Many have noted the federal government's vision on recreational marijuana regulations remains notably blurry. With legalization anticipated about a year from now, the questions continue, as do recommendations about where to draw certain lines.

The legal age to possess and partake is right up there among concerns. To that end, the New Brunswick Medical Society has weighed in this week, saying the bar should be set at 21. They add that the legal age for tobacco purchase and consumption should also be 21.

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If all goes according to plan, Canada's new marijuana law will take effect in July 2018.

It's what happens between now and then that is critical, especially when it comes to safeguarding young Canadians who are the most vulnerable to the potential harms of marijuana use.

Studies have shown adolescents are particularly at risk due to the fact their brains are continuing to develop and at a rapid pace. It's wise to take into consideration that research has shown that chronic marijuana usage is linked to memory and attention difficulties, prominently among individuals who started use while in early adolescence.

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If all goes according to plan, Canada's new marijuana law will take effect in July 2018. It's what happens between now and then that is critical, especially when it comes to safeguarding young Canadians who are the most vulnerable to the potential harms of marijuana use.

Studies have shown adolescents are particularly at risk due to the fact their brains are continuing to develop and at a rapid pace. It's wise to take into consideration that research has shown that chronic marijuana usage is linked to memory and attention difficulties, prominently among individuals who started use while in early adolescence.

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One of Canada's largest medical cannabis producers says it will fund a Nova Scotia man's ongoing legal fight to have his marijuana prescription paid for by his employee-insurance plan - the latest move in a nationwide push by industry, patients and their advocates for more widespread cannabis coverage.

Aurora Cannabis Inc., a publicly traded grower based in Alberta, announced this week that it will bankroll elevator mechanic Gordon Skinner's coming defence this fall in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

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A Town That Cares group to host more town hall meetings

The fight against the local drug crisis is being expanded.

Buddy Penney, a founder of the A Town That Cares group, says town hall meetings will be held in communities across the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

"We want people to see it's a problem for every community, not just New Waterford," he said.

"We will be working on gathering support to see a mental health/drug addiction facility built in the CBRM. Strength comes in numbers."

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Driving on the dope could soon lead to a driving suspension and a fine.

"In Canada the proposed legislation for roadside screening is going to between two and five nanograms of cannabis for suspensions and a $1,000 fine."

That was the message RCMP Const. Travise Dow gave at the MADD Road Rally Saturday at the Amherst Lions Club.

Dow said a 2016 study done by the Canadian Safety Council shows that 24 per cent of drivers who have crashed on Canadian highways have high levels of THC in their system. THC is the active chemical in cannabis giving users the high they seek.

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If your objectives are to protect public health and safety, keep marijuana out of the hands of minors and cut illegal profits flowing to organized crime-then the law as it stands today has been an abject failure.

Law enforcement agencies in Canada spend an estimated $2-3 billion a year trying to fight pot, yet Canadian teenagers are among the heaviest users in the western world. And criminals walk away with $7-8 billion every year in illicit proceeds. We have to do better.

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The Liberals have introduced a new Cannabis Act that attempts to check the box of an election promise kept. I don't think the bill will pass anytime soon and I doubt the Liberals are serious about it anyway.

Why unveil the Act on the last day before a two-week break in Ottawa?

The act does have its challengers in the medical and legal fields. Eighteen is not an acceptable age for the government to allow for marijuana use. Medical opinion has advised that up to the age of 25 the human brain is still developing and that marijuana use can stunt this development.

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Property owners plan around issues like ventilation, insurance

Landlords' main concerns with marijuana legalization in Nova Scotia are around protecting tenant's health and possible damage to buildings, says one advocacy group.

Kevin Russell of Halifax, head of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia's (IPOANS) Cannabis Legalization Committee, said the proposed federal legislation is causing "a lot of concern" for property owners as well as tenants with respiratory problems or small children who are worried about second-hand smoke.

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Legislation to be tabled today in the House of Commons will pave the way to the legal selling of marijuana across the country by the summer of next year

If he wants to avoid spending the 2019 campaign walking on the shards of yet another broken signature promise, Justin Trudeau has little choice but to make good on his promise to legalize marijuana in time for the next election.

Of the many commitments the prime minister made on the way to his majority victory some were more emblematic than others. The Liberal embrace of deficit spending, the vow to change the voting system in time for 2019 and the legalization of marijuana fall into that category.

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It was a bold statement. "We will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana." The 2015 federal Liberal election promise caught the attention of Canadians and attracted votes of many who supported the long-overdue legalization of marijuana.

Many citizens believe that smoking a joint is no worse than having a beer. Many Canadians - even prime ministers - have tried it. Polls indicate a majority favours legalization. Medical marijuana use has smoothed the drug's acceptance and eased concerns.

What's the big deal? The government is finally ready to table legislation to legalize marijuana by July 1, 2018 - much too late for many Canadians. Do we really have to wait another 18 months for proclamation, when 60,000 Canadians are convicted each year for simple possession or personal use?

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It was a bold statement. "We will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana." The 2015 federal Liberal election promise caught the attention of Canadians and attracted votes of many who supported the long-overdue legalization of marijuana.

Many citizens believe that smoking a joint is no worse than having a beer. Many Canadians - even prime ministers - have tried it. Polls indicate a majority favours legalization. Medical marijuana use has smoothed the drug's acceptance and eased concerns. What's the big deal?

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Legalization

But advocate hopes province finds innovative ways to sell weed

A recreational pot supporter in Halifax is applauding the expected announcement by the federal government that recreational marijuana could be legal by July 1, 2018.

Chris Henderson, general manager of Halifax's High Life Social Club, said he hopes the impending move will encourage more people to be open about their pot usage.

"Younger people are more open about their usage, you don't hear about the older generations and cannabis," he said in an interview on Monday. "I hope this encourages older people."

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Dana Larsen's "quiet revolution" envisions more and more Canadians growing pot until the laws prohibiting it are unenforceable.

The Vancouver cannabis activist and author will be in Bedford at the Legion Hall (1772 Bedford Highway) on Monday from 7-9 p.m. to dispense advice, solutions to the crisis of fentanyl and other opioids - and maybe even a few cannabis seeds. Larsen is the founder of the Overgrow Canada campaign and distributed more than 2.3 million cannabis seeds in spring 2016. He's doing a larger seed giveaway now, which started in January.

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Anyone hoping for major hints about the government's plans to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis in Wednesday's federal budget likely came away disappointed.

Cannabis is mentioned just twice in Budget 2017 - the first time to direct existing Health Canada funding of $9.6 million over five years, with $1 million per year ongoing, to support "marijuana public education programming and surveillance activities" ahead of legalizing the drug for recreational use.

The second time, in a section that deals with raising duty rates on alcohol, the budget says as the government moves forward with a new taxation regime on cannabis, "it will take steps to ensure that taxation levels remain effective over time."

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This letter concerns Addiction Services' and the Nova Scotia Health Authority's new approach towards the treatment of opioid addicts in this province.

According to a CBC News report (Dec 8, 2016), this new strategy involves a move to "eliminate hospital-based Detox for opioid addicts."

Essentially, the Nova Scotia Health Authority intends to withhold inpatient treatment to opioid addicts at their eight Detox Units across the province saying that (for opioid addicts) "detox alone is not working."

The preferred approach now is to kick the problem out to family physicians who may or may not have methadone licenses or to other community programs and services already overwhelmed by the problem.

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For years, cannabis has been a counter-cultural symbol-a plant that can be grown almost anywhere, giving it little marketing potential. That's about to change.

At a show last summer, a musician friend said to me, "This is Pineapple Express-I bought it legally in Kensington Market." Legal. Weed. Kensington. Toronto. That stuck in the memory banks, and I followed up next time I was in Toronto, visiting several locations of one well-reputed dispensary, sampling as many marijuana strains and concentrates as my budget would afford.

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Two federally regulated medical marijuana companies caught up in a tainted-cannabis scare are facing proposed class-action lawsuits from patients who unknowingly ingested banned pesticides.

Mettrum Ltd. and OrganiGram Inc. were both found selling medical marijuana that contained unauthorized chemicals, including the controversial pesticide myclobutanil, which produces hydrogen cyanide when combusted and can lead to serious health problems.

The suit against OrganiGram was filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Monday by Halifax=based Wagners Law Firm, while a separate action against Mettrum was filed in Ontario Supreme Court by the firm Roy O'Connor LLP.

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Bad record keeping to blame for some 3,000 missing items according to police

Halifax police are adamant that bad record keeping rather than any criminal activity by its officers was behind the "misplacement'' of 3,000 of nearly 10,000 drug-related exhibits uncovered in a recent inventory.

Among the unaccounted for items were cocaine and other drugs, and more than 200 cash items totalling $100,000.

Police Chief Jean-Michel Blais told reporters Monday the force was confident there had been no wrongdoing.

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Thousands of dollars, drugs still missing from audit

Tens of thousands of dollars and several kilograms of illicit drugs are still missing from Halifax Regional Police evidence, but the chief says there's no indication anything "untoward" has happened within his force.

Chief Jean-Michel Blais presented an update on the Drug Exhibit Audit to Monday's meeting of the municipality's Board of Police Commissioners, and outlined the preliminary results of a full inventory, conducted between September 2016 and February 2017, of all 12,792 drug-related exhibits in the police database.

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