As Canada heads toward a new era of legal marijuana use, federal prosecutors are still trying to jail people who grow small amounts of cannabis in their home to sell to others, sending a tough-on-drugs message that some say is at odds with the new approach. And they continue to seek criminal records, and sometimes jail time, for people charged with simple possession of marijuana for their own use.

Now that fentanyl is the leading cause of opioid overdose in Ontario, it’s clear that the dangerous narcotic is a cross-Canada problem.

As many users are unaware they’re even taking the drug, the crisis is likely to continue to expand, Dr. Matthew Young of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) tells Yahoo Canada News.

“One of the things that I think has been a little bit misunderstood about the whole issue of fentanyl is that most of those who end up either fatally or non-fatally overdosing on fentanyl were not seeking that drug,” says Young, a senior researcher with the CCSA.

Have you heard about Rick Simpson from Canadian Nova Scotia and how hard he tried to legalize cannabis oil as it helped him and many others to cure cancer? Rick thought that the world was ready to hear his story about the health benefits of cannabis oil.

After he had several attempts to get cannabis oil allowed with the help of many testimonies from people who were also cured, he realized that the cancer industry doesn’t want to find the cure for cancer.

He used to make cannabis oil and give it free to those who needed it after he was cured from skin cancer. Many people from his town were also cured from various disorders and lung cancer as well.

Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse aims to bring 'clarity' to national dialogue about pot use among youth

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse took its cross-Canada marijuana myth-busting tour to Ottawa Monday, aiming to clear up misinformation on the drug's safety for young people.

The five-stop tour follows a 2015 report that looked into the health risks of marijuana for young people. The report uncovered wide-spread confusion among youth, and a general lack of information about the effects of the drug.

One year ago, I was 30 years old, leading a $100-million-plus business as head of an Asia-Pacific-wide sales team for Google, and making more money than I ever imagined. I had lived in New York, San Francisco, Bangkok and Singapore, and travelled to over 50 countries. All this because six years before, I landed my dream job at Google in corporate strategy.

I found myself on a secondment in Ghana developing national Internet infrastructure. On my way to a voodoo ceremony with a Ghanian tour guide, I reflected on my career path, admitting to him that I’d lost focus and felt unfulfilled. What he told me changed the course of my life: “You either work on something you love, or work because it supports the people you love.”

That’s when I quit Google.

The legalization of marijuana in Canada now appears to be a question of when and how, not if. The new federal government has committed to this initiative and is now looking at how to implement it.

A large part of our society believes marijuana is a relatively harmless substance, but that isn’t entirely true. The impact of marijuana on an adolescent’s brain can be severe. In fact, study after study has shown that frequent marijuana use by young people can have a number of negative effects and leave lasting impairments on a brain that is still growing and developing.

The burning debate over legalizing marijuana was on full display last week. HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher sparked up a joint on TV, blowing smoke in the face of lawmakers and challenging them to come to their senses.

Here in Canada, Bill Blair, Toronto’s former top cop, has been put in charge of the pot portfolio. Blair has repeated, in multiple interviews, that while he supports legalization, the emphasis will be on “control” and “strict regulation” — something the current marijuana industry knows all too well.

I decided to strap on a lab coat and hairnet to obtain an inside look at one of Canada’s fastest-growing industries: The bud business.

Hemp hearts, hemp nuts, or hemp seed has been keeping much of the world heart-healthy for hundreds of years. According to research conducted by the National Center of Biotechnology Information and funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, in 2010, hemp seed has the potential to beneficially influence heart disease.