Let lounges sell pot like bars sell alcohol, forum told Group has already designed training course for ‘bud tenders’

Some marijuana advocates want cannabis bars legalized in Toronto. Currently, seven lounges exist for medical marijuana users, but it’s strictly BYOB – “bring your own bud.” (Waubgeshig Rice/CBC)

Marijuana bars that sell pot rather than alcohol should be licensed to operate in Toronto, a city councillor’s forum on marijuana distribution heard Monday.

Canadian market leader announces approvals to have Tweed products available for sale to German patients this summer.

Canopy Growth Corporation ("Canopy" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary Tweed Inc. ("Tweed"), Canada's largest medical marijuana producer, has received necessary approvals in Canada and Germany to begin export of medical cannabis for sale to German patients. 

Working with MedCann GmbH Pharma and Nutraceuticals ("MedCann"), a privately held pharmaceutical importer and manufacturer, the transfer marks an important milestone for the Company and the first known incidence of dried cannabis being exported from a Canadian licensed producer to a major G7 country.

Although the United States cannabis industry offers investors a lot of upside, it offers even more risk as a majority of the companies are fraudulent.

Many of the cannabis companies that trade on the OTC exchange are led by management teams focused on creating value for themselves, and rely on the sale of stock to stay in business.

Canada Remains a Bright Spot of the Industry

The Canadian medical cannabis industry continues to be a bright spot in the cannabis sector as its constituents are led by management teams that continue to execute on business initiatives and create value for shareholders.

Canopy Growth Corp. erased early gains on Tuesday, sitting down almost 3 per cent in midday trading in its first day on the Toronto Stock Exchange after graduating from the junior Venture exchange.

The marijuana grower became the first weed producer in North America to graduate to a major exchange. It has surged 25 per cent during a three-day rally, reversing losses for the year.

“Being the first cannabis producing company in North America listed on a major exchange such as the TSX strengthens the sector,” Bruce Linton, chief executive officer of Canopy, said in a statement on Monday. “The addition of Canopy Growth helps signal that the world’s view of cannabis has finally shifted, starting right here in Canada.”

Ottawa’s marijuana dispensaries are inching closer to becoming legitimate business — if not in the eyes of the law, at least in the eyes of residents.

A new public opinion poll conducted by Forum Research Inc. finds as many as six in 10 respondents say marijuana dispensaries should be allowed to operate in Ottawa, while fewer than a third (32 per cent) said they oppose the pot shops.

Two-thirds of respondents (67 per cent) believe they should be regulated and zoned like any other retail business, while one-in-five said they should be immediately shut down.

Canada’s licensed medical cannabis producers are searching for opportunities to expand overseas while Ottawa works on its plan to legalize recreational marijuana next spring, with two producers recently securing licences to sell their products in Europe.

The latest company to announce plans to export marijuana is Canopy Growth Corp., the largest of the country’s two dozen licensed producers. Canopy Growth said it would soon begin selling dried cannabis in pharmacies across Germany after securing an export licence from Health Canada on Wednesday. The company also said it had signed partnerships to share its technical expertise with medical marijuana companies in Brazil and Australia.

hen you bring outside capital into your business, you’re getting more than a quick injection of cash. Accompanying the money into your company is a new set of stakeholders: Your investors.

The relationship you build with these people or groups will have a direct and lasting impact on the success of your venture. Beyond weighing in on your plan and decisions through their voting rights, investors can become partners, clients and ambassadors of your business. The successful ones are typically well connected—they can open doors you didn’t know existed.

How did someone who has called marijuana a "scourge", who has obstructed access to medical marijuana to sick and dying Canadians in pain, who has dismissed marijuana users as “stupid”, and who works for a law firm that wants to see its clients get a monopoly on legal weed, ever get to chair a task force on marijuana legalization in Canada in 2016?

Easy.

Health Canada policy is that after five years, the human mind is cleared of all previous prejudices, including all previous thoughts and statements. The task force chair, former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan, has denied having any “intellectual interests” that would affect her status on this task force.

Penticton City Council has agreed to start a discussion about regulating medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

The issue came up during Tuesday's council meeting when the operator of a dispensary, whose business licence was suspended, had his licence revoked.

While council agreed to take away the licence, there was broad agreement the issue wasn't going away.

"I am strongly supportive of asking our staff to come forward with methods of regulation that we can put in place so this issue will have parameters," Coun. Judy Sentes said.

"The problem isn't going anywhere, the problem is right here," Coun. Tarik Sayeed said. "We need to find a way to regulate it and help the businesses help the medical patients."

A company's plan to transform the remaining section of the former PPG glass plant in Owen Sound into a medical marijuana production facility remains in limbo.

The Toronto-based Canadian Bioceutical Corp.'s application for a licence to produce medical-grade pot has not yet been approved by Health Canada.

“We got some correspondence from them July 8, which is the first correspondence we've got from them in about eight months. They were asking for more information, so I don't know whether that's a good sign or whether that's just part of the process,” company president Scott Boyes said Thursday in an interview.

He said the corporation “absolutely” still intends to operate the facility in Owen Sound if it receives the green light from Health Canada.