Article by Ellen Samek, Toronto Observer East Yorkers can expect to be asked about cannabis as well as alcohol this year when they roll down the window for the Toronto Police’s holiday RIDE program. RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) will run through the holiday season. The purpose of the program is to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of impaired ...

Article by Paola Loriggio, Globe and Mail Ontario’s opposition parties are calling on Premier Doug Ford to address allegations that his chief of staff sought to interfere in police investigations into illegal cannabis dispensaries. A Toronto Star report published Tuesday alleges that Dean French unsuccessfully ordered senior political aides to instruct police to raid dispensaries the day recreational cannabis became ...

Article by Dave Dawson, Orillia Matters Orillia city councillors have a big decision to make in January. Orillia, like all Ontario municipalities, must decide by Jan. 22 if it wants to get into the pot business. Bill 36 legalized the sale of recreational cannabis. Since Oct. 17, Ontarians have had the ability to purchase pot through the Ontario Cannabis Store’s website. ...

Article by Windsor Star While it has been weeks since the federal government legalized cannabis, thousands of Ontarians are feeling left in the dust. Many first-day customers who placed orders on Oct. 17 have still not received their shipments yet. This boondoggle came about as a result of many different contributing factors: over 100,000 orders in less than 24 hours, insufficient ...

Article by Hamilton Spectator It is entirely understandable that some members of Hamilton city council are frustrated, even angry, with the provincial government’s plan to launch legal cannabis dispensaries. Municipalities specifically asked for a 450-metre buffer zone around schools. Even that — nearly a half kilometre — doesn’t sound like a lot in the interests of making it difficult for underage ...

Article by James McCarten, Globe and Mail People who work, invest or partake in Canada’s legal cannabis industry will continue to risk a lifetime ban from the United States as long as the drug remains a controlled substance under U.S. federal law, lawyers say – a prohibition some American pot producers are trying to change. . U.S. Customs and Border ...

Article by The Leaf News Two employees of the federal civil service were sacked after being caught using and distributing cannabis at work, according to a new disclosure posted online by Public Services and Procurement Canada. PSPC is the government department responsible for handling issues such as procurement, property management and payroll for the rest of the federal civil service. The department ...

Article by Rob Ferguson, Toronto Star via Niagara Falls Review Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff ordered senior political aides to direct police to raid outlaw cannabis stores the day marijuana became legal and to show “people in handcuffs,” the Toronto Star has learned. The edict from Dean French — an unelected political aide — in two conference calls the ...

Article by CBC News The Ontario government will start distributing millions in funding in January to help municipalities cover costs associated with legalizing recreational cannabis. In a letter to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli says $15 million will first be split among the province’s municipalities at the start of the new year, with funding allocated ...

Article by Mike Vlasveld, Ottawa Matters Two Laurentian Valley Township men are facing charges after officers from the Upper Ottawa Valley Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police conducted RIDE checks in Pembroke. The checks happened in the evening and early morning hours of November 15 and 16. Jordan Michael Smith, 27, was charged under Ontario’s Cannabis Control Act with: – ...