Filling out government surveys? Bo-ring. But, unlike the tedious-but-important slog that is, say, the long-form census, the survey we're talking about actually deals with a compelling topic: namely, what the heck marijuana legalization is going to look like in Canada - whether minimizing harms of use, to the restrictions surrounding medical marijuana, to how, exactly, the distribution system should work.

As with most government forms, the layout is a little bit complicated - but actually doing it is totally, 100 percent worth your time, seeing as it's among the public's first opportunities to help shape Canada's new policies on legal cannabis.

Two Canadian marijuana dispensary chains have moved into Ottawa, opening three stores and planning more. Stittsville is also about to get a marijuana dispensary, which will bring to six the number of store-front businesses illegally selling marijuana in Ottawa.

The newest shop, Green Tree Medical Dispensary, opened on Montreal Road on Sunday with a selection of dried buds, cookies, candy and marijuana-infused drinks on display in a glass case.

The Ottawa stores all cater to medical marijuana patients. Medical marijuana is legal in Canada, but only for patients with a doctor’s prescription who purchase it from growers licensed by Health Canada, who send the medicine by registered mail.

“I’ve always been more interested in policy than politics,” says Edmonton lawyer and former Liberal deputy prime minister Anne McLellan. 

That’s handy because late last week McLellan was named chairwoman of federal government’s new Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation. She’s going to need all of her policy-wonk passion — and all her expertise as Canada’s former minister of health, minister of justice and minister of public safety — to succeed.

We found out last week that Anne McLellan will be leading the new federal task forceon marijuana legalization. Ms. McLellan is perfectly suited for this role as a former Minister of Health, Justice and Public Safety, she may be the only person to have held all three of those portfolios.

A few misconceptions have come out of this announcement, including this bizarre article in Now Magazine saying that storefronts have been ruled out. That is not at all the case in fact. Page 21 of the discussion paper clearly states:

“Chez Jean Coutu, on trouve de tout, même un ami.”

That’s the famous slogan of the Quebec based pharmacy chain.

It translates to: “At Jean Coutu you’ll find it all, even a friend” .

But perhaps after today they’ll want to change their slogan to: “At Jean Coutu You’ll Find It All, Even Some Weed”.

It’s not a pipe dream either, (Get it, pipe dream?) the CEO of Jean Coutu announced this week that he is willing to start selling medical marijuana in his pharmacies.

They don’t plan on doing any lobbying or publicity campaigns to be have the right to start selling weed, they just claim to be open to the idea.

But that’s probably because they lack the proper motivation.

Minimum ages for marijuana consumption may vary across Canada when it becomes legal, but authorities will be firmly against drug tourism and cross-border movement of the substance, the Liberal government’s point man on the issue said on Wednesday.

The government also wants consistent nation-wide impaired-driving laws for marijuana, said Bill Blair, parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, as the country formulates a new drug law ahead of a spring 2017 deadline.

“We would like to see consistency and a consensus across the country on the best way to keep our roadways safe,” Blair, the former Toronto police chief, said at an interview in his Toronto constituency office.

CBSA says its agents were simply enforcing the law, as marijuana remains illegal in Canada.

Parents of children suffering from epilepsy say a recent move by Canadian border agents to seize shipments of medical marijuana oil from an American company could have a catastrophic effect on their children’s health.

The families have sent letters to the federal government pleading for the border to allow shipments of Charlotte’s Web, a type of marijuana oil that has been touted by some researchers as an effective therapy for hard-to-treat forms of epilepsy.

Investors jumping in during the Canadian cannabis industry's early days may find themselves wishing they'd waited a bit, as the current model for building a domestic industry is not sustainable. The same is true for U.S. operations.

The Canadian government's handling of pressing questions regarding marijuana legalization has raised a number of red flags. On June 30, federal cabinet ministers held a press conference on Parliament Hill to introduce the task force that will advise the government on regulating recreational marijuana use. During the event, Bill Blair - Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada - promised an "open and transparent engagement process" for legalizing.

Far removed from joints and bongs, marijuana smoking methods have truly entered the high-tech age. Beginning with tabletop devices like Storz and Bickel’s revolutionary Volcano vaporizer, the market has seen a greater demand for more portable, high-end devices that seem to have more in common with mobile phone technology than their paper and pipe ancestors.