Canada's largest pharmacy chain has formally applied to be a distributor of medical marijuana.

"We have applied to be a licensed producer strictly for the purposes of distributing medical marijuana," Shoppers Drug Mart spokeswoman Tammy Smitham told CBC News in an email Tuesday.

"We have no intention of producing medical marijuana, but we do want the ability to dispense medical marijuana to our patients in conjunction with counselling from a pharmacist."

The move is the next step in a logical progression for the chain, which earlier this year was looking into the possibility of entering the burgeoning business. 

In 2014, Colorado became the first U.S. state to implement full legal sales of marijuana.

It had never been done before, and there were bound to be some surprises.

One was that, despite the decades of associating pot use with the haze and skunky smell of a joint, nearly half the marijuana sold wasn’t designed to be smoked, but ingested — eaten or drunk.

Alberta's justice minister says marijuana has not been a "cash cow" for Colorado, but neither has it led to widespread criminal activity.

Kathleen Ganley travelled to Colorado late last week to talk to U.S. officials about how they dealt with the legalization of marijuana in their state.

The priority for the province, Ganley says, is to get a regulatory framework in place to ensure that pot stays out of the hands of children, and that our roadways remain safe from impaired drivers.

The federal Liberals intend to legalize pot in the spring of 2017, and provinces are scrambling to prepare for the change.

Researchers have the clearest-ever picture of the receptor that gives humans the 'high' from marijuana, which could lead to a better understanding of how the drug affects humans. 

Scientists have long known that molecules from THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, bind to and activate the receptor known as CB1. But now they know that it has a three-dimensional crystal structure.

The authors of the paper, which was published Thursday in the journal Cell, say this information is crucial to improve our understanding of this receptor as marijuana use becomes widespread and, in many places, legalized.

Now that they know the shape of the receptor, they can get a better idea of how different molecules bind to it, which is what causes reactions in humans.

If Alan Gertner is right, marijuana advocates and prospective dispensaries have a reason to be excited about the future.

Gertner is the founder of Tokyo Smoke, a company that specializes in coffee, clothing, and cannabis. He was in Chatham Thursday, speaking at a TEDx conference about his life and the path he took to starting the unique, culture-based company.

“Marijuana is ultimately going to involve branding,” Gertner said. “If you look at really any other industry, any other consumer product … it’s fairly obvious to see that brands play a meaningful role in defining customer experience.”

U.S. News Updates

Arkansas

The Canadian cannabis sector continues to be blazing hot over the last year, especially in the last 2 months.  The following chart shows the performance of the Canadian marijuana sector in general, the Marijuana Index Canada  contains a list of 10 publicly traded Canadian companies in the space, their stock prices and market caps.  Just looking at this chart, there has been a parabolic rise in share price since May of this year.  Most parabolic rises like this are usually followed by a correction and then a basing period before any further advances can be made.

As Canada inches closer to legalized marijuana, safety standards for dispensary-sold medical cannabis are being brought under greater scrutiny.

In an investigation done by The Globe and Mail in August, one third of medical marijuana samples collected from Toronto area dispensaries showed the presence of chemicals and mould that could cause a variety of illnesses in users, such as lung infections, particularly in patients with compromised immune systems.

One of the Toronto dispensaries whose product failed that test was WeeMedical, a chain that also operates in Powell River on Marine Avenue.

While licensed producers can test their products and have been required to, dispensaries are not able to because product testing is currently illegal for them.

Medical cannabis patients are urging the federal government to make marijuana more affordable by encouraging insurers to cover it and dropping the sales tax once it is legalized.

Earlier this week, 15 patients from across Canada spoke with four members of the government’s legalization task force about how medical cannabis helps them with a variety of ailments. They told the panel that the cost of medical marijuana often causes financial hardship, according to event facilitator Hilary Black, founder of Vancouver’s oldest dispensary and current director of patient services at the licensed commercial grower Bedrocan.

It’s a hot, sunny Thursday afternoon on the hard edge of Queen Street West, and the foot traffic at Eden, a pot dispensary, is brisk.

Retailers along this strip of trendy clothing stores, bars, restaurants, shoe shops, tattoo parlours, hairstylists, comic stores and coffee joints cater to the urban hip, and Eden is no different. lnside, iceberg-blue lights illuminate jewel-case cabinets with the product — glass vials of Hindu Kush, El Hefe, Organic Blue Dream — artfully displayed. 

On the aquamarine-blue wall at the front are two white iPads, for customers who need quick access to the Internet to check product information.

The place is spotless, sharp. And the air is heavy with the unmistakeable sweet smell of cannabis.