The University of British Columbia is creating a new professorship to study the potential role of marijuana to treat opioid addiction, a move that faculty members say will begin to fill a cannabis research gap.

Epidemiologist and research scientist M-J Milloy has been appointed as the Canopy Growth professor of cannabis science at the university.

"Dr. M-J Milloy will be Western Canada's first cannabis science professor at the University of British Columbia and the first professor in Canada focused on researching the role cannabis can play in the overdose crisis," Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy said at the announcement Friday.

Between January and September, more than 1,100 people died from suspected opioid overdoses, according to the ministry.

The former retail executive then surveyed about 100 recreational cannabis users to get their take on legalization.

“The biggest takeaway was that consumers thought the government was going to take the fun out of pot and that the government would ‘mess it up,’ ” said Tan, executive director of cannabis operations for B.C.’s Liquor Distribution Branch since May. “I wanted to make sure their concerns weren’t realized.”

Since Canada legalized recreational marijuana on Oct. 17, thousands have opted to purchase their pot through the mail. In one month, the B.C. Cannabis online store saw 34,000 transactions.

The legalization of cannabis has come with the potential for the herb to become as pervasive in our lives as coffee.

Out of the ashes of thousands of sparked blunts and joints, cannabis culture is rising and being redefined after its legalization. That means its prevailing acceptance among Canadians will probably bring about lucrative cannabis-related business opportunities.

As the cannabis industry continues to evolve, there's a growing desire to tailor products and services to a demographic group that hasn't typically been part of the industry in the past — women. 

This weekend's Cannabis and Hemp Expo in Ottawa includes seminars on everything from cooking with cannabis to promoting cannabis wellness products. It also features a panel on female participation in the industry. 

Bridget Hoffer, co-founder of Marigold Marketing and PR, said there's plenty of space for women in the brand-new market.

"The cannabis industry is becoming a driver on the global stage," she said. "Women across Canada are jumping in because they don't want to stand back. They want to be part of it."

Cannabis stocks have given back much of the big gains they racked up in recent months, which has investors wondering which marijuana companies might be attractive buys today.

Let’s take a look at Canopy Growth(TSX:WEED)(NYSE:WEED) to see if it deserves to be in your portfolio.

A B.C. cannabis industry investor who was planning to attend a conference in Las Vegas last week ended up stuck in Canada with a lifetime ban on entering the United States. The man’s lawyer says the case is a reminder that Canadians need to think twice about what they tell U.S. border agents.

Immigration lawyer Len Saunders told CTV News Channel that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent stopped the man and asked why he was going to Las Vegas. The man said he was going to a cannabis conference and planned to tour a marijuana production facility in Nevada, where recreational cannabis has been legal since 2017.

On October 17, Canada became the second country in the world after Uruguay to legalize recreational cannabis. The opening of this new market and the arrival of new customers should have a positive impact on the results of cannabis producers.

In the meantime, marijuana stocks saw a big sell-off following legalization. There was a kind of euphoria in the days preceding the legalization, which led to a bubble.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB)(NYSE:ACB) and Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC), two big players in the market, have been hammered down despite having strong growth perspectives.

Canada currently finds itself at the intersection of two historic social phenomena with massive implications for public health.

First, after decades of restricting public access to marijuana, on Oct. 17, Canada became the first major industrial nation to fully legalize cannabis for both medicinal and recreational usage.

Second, we find ourselves in the throes of a worsening opioid addiction crisis that has already caused the deaths of thousands of Canadians, young and old.

The interactions between opioids and cannabis have been explored at the clinical and pharmacological levels for decades. But the potential of cannabis to modulate the addictive effects of a much harder opioid class drug such as heroin or fentanyl is just beginning to be explored.

Shares of OrganiGram Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:OGRMF)continue to hold onto that precious 200-day simple moving average. Recent action has indicated the stock is in the ‘wheat’ class rather than the ‘chaff’ class. But the actual levels set to define the pattern through year-end are still up for grabs. To further flesh out the story, the company just announced its slate of director nominees for election at its next Annual and Special Meeting of shareholders to be held at the offices of McMillan LLP, Brookfield Place, Suite 4400, 181 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2T3, on Friday, December 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

It’s a rare Dutch traveller who hasn’t heard some version of “Amsterdam? I’ve smoked a doob or two there.”

Forty years of coffeeshops in the Netherlands have created Europe’s best known stoner haven. The most famous of those coffeeshops is arguably Green House, which has counted Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and Eminem among its patrons.