Parents and adults spend a lot of time worrying about the influence of friends and peers when it comes to teen substance use – drinking alcohol, binge drinking, marijuana use and other illicit drugs. Is it all about an adolescent’s environment, their friends, peers and family, or is there a genetic component that drives their desire for risk taking and novelty? Teen substance use typically begins in early adolescence and increases linearly – both in terms of prevalence rates and frequency of use – until late adolescence, when a majority of teens report prior use of alcohol or illicit drugs. Conventional wisdom would argue that part of the reason substance use increases in teens is due to their experiences outside of the home, such as their friends and peers.

District adds voice to municipalities calling for production to stay off ALR land.

North Saanich is adding its voice to a call for the province to ban recreational marijuana production on land within B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).

Echoing a Central Saanich resolution presented earlier this month at the annual convention of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall got the support of most of her council to make a similar plea to Victoria.

Finall said she is going after recreational cannabis production, and not medicinal, due to the fact there’s a Supreme Court of Canada decision that makes access to medicinal cannabis a right.

INDIVA Limited (the "Company" or "INDIVA") (TSX- V:NDVA) is pleased to announce an exclusive license agreement with, and a USD $1.5 million investment into DeepCell Industries ("DeepCell"), a Seattle based technology development company focusing on material science, microfluidics and cannabinoid molecule discoveries.

DeepCell commercializes products by licensing its technology and trademarks to licensees with appropriate cannabis production and distribution licenses.

Exclusive License

Located on Main Street, Compass Cannabis Clinic officially opened its doors to the public on Friday (April 20), inviting them to learn about medical marijuana and how it might help them with various health issues from anxiety to chronic pain.

The clinic will have a doctor on site every two weeks starting April 27, however no marijuana will be sold on site until after it becomes legal and the company is licensed to sell the product by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC).

“Basically we provide people a service where they can come see our doctor to get educated about medical cannabis,” said Brad Murphy, who co-owns the business with his partner Michelle Craig located at 713 Main St.

It’s a very exciting year for Canada as the country is gearing toward legalization, set for the summer of 2018. Canada is already a major player on the world cannabis stage and rightly so, being the first country to legalize marijuana for medical use back in 2001. Other countries and advocates around the world are looking to Canada as a beacon for the acceptance and destigmatizing of recreational cannabis.

Canada has come a long way in its attitude towards marijuana, and it certainly hasn’t always been so accepting. The following is a timeline of the history of cannabis in Canada:

In a much friendlier regulatory environment than the United States, new Canadian cannabis companies are already going international in a big way.

North of the border, cannabis was legalized nationwide in Canada, and the legal sale of cannabis is imminent, while in the United States a patchwork of state-level marijuana laws and a strongly anti-cannabis attorney general complicate business.

With an expected $22.6 billion market projected in Canada alone, Canadian companies already have a significant head start, and that could be just the beginning as they take their operations abroad.

CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TSX:TRST) is a licensed producer and distributor of medical cannabis in Canada under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR). The Company started production of medicinal cannabis at its hydroponic facility situated in Vaughan, Ontario and received its cannabis sales license from Health Canada on February 9, 2015.

CannTrust Holdings has a market capitalization of $642 million on the TSX. TRST trades at 3.0x EV/Sales for 2019 and 8.0x EV/EBITD for 2019 compared to Canadian-based peers, which trade at a median of 2.7x and 10.1x, respectively. The average analyst price target is $14.43.

Lawyer Amy Groothuis says most employers should have an impairment policy before September.

With cannabis expected to be legalized in July, some businesses are worried about the impact it might have on safety-sensitive industries like oil and mining. But Lawyer Amy Groothuis says even offices and retail stores should be concerned with updating workplace policy according to legislation.

Groothuis spoke at Innovation Place in Regina on Wednesday about how the effects of legal cannabis will be felt across the country — especially among employers.

The Quebec government is calling on the Senate to amend the federal bill to legalize cannabis for recreational use to make it clear that provinces have the right to forbid home cultivation.

Quebec’s Minister Responsible for Canadian Relations, Jean-Marc Fournier, told a Senate committee Wednesday that his government wants all legal cannabis to be grown by federally licensed producers, at least in the initial stages of legalization.

With the federal government aiming to legalize marijuana possession, insurers are looking for some assurances that the Cannabis Law will not lead to increased claims frequency and liability; this, in turn, relates to the ability of police to search vehicles and arrest people suspected of violating drug and alcohol laws.

So insurers may be interested to know that the Supreme Court of Canada recently refused to hear a case that would have narrowed the basis upon which police could search for and seize marijuana during a traffic stop. Canada’s highest court announced April 19 that it will not hear an appeal from Tarek Lotfy, who was convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking.