maritime Medicinal. "There were some charges laid against an individual who worked at the store, however, we support medical cannabis and we decided we would reopen to try and accommodate our patients. We have patients that require our services."

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RCMP officers raided three medical marijuana dispensaries in Bible Hill Friday afternoon.

Sgt. Duane Cooper told the Truro Daily News that search warrants were executed at about 3 p.m. at Re-Leaf Medical Dispensary, 197 Pictou Rd., Community Compassion Centre, 274 Pictou Rd., and at the Maritime Medicinal Centre, 27 Main Street.

"As we speak we're still in the process of executing the search warrants," said Cooper, who added the investigations are continuing and more information would be forthcoming when those tasks are complete.

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Four arrested by officers in Cole Harbour dispensary

One day after Tasty Budds reopened its five Nova Scotia locations following police raids last week, one of them has again been searched by police.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jennifer Clarke confirmed to Metro Tuesday afternoon that police searched the Tasty Budds location in Cole Harbour.

"We arrested four people, one of whom will be in court tomorrow morning in Dartmouth," Clarke said.

Charges are expected against that one person, and Clarke said police will be naming them on Wednesday.

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Supporters of marijuana advocate protest outside Amherst courthouse

Support for a Cumberland County man charged with marijuana and firearm offences showed up early Monday for his first court appearance since being arrested almost a week ago.

Fifty-two year old Daren Wayne McCormick was arrested and charged Aug, 23, after Cumberland RCMP and a street crime unit conducted a search at a Northport home. Ten handguns, a shotgun, drug paraphernalia and what police descried as a large number of marijuana plants were removed from the home.

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'Alleged illegal activity' only at one location

All five Tasty Budds medical marijuana dispensaries in Nova Scotia have reopened following raids last week, and allegations of illegal activity that the chain's owner says were confined to just one location.

Police searched four homes and five Tasty Budds dispensaries last week after an eight-month investigation, and laid charges against nine people, including Tasty Budds president Mal McMeekin.

Police said those searches turned up a loaded handgun, a shotgun, cocaine, marijuana, shatter, hash, oil, edibles, and large amounts of cash. One man, 31-year-old Jarrett Randall Shrum of Bedford, was charged with trafficking cocaine, plus seven firearms charges including possession of a firearm obtained by crime and tampering with a firearm's serial number.

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Tasty Budds president Mal McMeekin is "very sorry" about alleged illegal activities that police say were occuring at his company's storefronts.

"We want to be very clear that the alleged illegal activity was occuring at one Tasty Budds location (Sackville Location)," reads a written statement sent to The Chronicle Herald and attributed to Mal McMeekin.

"This only came to our attention through the recent police activity and investigation. This is a gross violation of our code of conduct, our ethics, and everything that Tasty Budds stands for."

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A smoking syllabus to becoming the most productive pothead on campus.

Harvard studies suggest cannabis enhances cognitive function. German studies conclude micro-dosing weed is an effective ADHD treatment. And with Canada's impending marijuana legalization, the "lazy stoner" stereotype is washing away, making room for the high-functioning user to spark up. Carefully chosen MMJ strains, dosage and smoke methods just might be your path to becoming most productive pothead on campus.

Pre-class anxiety? Live every week like it's shark week with Great White Shark: This stimulating sativa offers an energizing high that melts away the anxiety in a room full of tutorial strangers. Great White's plant parents obliterate depression, stress and pain, so you can stay relaxed yet inspired while scoring full participation marks. Ren, a second-year NSCAD student with a nervous tummy, attributes her stellar grades to this potent strain.

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Event aims to break stigma around overdose and drug use

About 75 Cape Bretoners gathered at Wentworth Park Bandshell on Thursday to pay tribute to loved ones who died by drug overdose or who are struggling with addiction.

Tears flowed and people could be heard quietly sobbing and sniffing during the Overdose Awareness Day event, especially when the names of people who died of drug overdoses were being called out.

Antoinette Murphy, who lost her son to an overdose five months ago, was there with her three daughters and a granddaughter.

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