As California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts appear set to join the growing list of states that have legalized recreational pot, one of B.C.’s biggest medical marijuana producers is seeing big opportunities in the American market.

After there were several successful ballot initiatives south of the border this week, B.C. will soon be the only West Coast jurisdiction between the Bering Sea and Tijuana where toking up is still restricted to medical use. But the people behind Tilray, the federally licensed cannabis production facility on Vancouver Island, aren’t concerned about losing their edge to rivals south of the border when Canada eventually legalizes pot.

Canada's effort to craft a legalized marijuana regime could be boosted by the move of four more U.S. states to approve recreational use of the drug, says a Halifax law professor.

As it designs a new system, the Liberal government must address the fact Canada is a signatory to three international conventions that require criminalization of the production and possession of cannabis.

The nod this week to recreational pot use from voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada should give Canada more ammunition in the court of global legal opinion, said Archie Kaiser, a professor in the schools of law and medicine at Dalhousie University.

It seems that Canada may be part of an emerging consensus," Kaiser said in an interview.

Former Live Nation Chairman Michael Cohl and legendary Hollywood insider Shep Gordon are negotiating to back a new cannabis media property called Civilized Worldwide, sources tell Media Ink.

Derek Riedle, chief executive of Civilized Worldwide, said it raised $1.5 million a year ago in seed capital and has about a dozen employees fast at work producing a digital magazine called Civilized.Life.

The company later this month will close a Series A round of funding that raised $3 million, he said.

A stream of new customers dropped into the Weeds Glass & Gifts store on Bank Street Monday to purchase dried weed, cannabis cookies, brownies and oils.

They flashed membership cards from the seven Ottawa marijuana dispensaries closed in police raids last week, said Weeds manager Kristina Simpson.

The customers were politely turned away unless they could prove they need marijuana for medical reasons, said Simpson.

Police investigators found the seven raided shops did not restrict their sales to medical patients, said Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau. He said he hopes the raids send a warning to all dispensaries.

A Nova Scotia-based education campaign is trying to dispel common misconceptions about cannabis by asking teens if the physical and psychological risks of marijuana use are more than just “a bad trip.”

Mental health advocates launched the awareness effort Monday with a series of striking advertisements to be plastered in bus shelters across Halifax, as well as social media content to reach their 16 to 20-year-old target demographic.

Dr. Philip Tibbo, director of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program at Dalhousie University, says the campaign was developed in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia to tackle to pervasive myths about marijuana – that it’s safe to drive while high, and that weed is safer than tobacco or alcohol.

The product would be a long way off, but the company says edibles have become popular business in places like Colorado where pot is legal.

Could you one day be adding a half dozen bud bagels and some “herb” cream cheese to your Kettleman’s order?

“We are interested in your thoughts on this for bagels,” reads a post added to the local business's Facebook page on Friday, linking to an article about cannabis being declared kosher. “Please let us know if you'd buy bagels if this became legal.”

“We are interested in what people's thoughts are,” continues the message. “Many businesses in Colorado are incorporating marijuana into some of their food and drink. We just wanted to see people's opinions. We are a long way from deciding if we would ever use it.”

Cannabis traditionally has been produced on a small scale to evade the law for decades. As a result, many people have connections to someone who has dabbled in cultivation. With the legal market, however, consumers now can purchase an array of products without considering cultivation, much like grocery store produce. Grocery stores are supplied by farms that take care of the cultivation for us and grow a product at a reasonable price. This is, for the most part, also true for cannabis, but let’s take a look at the numbers and see how the finances compare between growing your own supply and buying it from a medical dispensary or an adult use retail store.

Kristina Simpson says she feels lucky to have landed a job at a Bank Street store where the staff feel like family and customers are grateful for the products she sells.

But when she steps behind the counter at Weeds Glass & Gifts each morning, she brushes aside a nagging fear: Will this be the day police arrive to arrest her for drug trafficking?

It’s an occupational hazard for employees at the city’s 17 illegal marijuana dispensaries.

These days there’s more than the sweet smell of cannabis wafting through the air at the pot shops. There’s chatter about whether Ottawa police will raid the dispensaries, and if so, which ones.

Molson Coors says it is looking to Colorado for insight on the possible effects the legalization of marijuana in Canada could have on its beer sales.

Stewart Glendinning, CEO of Molson Coors International, was asked by an analyst Tuesday during the company's quarterly earnings conference call for his opinion on the potential impact the legalization of marijuana could have on Canada's beer sector.

"Cannabis is something we are thinking very carefully about, not only as a business but also as an industry," Glendinning, who was the former head of Molson Coors' operations in Canada, said in response.

"There's just a lot we don't know at the moment. ... It's steady as she goes because of the lack of clarity about the deployment of the drug itself."