A New Brunswick-based medical marijuana producer in partnership with both the provincial government and the Trailer Park Boys has had a lawsuit against it expanded to include possible health effects.

A class action was filed on March 3 against Health Canada-certified medical cannabis producer Organigram Inc. for containing unauthorized pesticides.

Halifax-based injury lawyer Ray Wagner, who is representing the plaintiffs, told The Chronicle Herald the suit was originally economic in nature - essentially to return to clients the money they paid for the recalled product - but last month it was expanded to take into account the health impacts of using the tainted product.

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New Brunswickers will buy their legal marijuana at a subsidiary of the province's liquor commission - and have sommelier-like staff to guide them.

The province also announced Wednesday the stores will be more tightly controlled than liquor outlets, but home delivery will be available.

"No one under the legal age will be allowed inside the premises. That will happen at the reception area, after which people will be able to enter the retail environment," NB Liquor president Brian Harriman told a news conference.

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Grassroots harm-reduction initiative launched as those on the front lines lament provincial government's boardroom approach

Health officials in New Brunswick are taking too long to address the serious and growing opioid problem in the province's two largest cities, say local harm-reduction activists who have launched a grassroots initiative in the face of what they describe as government inaction.

It has been more than six months since the province's top doctor formed an advisory group to come up with solutions to address the issue, but the government's response so far has been lean compared with that of other Atlantic provinces and the rest of the country.

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Province inks supply deals, including with pot producer in pesticides probe

New Brunswick became the second province to start unveiling plans to sell recreational marijuana next year, when the federal government expects to lift nearly a century of prohibition on the product.

The province announced on Friday that it has created a Crown corporation to oversee sales of recreational marijuana, and has signed agreements with two cannabis-producing companies to supply a portion of its retail network.

However, the New Brunswick government stopped short of releasing specific details on how the product will be sold - such as the legal age for consumption and the number of retail sites that will be permitted. The new Crown corporation will not directly conduct retail sales but will work with other entities to operate the stores, the province said.

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Province to create new Crown agency

New Brunswick has set up a new Crown corporation that will oversee marijuana sales, but not actually retail the drug, when the federal government's planned legalization of recreational cannabis goes into effect next July

Provincial Finance Minister Cathy Rogers and Health Minister Benoit Bourque made the announcement Friday in Moncton, adding that New Brunswick has already struck deals with two licensed medical marijuana companies to help supply its recreational market.

However, the province has still left the door open to a possibly less- restrictive retail regime than the one proposed by Ontario, which is setting up a single, government-run retailer.

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FREDERICTON - The legal age limit for recreational marijuana use in New Brunswick should be set at 19, a provincial working group recommended Wednesday in a report that also calls for sales to be handled by something similar to a Crown corporation.

Health Minister Victor Boudreau said the province's Liberal government will consider the recommendation, but he said the actual age limit could be pushed higher.

The New Brunswick Medical Society has already recommended the legal age should be at least 21.

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Incentives, loans given to growing firms

FREDERICTON * Marijuana ended the career of a New Brunswick premier in the 1980s, but as Canada nears legalized weed, it is taboo no more. In fact, the province now wants to be your marijuana supplier.

New Brunswick's Liberal government, led by 34-year-old Brian Gallant, sees weed as green gold - an important creator of revenue and jobs in a province that badly needs both.

It is giving producers financial incentives, has developed a community college program for cannabis technicians, and announced March 24 that marijuana is to be a pillar of its economic strategy.

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It started beside a dumpster. Derek Riedle was hunched next to the garbage bin, tucked behind the back of an upscale Italian restaurant in Venice, Calif. Riedle had taken his wife, Terri, out to celebrate her birthday - and while she sat at the table enjoying a glass of wine, Riedle was in the back alley, taking hits of marijuana off his vape pen.

"The inequities of cannabis, the prohibition, occurred to us numerous times over the years, but there was something about that night. I was really moved to do something about it," Riedle said.

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