CHICAGO - The historic hub of black culture on the south side of Chicago called Bronzeville bears the marks of disinvestment common to many of the city's black-majority neighborhoods.

Along the expansive South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, lines of greystones alternate in and out of disrepair, and many of the district's blocks that were once home to vibrant institutions - earning it the name "Black Metropolis" - are now mottled with overgrown, vacant lots. A census tract within the area is one of the poorest in the city.

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In the next few weeks, Nicholas DiPatrizio's lab at UC Riverside will receive a shipment of marijuana.

DiPatrizio, a professor of biomedical sciences, then will begin giving mice precise doses of cannabis oil to see how marijuana impacts their weight and a host of serious health conditions often linked to obesity.

The study marks the first time UC Riverside has received federal approval to conduct research on marijuana -- or any other substance in the Drug Enforcement Administration's strict Schedule I category. It also marks the school's first cannabis-related grant, with $744,000 from tobacco taxes being used to finance this three-year research project on how marijuana affects metabolic health.

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Following President Trump's rollout of his administration's policy response to the opioid crisis, it has become clear that the president would rather waste federal resources trying to execute drug dealers than allow Americans the option to use medical cannabis.

In his speech in New Hampshire, the president mentioned a terminally ill patient's "right to try" experimental medications that can enhance quality of life, but ignored the National Institute of Drug Abuse's own grudging admission that cannabis use is linked to health improvements in people suffering a range of diseases, from cancer to AIDS.

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Home growing expected to be addressed in House of Assembly this spring

Federal legislation, provincial legislation, contracts and regulation - - there's plenty still in the works when it comes to having legal, recreational marijuana in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the coming weeks, more will be said on growing your own cannabis and on Canopy Growth's in-province production facility. More is also expected to be brought to the House of Assembly on marijuana in the workplace, and occupational, health and safety implications of legalization.

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Pot courses sprouting at Ontario colleges

Puff, puff, pass will take on a new meaning when recreational cannabis becomes legal in Canada later this year.

And not just in the way you might think.

Some Canadian colleges and universities are preparing people for the thousands of potential new jobs expected to be created as the country's booming weed industry - valued at $23 billion by accounting firm Deloitte - transitions from the black market to a legal one with an estimated 5 million existing customers across the country.

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Overwhelming 'delayed symptoms' once again a worry as 4/20 event nears

Calls to the B.C. Drug and Poison Information Centre have surged on the annual 4/20 cannabis event in Vancouver in recent years, according to a report by provincial health officials.

"The 4/20 cannabis calls represent a real spike, way over what we see on ordinary days," said Dr. Tom Kosatsky, medical director of environmental health services for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

He acknowledged that the total number of calls remains small, but is nevertheless growing. His report is published in the current B.C. Medical Journal.

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The industrial hemp plant has a lot of boosters.

They praise it for its hardiness and versatility. They say its oils yield food and medicine, its fibers produce clothing and plastic-like auto parts. They contend that when planted strategically, it can absorb manure and other pollutants before they flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

So why is it contraband, they ask?

Advocates for industrial hemp hope this is the year they can overcome the hemp plant's association with marijuana and win passage of a bill that would make it legal to grow and process in Maryland. At a forum Friday in Annapolis, they expressed confidence this will be the year state lawmakers join a growing national movement to distinguish hemp's industrial version from the plant beloved by millions of potheads.

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This month, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, introduced legislation to change the spelling of "marihuana" in the 1970 Controlled Substances Act to "marijuana" - and then to drop the word altogether from the federal list of "controlled substances" - that is, illegal drugs. Removing the marijuana prohibition from federal law is just the warm-up act to the bill's primary goal: to end a counterproductive war on drugs. It's past time to reform drug laws that have ruined lives and devastated communities.

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Of course growing tomatoes, cucumbers and the like is a legitimate use of agricultural land. After all, the Agricultural Land Reserve was created to do just that. Right?

Hmm, well kinda. The fact is tomatoes et al tend to be grown in greenhouses and those greenhouses are built by covering acres of prime agricultural land with slabs of concrete, which are then enclosed and outfitted with elaborate lighting, heating and watering systems.

In fact, they're more warehouse than they are farm.

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New report offers control options for odour, light, noise

Norfolk County may soon have well-defined rules governing the production of recreational and medicinal marijuana.

Marijuana production facilities have proliferated unchecked in Norfolk over the past two years. These are medicinal in nature and loosely governed by Health Canada regulations.

These facilities are not subject to provincial planning policies. As such, increased production has occurred in a policy vacuum that has given rise to land-use conflicts related to smell, noise and light pollution.

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VANCOUVER - Dan Sutton always assumed cannabis had to be grown indoors.

The former technology professional was new to the marijuana industry in 2012 when he founded Tantalus Labs. The stereotypical image of a large industrial warehouse, with pot plants growing under bright lights and fans, loomed large in his mind.

But when Sutton asked academics, horticulturists and engineers for advice, they all told him that no crop on the planet is grown indoors on a commercial scale.

"It just doesn't really make a huge amount of sense to replace the energy of sunlight, which is so abundant and obviously healthy for leafy green crops, with a synthetic alternative," he said.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - At a state briefing on environmental rules that await growers entering California's soon-to-be-legal marijuana trade, organic farmers Ulysses Anthony, Tracy Sullivan and Adam Mernit listened intently, eager to make their humble cannabis plot a model of sustainable agriculture in a notoriously destructive industry dominated by the black market.

In line with a 2017 study that found marijuana grows are more damaging, plot for plot, than commercial logging in Northern California forests, Anthony said he has seen too many destructive grows. Trash-strewn clearings. Growers heaping fertilizer at the foot of a centuries-old sequoia tree, needlessly endangering it. Wild streams diverted for irrigation.

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Recreational weed is now legal in California. So what does that mean?

In January 2018, state and local authorities will begin issuing licenses for the sale of legal recreational marijuana. But what do you need to know before you rush to the dispensary? Information courtesy of Ballotpedia.com.

When recreational marijuana sales became legal in Nevada on July 1, customers were lined up around the block of a dispensary near downtown Reno, eager to buy buds. In Las Vegas, cannabis enthusiasts showed up in limos and tour buses, ready to participate in the opening-day pot festivities.

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A workshop to help employers get ready for coming changes in Canada's marijuana laws is being offered Nov. 21 in Sarnia.

The half-day Cannabis and the Workplace session, set to begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Lambton College Residence and Event Centre, is being organized by the Sarnia Lambton Workplace Wellness steering committee.

The cost is $49 per person, and participants must register in advance online at bit.do/ cannabis workplace.

"We've heard from employers that they're concerned about the coming legalization of cannabis," said committee chairperson Martina Jackson, a health promoter for Lambton public health.

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LOS ANGELES - California's legal marijuana marketplace is coming with a kaleidoscope of new taxes and fees that could influence where it's grown, how pot cookies and other munchies are produced and the price tag on just about everything.

Be ready for sticker shock.

On a retail level, it costs about $35 to buy a small bag of good quality medical marijuana in Los Angeles, enough to roll five or six joints.

But in 2018, when legal sales take hold and additional taxes kick in, the cost of that same purchase in the new recreational market is expected to increase at the retail counter to $50 or $60.

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California's legal marijuana marketplace is coming with a kaleidoscope of new taxes and fees that could influence where it's grown, how pot cookies and other munchies are produced and the price tag on just about everything.

Be ready for sticker shock.

On a retail level, it costs about $35 to buy a small bag of good quality medical marijuana in Los Angeles, enough to roll five or six joints.

But in 2018, when recreational sales take hold and additional taxes kick in, the cost of that same purchase in the new market is expected to increase at the retail counter to $50 or $60.

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The solution lies in public education, not punishment, writes Terry Lake.

Recently, I attended a meeting hosted by We the Parents, a Kanata organization trying to address the challenge of addictions and the very real tragedies that befall affected families. I saw grieving parents struggling to understand both the complexities of addiction and the way our health and criminal justice systems are responding to it. Understandably, many who attended were looking for straightforward, actionable solutions to this crisis.

They were met with a response by one former senior police officer that those selling drugs should be given harsher sentences. While it may seem appealing to go after the dealers instead of the user, in fact, many dealers are themselves struggling with addiction and using whatever tools are at hand, including selling drugs, to cope with that addiction.

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A plan to increase the availability of needle containers in the community is being welcomed by some city residents.

"I think it's a good idea," said Tracey Bucci, of the Grand River Environmental Group.

"It would help reduce the risk of innocent people and animals from becoming infected by discarded needles. However, addiction issues do still need to be addressed because that's the root of the problem."

Bucci and her group of volunteers led clean-up efforts this year aimed at collecting used syringes in the area of Mohawk Lake.

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If access isn't convenient, legalization won't work, writes Andrew Klukas.

In July 2018, the federal government will legalize the production and distribution of cannabis. Between now and then, the provinces and territories will have to decide how to adapt to this legislation.

Whether or not one agrees with the legalization, everyone can agree that when it happens, the systems that the provinces put in place should promote the goals of legalization that, if realized, will be positive. Through its legislation, the federal government aims to move cannabis from the illegal market into a regulated system in which products can be taxed and where quality standards and controls protect citizens.

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First of its kind in Canada, program covers growing pot and its complex regulations

It's got the greenhouse, the curriculum and the necessary approvals.

Now all that's needed are up to 25 students keen on becoming the first crop of students to earn a post secondary certificate in growing pot.

Niagara College, located in the heart of Ontario wine country, announced Tuesday it will establish a one-year, post-grad program in commercial cannabis production, which it says is the first of its kind in Canada.

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