Panel warned of supply problems, tight margins

A Vancouver cannabis retailer whose company plans to open 10 Alberta stores this year says anyone rushing into the field shouldn't expect to find a pot of gold.

"People definitely see it as a potentially very profitable business, or cash cow. It's not," Andrew Gordon, director of operations for Aura Cannabis, said Friday following a panel discussion sponsored by the Leduc Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"The margins are very similar to other retailers … There's (also) a potential of real shortages facing our business right out the gate in the first 18 months. We have seen that in jurisdictions down south."

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Alberta could be the site of 250 cannabis stores in the first year of legalization, with retailers able to offer discount prices on bud and marijuana oil, provincial officials said Friday.

No one business or person will be able to own more than 15 per cent of the locations, or a maximum of 37 stores, the government said, and the outlets must be located no closer than 100 metres from schools and health-care facilities.

"This is a brand new market and we want to ensure everyone can participate, from the very small to the very large entities," said Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, adding there's no shortage of prospective retailers.

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A new medical guideline suggests family doctors should think twice before prescribing medical marijuana to their patients.

The Simplified Guideline for Prescribing Medical Cannabinoids in Primary Care, published Thursday in the medical journal Canadian Family Physician, says there is limited evidence to support the reported benefits of medical marijuana for many conditions.

It adds that any benefit could be balanced, or even outweighed, by the potential harm.

"While enthusiasm for medical marijuana is very strong among some people, good, quality research has not caught up," project leader Mike Allan, director of evidence-based medicine at the University of Alberta, said in a news release.

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Survey suggests renters more likely to smoke marijuana

An advocacy group for renters say a city survey is needlessly pitting homeowners and landlords against a vulnerable community.

This week, the City of Calgary put out their citizen cannabis survey, which included data about how Calgarians feel about impending legalization along with some pointed policy questions to help the city as they draft new rules for weed.

The survey found that renters are more likely to currently smoke marijuana at 32 per cent when compared to 12 per cent homeowners reporting they currently puff. When it comes to home growing, the city found that of those who were likely to grow marijuana plants inside their home 68 per cent of those were living in rented town homes or apartments. In Calgary particularly, the term renter has become a dirty word - especially when it comes to the politics of putting in secondary suites. The divisive term is often in the middle of council discussions.

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Public awareness of possible harm from marijuana use will be part of a public campaign in the coming days as July approaches when the federal government will legalize the use of the drug.

"We will have a public education campaign around the legalization of cannabis," a spokesperson for the Alberta Cannabis Secretariat said in an email. "However, the details of public education coming from the federal government have not yet been finalized."

Federal government details are necessary first in order to ensure there are no duplicated efforts at the provincial level.

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Alberta outlines specifics on cannabis sales

Alberta expects to issue 250 licences for cannabis stores this year, and says anyone who wants to run a weed shop will first undergo an exhaustive check ranging from tax records to mob ties. "We believe that our regulations will strike the right balance," Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said Friday in Calgary as she unveiled the new regulations for marijuana distribution.

"The system that we are putting in place in Alberta will create an environment in which retailers can legally sell cannabis and provide access to safe products while keeping the health and safety of Albertans in mind."

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I just spent the morning reading Bill C-45, the new cannabis law. I discovered under the section for possession, it states that a youth (12 to 18) who possesses more than five grams of dried marijuana will be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but does not mention anything about amounts under five grams or under age 12.

Given all the science-based facts on the effect of cannabis on developing brains I find this to be a very careless section. The argument concerning ruining a young person's life with a record is made moot since the offence is dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

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In regards to legalization of marijuana, I think that we should take a similar approach to Amsterdam in the sense that it is frowned upon to smoke in public but there are designated 'coffee shops' where smoking is allowed and encouraged I feel like many small businesses could profit from becoming a 'smoke bar,' similar to some of the hookah bars around town and that will keep people out of the busy streets and away from vulnerable people, children, disabled, etc.

David Rhoads



(Plenty of people are against anyone smoking up in public spaces.)

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Only 32 per cent of respondents favour restrictions like those on smoking

It's not like tobacco and those who want to treat it like tobacco are probably the ones who want to smoke it anywhere.

More than half of Calgarians believe the way public consumption of cannabis is regulated and enforced should more closely resemble controls on drinking alcohol than those on smoking tobacco.

That's according to the city's Cannabis Research Combined Study, prepared by Environics Research and released Friday.

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Following the death of her son Conner in 2013, Yvonne Clark has been sharing her story with students and parents across the region.

In presentations to young people ranging from Grade 6 to Grade 12, Clark talks about her family's experience, about the dangers of fentanyl, and about the growing number of Albertans who have died of opioid overdoses.

What she hopes to include soon as part of that presentation is a series of images that will put a face to the fentanyl statistics. Clark is appealing to other Albertans who have lost a loved one to an opioid overdose to send her a photo of the victim, with the aim of educating young people across the province about the crisis.

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Group to ask about opioid crisis at town hall

Edmontonians will line up at MacEwan University on Thursday in hopes of getting face time with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Moms Stop the Harm, a group of parents who have lost children to drug overdoses, plans to have 10 to 15 members at the town hall to challenge the PM on the opioid crisis.

"It's very upsetting for us how silent he has been on this issue," said group member Petra Schulz. "There are thousands of Canadian families like ours that are mourning the loss of a loved one, and the prime minister has not even spoken on the issue in the house."

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Edmonton is giving more naloxone kits to those who need them, but much more work is required on the underlying drivers of the fentanyl and opioid crisis.

That was the message left with city council after their quarterly update Wednesday.

Dr. Chris Sikora, Alberta Health Services' medical officer of health, Edmonton zone, said childhood trauma and social factors such as poverty and a lack of housing leave people susceptible to addiction. With fentanyl, those addictions are taking an even more tragic turn.

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AHS teaming up with two universities to study effects of cannabis on the brain

If you have smoked five joints a week, every week, for the past year, then science needs you.

A research collaboration between Alberta Health Services, the University of Alberta and MacEwan University is studying 120 healthy Edmontonians aged between 18 and 35 to understand the short and long-term effects of cannabis use and its residual effects on cognition, motor skills and sensory skills.

It will also look at how people with mental illness are affected by cannabis.

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StatsCan can tell you the answer to that

Albertans are paying just under $8 a gram for marijuana on average, according to a new Statistics Canada report.

The Cannabis Economic Report ranked average prices of medical and non-medical cannabis between provinces and found Alberta is slightly above the national average and the highest of the Prairies at $7.67.

The national average is $7.48. Manitoba has the cheapest weed at $6.69 per gram, while the territories rank the highest at $9.58.

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The opioid crisis affecting Canada and the world has surfaced in a significant dangerous way here in Lethbridge. This rampant drug abuse involving fentanyl, labelled as the "new alcohol," is being driven by factors that can and should be controlled by our own community activities or lack thereof.

Much is being done to deal with the crisis, i.e. safe Injection site and other initiatives. Nevertheless, little is being done to deal with the underlying causes driving this crisis.

Currently, our own Lethbridge Shelter is accommodating homeless citizens, many of whom are affected by addictions, homelessness, job loss, poverty. Many are selling drugs to put food in their bellies. On average, 65 per cent of the clientele are aboriginal. The shelter has become a refuge for drug dealers and users banished from the Blood Reserve - many as a direct result of the new "trespass" policy on the reserve. The Blood Tribe does not want them, and neither does Lethbridge.

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Drunk driving laws have not stopped impaired drivers and pot will be no different

Last Sunday, I was driving on John Laurie Blvd. when I caught up to a motorist in the passing lane who was doing 40 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. As I pulled out to pass him on the right, I could smell the stench of marijuana coming from his car.

Wait until marijuana is legal in Canada and then more of these bozos will be on the road. In Colorado, where marijuana has been legal for almost four years, a recent poll by the Colorado Department of Transportation showed that 55 per cent of people there think it's perfectly all right to drive while stoned. As Time magazine reported, the poll also found that of the people surveyed who had used pot in the past 30 days, half thought it was fine to drive while high. Why should Alberta's potheads think any differently when legalization arrives here? Some of them, like the guy on John Laurie, aren't even waiting till then.

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Health: Veterinarian speaks out over dangers of drug, signs of intoxication in pets

Foothills veterinarians are expressing concerns animals could be exposed to marijuana when the drug is legalized in July.

Dr. Tony Gerrow, at the Okotoks Veterinary Clinic, said he's seen several cases of intoxicated dogs over his 35 years and anticipates more with legalization looming.

"If there are marijuana products available to the pets, whether it's accidental ingestion or it's second-hand smoke, I'm sure we're going to see more of those cases," said Gerrow.

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A University of Calgary researcher says the city's supervised consumption site is important not only for people who use opioids, but for those who consume other substances such as meth, which was cited as the most frequently used substance during a recent study of drug users in Calgary.

The research was conducted as part of a harm reduction needs assessment for Calgary that launched in June 2017 and wrapped up in the fall. The study included 370 people in the city who use substances other than alcohol or marijuana.

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Prescribed opiates rarely hit streets, writes Barry Ulmer.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta is happy lately, at least according to the medical regulator's new registrar. Dr. Scott McLeod wrote in these pages last week that doctors contributed to Alberta's "opioid crisis" by over-prescribing, and now they're going to help fix it. "We need to prescribe opioids more appropriately," he wrote, "and that means less. Already, prescriptions for Albertans in pain are way down, and that's terrific."

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More than 40 client support workers have been hired

With staff training well underway, officials at the city's supervised drug consumption centre will be ready once building contractors have finished their work.

Renovations on the 1 Avenue S. structure - a night club and bar for many decades - started last fall. Stacey Bourque, executive director of the Arches harm reduction agency, says it's a little behind schedule because of a decision to install a new fire detection and sprinkler system.

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