The Manitoba government is set to introduce legislation to help police crack down on drivers who are high on marijuana.

Justice Minister Heather Stefanson says the bill, expected Thursday, will also include measures dealing with health and safety concerns stemming from the expected federal legalization of pot.

Stefanson hasn't provide details in advance of the bill's presentation, but says the aim is to have checks and balances for when marijuana becomes legal.

She says technology that would let police officers test drivers for pot impairment is still being developed, and the bill will propose different tools for law enforcement.

One in 10 drivers tested had drugs in their system

Algae Dynamics announces a development agreement with Western University to do research on cannabis oil in the context of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder & schizophrenia.

More stoned workers will be showing up in Canada's workplaces with the coming legalization of marijuana, but companies have few tools to cope with potential safety risks.

That's the message from some employers, who say they've received no assurances from Ottawa so far that the new pot regime will include workplace safeguards.

"We're caught in a potential Catch 22: how do you protect the worker and those around them as well as deal with legalized marijuana?" said Cameron MacGillivray, president of Enform, a Calgary-based oil-and-gas safety group.

"It is a pressing concern for the industry because of the … potential catastrophic impacts of somebody doing a critical safety job when they're impaired."

Canadian marijuana companies have attracted roughly $700 million in financing since investor interest exploded in the fall amid heightened anticipation of a recreational pot market, according to new research by a financial services firm.

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity tracked the capital raised by public and private companies operating in the country's nascent cannabis market since Health Canada opened the industry to commercial grow-ops in 2014.

There were several flashes of investor interest in the first two years, but none of it matched the frenzy that began in the third quarter of 2016 before hitting a feverish pitch in the final three months of the year.

Majority believe if legalized, it should be limited to adults and come with a sales tax.

As Canadians await an expected bill on the legalization of marijuana, a new poll shows the country sharply divided on the issue. 

Fifty-one per cent of Canadians said they were in favour of legalization in the online survey by NRG Research Group, compared to 33 per cent who said they were in opposition, and 14 per cent who neither support nor oppose the measure.The poll, conducted between Feb. 23 and 27 with 1,000 respondents, showed support for legalization was highest in Manitoba (59 per cent) and British Columbia (57 per cent) and lowest in Quebec (37 per cent).

Data obtained by CTV News shows the number of Canadians registered to use medical marijuana has soared from 30,000 to nearly 130,000 since Justin Trudeau became prime minister, after campaigning on a promise to legalize the drug.

In the month before the October 2015 election, 30,357 people had prescriptions to use the drug, according to figures from Health Canada.

That number more than quadrupled to 129,876 by December 2016.

Licensed medical marijuana producer Organigram Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX VENTURE:OGI)(OTCQB:OGRMF), recorded single-week sales of over $250,000 for the first time in its history for the period March 5-11, 2017, the company reported today.

The record-setting sales follow the release of Organigram's newly harvested and tested marijuana. The crops were grown under the company's new operating protocols which includes testing all harvested product to ensure the product's purity. Those new procedures were implemented when traces of unapproved pesticides were detected in some of its dried and oil-based products harvested last year. That product was voluntarily recalled by the company.

Businesses that hope to sell legal marijuana in Edmonton should expect to pay higher city fees, Coun. Dave Loken said Tuesday.

"We're going to be stuck with a lot of the enforcement," Loken said as council's executive committee discussed a report from administration designed to help the city prepare for the coming legalization of marijuana.

The federal Liberal government has pledged to legalize and regulate marijuana during its current term in office.

"The more they define the rules as we get closer to legalization, the clearer the impacts will be on municipalities," Mayor Don Iveson said.

​"They'll raise all the tax revenue from this new taxable substance and once again municipalities will have to do all the hard work."

Original article - Benzinga recently spoke with investment banker and President of cannabis advisory firm Electrum Partners, Leslie Bocskor, about how CEOs in the marijuana industry could navigate market volatility in times of regulatory uncertainty.

One of the researchers launching a study into the potential benefits of cannabis oil on childhood epilepsy says he is interested to learn how the drug affects the children’s quality of life.

Dr. Richard Huntsman, a pediatric neurologist and a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, is leading the cannabis oil study along with Dr. Richard Tang-Wai, a pediatric epileptologist at the University of Alberta.

The main goal of their study is to learn if concentrated cannabis oil can be used safely in children with epilepsy. But they also want to look at whether it helps control seizures and whether it helps children’s lives improve, he told CTV News Channel Saturday.