Saskatoon's city council is standing by a committee decision not to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, despite receiving a cautionary letter from the owner of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club.

On Feb. 8, the Standing Policy Committee on Planning, Development and Community Services voted against issuing business licences to marijuana dispensaries.

Administration argued that medical marijuana falls under federal jurisdiction, and anyone involved with it must get a federal licence.

It also pointed to the city's own bylaw's which state that before a business licence can ge granted, the applicant must have the necessary federal and provincial approvals. 

SMITHS FALLS, ON, Feb. 24, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Today the Federal Court released its decision in the case of Allard et al v. Canada. This case began as a result of the government's decision to repeal the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations ("MMAR") and enact the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations ("MMPR"). This change overhauled the way that the government provides access to medical cannabis for patients across the country. The plaintiffs in the Allard case argued that the MMPR violates their Charter rights and the court, in a lengthy and detailed judgment, agreed with the plaintiffs and gave the government six months to amend the MMPR.

In the opening paragraphs of his groundbreaking medical marijuana decision, Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan is careful to stress what the ruling is not about.

Legalization. Liberalization. Commercialization.

"This case is about the access to marijuana for medical purposes by persons who are ill," Phelan writes.

But, of course, like any part of this country's long and bitter conversation about cannabis, the decision is about all those things and more.

Ideology and myth

What's striking on a close read of the 109-page document is Phelan's excoriation of the ideology and myths that went into the construction of the former Conservative government's medical marijuana production scheme.

A Winnipeg doctor who prescribes medical marijuana says the beliefs that it's addictive and a gateway drug are just some of the myths smoke screening its real benefits.

"We find that there's no evidence of any addiction. There's no evidence of people wanting harder drugs or anything else," said Dr. Paul Daenick, a pain management specialist with CancerCare Manitoba. 

On Wednesday, Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan struck down federal regulations restricting the rights of medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis. He gave the Liberal government six months to come up with new rules.

A top Conservative accused the new government on Thursday of seeking to give children access to marijuana — mere moments after a Liberal MP brushed aside an NDP call to immediately decriminalize the drug.

The talk of cannabis and confusion was so strong in question period that Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice said a "hazy fog" had descended over the place.

But Blair, a former Toronto police chief who's now the point man on the legalization file, was pretty perplexing, too.

Pot-activist Charlo Greene says her reputation is what led her to be detained at customs when trying to enter British Columbia on Thursday.

Greene, a former TV journalist, made headlines in Sept. 2014 after a surprising outburst on live TV where she quit her job to bring awareness to marijuana use in Alaska.

In a statement on Facebook, she said she was “immediately recognized as the ‘f**k it, I quit weed lady’ by customs agents.”

As the federal Liberals map out their plan for legalizing marijuana, they can look at how — and how successfully — a handful of other jurisdictions have overturned the prohibition of pot.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana. Within two years, each state set up a framework governing how retailers could start selling. 

But although the two states have much in common, they have different takes on key questions that Canada will have to consider, like whether residents will be able to grow their own plants as they can in Colorado, or whether laws should put limits on non-residents who buy marijuana here, like in Colorado — or leave the market open as Washington does.

The world's population growth is straining the earth's water resources and that creates a huge opportunity for sustainable growers in the very near future, said Michael DeGiglio, portfolio manager of the Village Farms International (VFFIF) . 

"We will be building greenhouses, expanding our distribution model where we market for our partners who grow and we will also look at alternative crops," said DeGiligio, adding that marijuana might be one of those alternative crops once it is fully legalized in the United States. 

The federal government should use a court decision ordering it to rewrite the rules on medical marijuana as an opportunity to legalize the storefront sale of such medicine, experts and commercial growers say.

A Federal Court judge in British Columbia ruled earlier this week that patients have a right to grow their own medical marijuana, overturning regulations that forced them to purchase the drug through federally licensed producers.

Justice Michael Phelan gave the federal government six months to rewrite the current regulations.

But advocates say the government shouldn’t stop there.

The only legal pot producer in Atlantic Canada is welcoming a recent court decision that could allow medical marijuana users to grow their own.

Denis Arsenault, CEO of Organigram in Moncton, says he respects Canadians' rights to grow their own medical marijuana.

On Wednesday, a federal court decision struck down regulations restricting the rights of medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis.

Arsenault doesn't see it as something that will be bad for the fast-growing business.

Organigram CEO Denis Arsenault hopes the province can take advantage of the new, booming medical marijuana business. (CBC)