SURREY, B.C. - Vancouver's mayor has snuffed out a suggestion made by federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose that the city shut medical-marijuana dispensaries, rather than regulate them.
Ireland this week appointed a new Minister of State with Responsibility for Drug Strategy, and his first task will be to examine whether drug laws need to be relaxed.
The City of Vancouver is looking at new rules to regulate the booming retail marijuana business, including a $30,000 licensing fee to help recover the cost of enforcement.
It's getting harder to justify any law criminalizing marijuana use given successful legalization efforts in certain U.S. states and private medical growers operating in Canada, demonstrators at a Kitchener 4/20 demonstration said Monday.