The Reformulary Group Inc. has formed a cannabis formulary committee that will review evidence for medical marijuana and provide expert opinions and criteria for its use, including lines of therapy, specific strains, grams per indication, mode of consumption and quantity limits.

The committee is also aiming to create a registry to capture patient-reported data, which will then help to build a cannabis formulary.  

“For Canadian employers that choose to cover medical cannabis, our cannabis formulary — called Cannabis Standard — will be an essential product to access the best available evidence and expert advice,” said Helen Stevenson, founder and chief executive officer of the Reformulary Group, in a press release.

Hemp growers want in on the nutraceutical market, but until now regulations have limited them to harvesting hemp grain and fibre. That might be about to change when cannabis becomes legal.

Farmers may soon be able to harvest the whole hemp plant, including the leaves and flowers they are currently required to throw away.

Health Canada has just completed consultations on the federal government’s proposed framework for legal cannabis, a document that includes regulations that are, “risk based and that allows cultivators of industrial hemp to sell the whole hemp plant to certain persons licensed under the proposed Cannabis Act.”

Liquor distribution boards across Canada have been tasked with a lofty mandate when it comes to cannabis—capture market share from one of the most entrenched unregulated cannabis markets on the planet, and do it fast. Their collective first instinct follows understandable logic: buy cannabis for a low wholesale price, and sell it for a retail price that the vast network of illicit growers across this nation cannot compete with. This strategy will substantially benefit high volume producers of commodity grade crops, while crippling the competitiveness of small scale growers.

Canada's legalization of cannabis is one of the most economically and socially disruptive changes in our time. Today Business of Cannabis announced its new quarterly publication, "Papers: A Rolling Guide To The Business of Cannabis," to provide those in the sector with a new way to stay ahead of who-and-what is shaping the landscape.

Due to impending marijuana legalization in Canada, an amendment update to Cochrane’s smoking bylaw was a hot topic at the last regular session of town council. Jaylene Knight, the town's manager of legislative services, gave a non-decisive, information-only presentation to council on behalf of administration. “Legislative Services is working with Communications to develop a public engagement plan and communications strategy to ensure the public is consulted and feedback incorporated before the bylaw amendments are finalized,” said Knight in her presentation to council.

“This project will be added to the Let’s Talk Cochrane website and all public engagement opportunities will be advertised.”

While the Town of Cochrane is busy discussing marijuana on a regulatory level, conversations are flowing on a personal level as well. Yesterday, Cochrane Family & Community Support Services hosted a lunch program entitled “Cannabis Legalization and Our Community” at the Seniors on the Bow Centre. "We knew that cannabis legalization was an issue that most communities across Canada were talking about,” said Annemarie Tocher, resource center coordinator for the town.

"When we did our initial meetings in January, Seniors on the Bow expressed an interest in making a conversation available at their location."

The free event evoked an open dialogue between various members of Cochrane’s senior community and mental health & addiction professionals.

Cannabis Growth Opportunity Corporation (CSE:CGOC), a cannabis investment company, is shaking up its portfolio again by reaching a deal to put C$2mln into Whistler Medical Marijuana, one of the first 10 licensed producers of Medical Marijuana and cannabis oil in Canada.

Growforce Holdings announced Tuesday that they are opening their “flagship cannabis cultivation facility” in Winnipeg.

The new, Toronto-based company is currently renovating an old Maple Leaf meat-packing plant that has sat vacant for eight years in Transcona, Winnipeg. The facility is being given new life as GrowForce’s third facility.

The 120,000 square foot facility is being built in compliance with Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations.

“We were looking for a large-scale facility that met a lot of our criteria as an operator, in terms of availability, of talent, of power rates, close to an urban centre,” said, Rishi Gautum, GrowForce CEO.

With nationwide legalization of recreational marijuana expected in Canada in the coming months, the industry is seeing a spate of deals and steady news flow as companies jockey for position in the burgeoning market.

Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED) said that it is acquiring the remaining portions of Canopy Health Innovations (CHI) and CHI's subsidiary Canopy Animal Health that it didn't already own.

WEED management believes that by bringing the companies under one umbrella - coupled with its own cannabis production - will expedite product development and bringing products to medical marijuana patients.

Some Alberta cannabis cultivators will be fuelling winter Olympic bobsleds instead of bongs.

Industrial hemp fibre, processed in Calgary from cannabis plants grown in southern Alberta, will help pave the way for safe, stable bobsled and luge runs at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

Last week, the first 163-kilogram shipment of Canadian Greenfield Technologies’ NForce-Fiber left its southeast Calgary plant for China to reinforce concrete used in the construction of the Xiaohaituo track near Beijing.

The company’s one-of-a-kind product has already been used to shore up concrete in numerous swimming pools and skateboard parks throughout North America.

But the Beijing contract is a marquee one, said general manager Stephen Christensen.