A lack of oversight into who is growing medical cannabis and how much is being grown is allowing criminals to sell pot on the illegal market, according to police and pot activists. That's creating tension in residential neighbourhoods in Winnipeg where large amounts of plants are being grown and with medical marijuana users who say it's not fair the laws meant to help people who need pot are being exploited for financial gain. "The lack of oversight by Health Canada has allowed the system to be manipulated and abused by people who are only in it for their own personal benefit," said cannabis activist and medical licence holder Steven Stairs. 

Senate majority leader Ricardo Monreal expects a law to be passed before December for recreational use of the drug, allowing regulated private firms to sell it to the public. Indeed the legal cannabis industry is already a multi-billion-dollar global trade, and some big players, including Canada’s Canopy Growth and The Green Organic Dutchman, and a unit of California-based Medical Marijuana Inc, told Reuters they were eager to tap the new Mexican market. While a growing cannabis industry promises to be a money-spinner, it faces resistance from campaigners who are worried that regulations for both medical and non-medical cannabis will heavily favor big, often foreign corporations.

The exodus of cannabis executives in Canada is in full swing after their companies raked up collective net losses exceeding CA$6 billion ($4.4 billion) in 2019, the first calendar year recreational products were allowed to be sold. Most of Canada’s top cannabis producers have replaced their chief executives or chief financial officers after failing to meet customer and investor expectations. Experts say the CEOs spent too much money on greenhouses, were too focused on investors and did not pay enough attention to customers, real markets or quality control. Many simply lacked the professional toolkit necessary to steer a cannabis company and ended up chasing too many opportunities in far-flung areas of the world where actual marijuana markets remain years away.

B.C.’s New Democratic and Green parties say they would not oppose a research trial to evaluate the regulation of adult marijuana use, which would be a step towards taking pot use out of the criminal realm, according to Stop the Violence BC. The B.C. Liberals said a research trial would have to be initiated by the federal government and only then would they give the proposal “serious consideration.”

Luxembourg is likely to run into trouble with its neighbours if it sticks by its plan to legalise cannabis - a policy that remains unthinkable particularly in France and Germany. The country's new coalition government, formed last year, has pledged to legalise cannabis in the five years it is scheduled to stay in power. How and when this will happen, remains to be seen. But the Grand-Duchy's big neighbours Germany and France are unhappy anyway, fearing legal pot in Luxembourg could cause trouble back home. If Luxembourg follows up on its plan to legalise cannabis, every adult in Luxembourg will be allowed to cultivate, buy, possess and consume cannabis for personal use.

A Vancouver social services organization has launched a program to sell pharmaceutical-grade fentanyl to drug users who would otherwise purchase toxic, illicit substances from street dealers, a first-in-Canada model that straddles prescription-based safer supply and regulated drug sales. Under the PHS Community Services Society program, a person who would ordinarily buy illicit opioids – particularly dangerous because of their unknown potencies and additives – can instead purchase fentanyl powder capsules from one of the program’s clinical sites for the same price: $10 for a tenth of a gram, called a point.

While legalization in Canada is delayed until October 17th, 2018, Canadians are celebrating as micro-licenses are finally coming out, ushering in the second wave of legalization. These micro-licenses are revolutionary for the industry, including smaller cultivators and processors more able to adapt to local consumer demand. Additionally, black-market genetics will finally be regulated. There will be no restrictions on how many licenses an individual can possess, opening the door to cannabis co-ops with decentralized diverse distribution systems. With calls for cannabis amnesty reaching the mainstream news, Health Canada finally announced that they will not discriminate against those with previous non-violent cannabis convictions.

With drug poisoning (overdose) now the leading cause of death in British Columbia, there remains an urgent need to invest in and scale up safe supply programs in addition to supporting existing models, broadening the range of safe supply medications and removing barriers to access. We also need to address the root cause of this crisis: a toxic, unregulated drug supply. What we do not need are more police crackdowns directed at people who are stepping up to save lives and who are forced to do so illegally because of government inaction. As harm reduction nurses, we condemn the recent Vancouver Police Department arrests of Drug User Liberation Front organizers. (See also: Study shows selling tested drugs saves lives)

A subsidiary of NYSE-traded giant Teva Pharmaceuticals has signed a deal with medical cannabis company Canndoc to distribute its GMP products to pharma customers, including hospitals, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and all pharmacies in Israel. It should be noted that, almost by any measure, from market cap to revenue, Teva is one of the largest pharma companies in the world, and considered to be the biggest generic drug manufacturer in the globe. Needless to say, this is a big deal. Beyond specific deals, a few big pharma companies have registered cannabinoid-related clinical trials in the U.S. and Canada.

Canada’s black market of pot is still riding rampant over licensed retailers, a year into what many say continues to be a slow rollout of brick-and-mortar stores in Ontario and regulatory challenges. Retail stores in Ontario sold approximately $200 million in recreational pot last year, accounting for the lion’s share of just under $300 million in estimated Ontario Cannabis Store recreational sales, said Cheri Mara, chief commercial officer for the OCS. That’s far below the estimated $2.9-billion provincial market value. “I wouldn’t be honest with you if I said we were happy with that number … when our mandate is to eradicate the illicit market,” she said.

Los cambios políticos ocurridos en los últimos cinco años han reconfigurado dramáticamente el mercado del cannabis. No solo ha habido un boom sin precedentes en el mercado medicinal sino que, siguiendo los cambios políticos en muchas jurisdicciones, un número creciente de países también se están preparando para la regulación legal del uso no medicinal. Tales movimientos son impulsados por el reconocimiento de la inefectividad probada de las políticas represivas durante décadas, que han acarreado graves consecuencias negativas y apuntan a proporcionar un amplio rango de beneficios en términos de la salud y los derechos humanos.

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A vending machine for powerful opioids has opened in Canada as part of a project to help fight the Canadian city’s overdose crisis. The MySafe project, which resembles a cash machine, gives addicts access to a prescribed amount of medical quality hydromorphone, a drug about twice as powerful as heroin. Dr Mark Tyndall, a professor of epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, came up with the project as part of an attempt to reduce the number of overdose deaths in the city, which reached 395 last year.  “I think ethically we need to offer people a safer source,” he said. “So basically the idea is that instead of buying unknown fentanyl from an alley, we can get people pharmaceutical-grade drugs.”

Downtown Eastside residents at high risk of overdose now have Vancouver’s support to get untainted drugs, but the federal government has the final say whether they’ll get access to a legal supply. A motion to support an application from the Drug User Liberation Front — to run North America’s first compassion club to give members access to untainted heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine — was approved by Vancouver council last week. Drug User Liberation Front co-founders Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx submitted an application for a federal exemption to Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act on Aug. 31 and had asked for city support. While awaiting the federal decision, Liberation Front is considering whether to purchase more illicit drugs from the dark web to hand out in the DTES.

Justice Minister David Lametti unveiled unveiled a free and quicker way for Canadians to apply for pardons for simple cannabis possession. The new online applications system aims to remove barriers to employment, housing, travel and volunteering opportunities for people who were convicted of simple possession before recreational cannabis use was made legal. Lametti said the announcement will help minorities who have been "disproportionately affected by cannabis laws." Canadians can now apply for pardons through the Parole Board of Canada's website. An online application is available and an email and toll-free number will help answer users' questions. (See also: Canadians convicted of cannabis possession can now apply for pardons, free of charge and purportedly without hassle)

The federal government is moving toward a restrictive market for recreational marijuana, vowing to impose potency limits, controls on advertising, and strict rules over the production and sale of the drug. Ottawa has unveiled a nine-member panel to draw up Canada’s new marijuana framework, sending out the clearest signal to date that it is not bowing to the demands of members of the illegal pot industry that has boomed in recent months. (See also: Prohibit marijuana for Canadians under 25? How about a hit of reality | 7 in 10 Canadians support marijuana legalization)

More than 140 people died from illicit drug toxicity across B.C. during the month of June, the provincial coroners' service says, pushing the total number of fatalities this year past 1,000. The number of drug toxicity deaths in the first six months of 2022 is the highest ever recorded in that period of a calendar year, according to preliminary data released by the B.C. Coroners Service. The tally also means more than 10,000 people have now died as a result of toxic drugs in B.C. since a public health emergency was declared in April 2016. "These were men, women and youth from all walks of life. They lived in our neighbourhoods, worked in our workplaces and played on our sports teams. Some lived ordinary lives, while others faced enormous challenges," Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe wrote in a statement.

Canada’s other epidemic, the opioids overdose crisis, is more deadly than ever this year. Deaths in British Columbia hit new highs over the spring, including a monthly record of 181 illicit drug toxicity deaths in June, and Alberta revealed that opioid poisoning killed 301 people in the spring – also a record. In both provinces this year, overdoses have taken far more lives than COVID-19. This public-health challenge, like the fight against the virus, is far from over. Work to date has saved thousands of lives, but more must be done. Last week, B.C. took a major step toward ensuring a safer supply of clean drugs, regulated and overseen by medical professionals. The goal is to protect addicted people whose lives are at risk because of the toxicity of illicit drugs sold on the street.

Today, more than 500,000 Canadians are encumbered with a criminal record for doing something that is now legal: possessing a small amount (30 grams or fewer) of cannabis. A criminal conviction has real and lasting consequences. It can restrict the bearer's access to employment, housing, travel and the opportunities that accompany them. This impact is grossly disproportionate to the actual harm caused by the simple possession of marijuana. Pardons do not go far enough. If the Liberals are serious about eliminating past convictions as a source of future prejudice, they must expunge convictions for simple possession.

The hype around cannabis startups in recent years intoxicated many investors. But poor balance sheets and plummeting share prices has made the comedown hard to stomach. By October, it became clear the hemp bubble had burst with quite a bang. The market has lost at least $35 billion in value since March and one firm, Aurora Cannabis, has been hit especially hard. The Canadian producer's shares have plummeted 60% over the past few months. Last year's gains, where some stocks rose 400% in a month, are now just distant memories.