Staff at the Municipality of Highlands East are preparing for changes coming once marijuana is legalized in Canada this summer.

CAO Shannon Hunter told council that a memo had been issued to staff regarding drug use in the workplace. That memo states that despite the changes to legislation, “employees are prohibited from consuming, possessing, selling or transferring cannabis (including any substances containing cannabis) in the workplace, which includes all of the municipality’s properties and vehicles.”

The municipality is also anticipating calls to the bylaw department by property owners about “smell and odour” from neighbours’ properties, or potentially  about people using marijuana in public places.

'To a 5-year-old, smoking is smoking, whether it involves tobacco, cannabis, cigarettes or vaporizing'.

More municipalities around Alberta are crafting bylaws to deal with the issue of smoking and vaping marijuana in public places once recreational cannabis becomes legal later this year.

On Monday, the Town of Banff banned vaping and smoking pot in all public places once cannabis becomes legal, and the City of Lloydminster went one step further, banning the smoking or vaping of all substances in public.

"We applaud the City of Lloydminster for making public health a top priority by banning all forms of smoking and vaping in indoor and outdoor public areas," said Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health.

Two Manitoba companies have joined forces to create a new cannabis beer CNW-Delta 9 Cannabis Inc.

With the prospect of recreational use of marijuana becoming legal, companies are eagerly seeking new opportunities in a basically brand new market, and one potentially worth billions of dollars

Now two companies in the western prairie province of Manitoba have teamed up to create something unique.

A craft brewer and a medical-marijuana grower have been working together to create a hemp lager which has just been released into the Manitoba market.

North America’s marijuana index is riding high once again after one of the world’s biggest cannabis markets moved one step closer to full legalization.

Canada’s Senate Passes Cannabis Act

Canada’s cannabis bill passed third reading in the Senate last week and in doing so overcame one of the last critical hurdles to full legalization of recreational marijuana. Bill C-45, the so-called cannabis bill, was approved by a vote of 56-30 with one abstention.

The Cannabis Act in Canada has been one of the most instrumental pieces of legislation implemented in the cannabis industry since its inception. The bill known as C-45, or the “Cannabis Act” has been crucial in cementing Canada’s adult-use market nationwide. The bill was recently voted on and approved for the third time, meaning that the industry is on its way to giving adults the ability to buy cannabis around the country.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. has signed an agreement to buy Anandia Laboratories Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $115 million.

Anandia provides research and development services as well as analytical testing for clients licensed under Canada’s medical cannabis rules.

Aurora CEO Terry Booth says the deal expands his company’s capabilities and will help accelerate product development.

The companies say that Anandia’s cannabis testing services will remain operationally independent of Aurora.

Aurora has been gearing up in anticipation of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada expected later this year.

Toronto-based Jamaican Medical Cannabis Collective has signed contracts to provide Jamaican cannabis to three Canadian LPs and letters of intent to supply seven more.

Lift & Co., “Canada’s medical marijuana marketplace,” held its biggest expo in Toronto from May 25 to 27, welcoming almost 20,000 people to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which was surrounded by a slight haze during the three days devoted to cannabis education, product placement and trend-watching.

Billing itself as the last before legalization, the event was filled with companies poised to hit the new recreational pot market when it finally comes to Canada. Their booths took up two levels of the convention floor.

Across Canada, colleges and universities are partnering with cannabis companies to develop marijuana-related curricula in anticipation of legalization.

With a promise to train students to become “leaders in the burgeoning cannabis industries,” Ontario’s Niagara College will soon roll out a one-year post-graduate commercial cannabis production program. The school developed the program’s curriculum in consultation with more than a dozen licensed producers. However, one of the companies that advised the school on its curriculum recently made headlines when two board members resigned amid a review by securities regulators into their trading activities.

BigMike goes up against the ropes with big business.

BigMike’s personality is almost as large as his physical stature. The CEO of Advanced Nutrients, whose real name is Michael Straumietis, is a powerhouse of the cannabis industry and, while he remains one of the largest players in the game, has also become a voice of warning against the arrival of even larger corporate players who are just now becoming comfortable taking cash from marijuana-associated products. The fight is on — particularly when one pits Advanced Nutrients, a company that has always stated its products were for cannabis, up against its new primary competition: Scotts Miracle-Gro.

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (the “Company” or “TGOD”) (TSX:TGOD) (US:TGODF) is pleased to announce that, effective June 8th, its wholly-owned subsidiary, Medican Organic Inc. has received its Cultivation License from Health Canada for the Company’s breeding facility in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec (“Valleyfield”). The commissioning of this facility will allow the Company to create proprietary, organically grown strains of cannabis and cannabis seeds.