Toronto's municipal licensing and standards department is reviewing city bylaws to see if changes are needed to deal with the "potential impacts" that people growing legal marijuana may have on neighbouring tenants or properties.

Mark Sraga, director of investigation services for the licensing department, said he doesn't anticipate cannabis home-grow operations to have a significant impact on municipal bylaws when the law permits people to grow the drug this summer.

"Under Health Canada rules, people are allowed to grow medicinal marijuana in their houses," he said. "I don't see how growing four plants necessarily having any impact considering the fact I've seen some personal designation grow licences for hundreds of plants."

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Some remain skeptical the proposed Cannabis Act (Bill C-45) will achieve one of its primary objectives: protecting youth from cannabis-related harms. Some feel the minimum age should be higher than the minimum age for alcohol, worried that those under 25 seem more vulnerable to dependence and health problems linked to long-term, heavy use.

Critics of the proposed minimum age may be overlooking another primary objective: displacing the black-market. Young adults aged 18 to 24 represent one third of the market. The act attempts to strike a balance between keeping marijuana away from minors and cash away from criminals.

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Premier Kathleen Wynne has ordered that school boards be given a say in where provincial marijuana stores are located, noting that boards are likely to know "where their kids go at lunchtime (and) where they go after school."

Her demand came after the announcement that Toronto's first outlet of the Ontario Cannabis Store would be located in Scarborough, 450 metres from Blantyre Public School. The Toronto District School Board said it had asked to be consulted about the location, but never was. Concerned Blantyre parents discussed the news at a school council meeting last week.

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Doctors who treat youth have serious concerns about the legalization of marijuana.

With universities and schools providing few details around strategies for marijuana legalization, doctors who treat youth have serious concerns about the inevitable increase in use and the impending impacts of what can be a dangerous drug.

Dr. Chris Wilkes, Alberta Health Services head of child and adolescent psychiatry, said educators "need to ramp it up" in terms of creating environments to ensure safety and informing youths about the health effects of marijuana.

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The decision isn't without controversy, but city council was wise to ban the use of marijuana in public places.

When the federal government legalizes cannabis later this summer, Calgarians won't be able to smoke, vape or eat products made with the substance in public spaces, unless they're a medical marijuana user.

That's led critics of the decision to complain that people who live in multi-family dwellings may not be able to use the drug.

"It's not an insignificant group of people - 36 per cent of Calgarians are renters," Coun. Evan Woolley said when the restriction was being discussed by council. "And effectively, we are saying there is no space for you to consume cannabis, and that's a problem for me."

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MONTREAL-In the rush to marijuana legalization, cities across the country are harnessing their limited powers to delay the opening of retail pot stores, dictate where they can operate or ban them outright-at least temporarily.

There was uproar from Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Toronto District School Board after finding out the city's first retail cannabis store would open just 450 metres from a school, in a strip mall where students often eat lunch.

But it's the scenario many local politicians are fighting to prevent.

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Canada is moving closer to the legalization of recreational Cannabis this summer. Federal legislation is awaiting Senate approval and all the provinces have developed their implementation approach. Governments across the country rarely agree on anything. But as we embark on this change, they have been unanimous in agreeing that their top policy objective is the protection of youth.

We know what the approaches and commitments have been from various governments, so we are in a good position to know whether their actions reflect their words. So far, the simple answer is no.

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Two very different things, both related to marijuana, happened in Toronto last week. One mattered, and pointed to some of the challenges still ahead with the legalization of marijuana later this year. The other was the proverbial tempest in a teapot.

Allegations that workers were smoking pot on the job, forcing Metrolinx to shut down work on a section of the $5.3-billion Crosstown LRT project, was a serious matter.

But the uproar over the Toronto location for one of Ontario's first government-run pot shops, which continued this week with comments from Premier Kathleen Wynne, is way out of proportion.

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VANCOUVER - A government prohibition against mixing cannabis and caffeine makes little sense, say some research scientists. There is only speculation that the combination might pose a risk.

The practice, so common in the legendary pot capital of Amsterdam that cannabis dispensaries are called "coffee shops," appears unlikely to be coming to Canada anytime soon.

"It seems like the overriding philosophy for a lot of this is: ban anything that might be a concern," said M-J Milloy, research scientist with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use. "Then it's easier to un-ban … rather than trying to do it the other way around."

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On the eve of 4/20, CBC is hosting a panel to give kids and parents the information they need before anyone tokes up.

Titled 4/19, the free evening event at Vancouver Technical secondary hosted by CBC's Gloria Macarenko is aimed at informing teenagers and their parents about the medical, social and legal impacts of cannabis use for youth, with legalization in sight.

Experts range from youth workers and police officers to lawyers and scientists, covering all aspects of this hazy issue.

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VANCOUVER - Vancouver city councillors agreed the city's approach to harm reduction may appears extreme to those who haven't experienced the overdose crisis' impacts first-hand.

But Coun. Hector Bremner told StarMetro he thinks those skeptical of harm reduction simply haven't had an opportunity to learn how it really works.

"The average person going about their day to day life, worrying about their family and putting food on their table is not necessarily deeply involved in these issues," Bremner said. "And so they go with what they feel, or what they know, or what's the societal norm.

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"The 4/20 marijuana event will take place again this year in Sunset Beach Park, against the wishes of the elected park board commissioners. The board continues to have significant concerns about the event's impact on residents, the park and facilities that serve our community.

"The park board does not believe this event is an appropriate use of park space because it violates our no smoking by-laws and has negative consequences for park users and infrastructure. The Board has declined to give organizers a permit as the event does not meet our criteria for issuing a special event permit.

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Studies show controlled drug use can reduce consumption of street drugs

As the opioid crisis rages on across North America, a number of recent studies are pointing to cannabis and prescription heroin as viable options in curbing the consumption of lethal street opiates, reducing long-term medical and policing costs and extending the lives of users.

An analysis of opioid prescriptions in the U.S.published on Monday by the American Medical Association showed a significant decrease in opioid prescriptions in states that have adopted some sort of cannabis legislation. Using data from 2010 to 2015, the analysis counted 3.7 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed in states that allow weed dispensaries, while states that allow only home cultivation saw a decrease of 1.8 million daily prescribed doses.

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More than half the charges laid against London marijuana dispensary staffers and operators swept up in a series of raids on the illegal businesses in the past two years have been withdrawn, court records examined by The Free Press show.

London police have launched seven raids in three separate crackdowns on city pot shops since August 2016, resulting in 49 charges against 15 people.

But court records show 25 of those charges - mostly for possession for the purposes of trafficking - were later withdrawn and resolved through peace bonds, a non-plea order requiring the person to be on good behaviour for a set period of time.

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Veterinarian Katherine Kramer remembers an 18-year-old cat she recommended be put on hemp-based cannabidoil (CBD).

"It had heart disease and pancreatitis so painful the traditional amount of pain medication knocked him out and he had no quality of life," says Kramer, a veterinarian at Vancouver Animal Wellness Clinic. "So, I contacted the [medicinal marijuana] Compassion Club."

Kramer says with not much to lose, the owner agreed to work together and very soon the cat was eating and playing again.

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When Justin Trudeau promised to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, he no doubt felt it would be one of his easiest and most rewarding tasks as Canada's new and uber-cool prime minister. He vowed to make it a priority and change the laws within two years.

Fast-forward to last month, almost 2 1/2 years later, and Bill C-45, to legalize cannabis, faced an unexpected pushback from a Senate that threatened to send it packing. Trudeau took this chance to warn his supposedly independent senators that their job description didn't call for them to defeat bills proposed by the very government that had bestowed upon them their most honourable appointments.

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OTTAWA - Last month, at a city council meeting in Kelowna, B.C., the ranking RCMP officer was giving his quarterly update on policing when a councillor posed a question about marijuana.

"I know that when I go out for the evening, I can have a beer, and I know the alcohol content in that beer," said Coun. Ryan Donn. "I know that one would be a good limit for myself to have before getting in a car and driving.

"When I think about cannabis, I really, truly have no idea," he went on.

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Nelson Police executed a search warrant on a downtown medical marijuana dispensary and arrested five employees.

Five employees at MMJ marijuana dispensary, 752 Vernon Street, were taken into custody Tuesday morning, March 20, without incident.

Charges against the employees are pending, said a release from NPD Chief Constable Paul Burkart, adding that all five were released from custody Tuesday afternoon.

Until charges are formally laid, Burkart said the NPD will be making no further comment as the investigation is ongoing. A further update can be expected in the next week.

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The Town of Oliver is setting aside a hearing to "hash out" some details in local bylaws prior to the legalization of the sale of recreational marijuana.

Council on Monday "decimated," as Coun. Larry Schwartzenberger put it, a staff recommendation to restrict cannabis sales via zoning bylaws in Oliver, as well as a $15,000 ask to hire a consultant to determine the wishes of the community.

"We will be able to approve or disapprove an application. If something is in the commercial zone that's too close to a park or school, we will just not approve it," Schwartzenberger said.

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Sex-ed, pot and Brown

There's no dust on Doug Ford.

Just a day after being elected head of Ontario's PC party, Ford has announced he'll repeal the Liberal's sexed curriculum, hand marijuana sales back to the people and make a decision on permitting Patrick Brown to run as the PC candidate in the riding of Simcoe North.

While political pundits are licking their pencils in anticipation of analyzing Ford's every move, the newly elected leader is already out there working the crowd and winning over voters.

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