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Medical Marijuana

‘My daughter’s future is in jeopardy’: Vernon mom speaks out at medical marijuana rally

VERNON - A drop of cannabis oil eaten on a cracker is making 13-year-old Tanniel’s seizure’s drop from 170 a day, to 30. “It was our life saver,” her mom, Elizabeth Bakker says. Doctors tried a number of different things, Bakker says, but Tanniel’s non-epileptic seizures weren’t getting better. Frustrated and heartbroken at seeing her...

Medical marijuana pain clinic eyes Kelowna expansion

CENTRAL OKANAGAN - A new clinic focusing on treating patients for pain management and prescribing medical marijuana as the treatment is looking to open in Kelowna. Medical Cannabis Resource Centre Inc. is already operating a clinic in Vancouver, just recently bought an existing clinic in Kamloops, and is now eyeing the Kelowna market for possible...

Residents to decide fate of Kamloops’ first marijuana grow-op

KAMLOOPS – Residents will have their opinions heard on a plan for a medical marijuana grow operation in the Gateway Industrial Park in Kamloops. The rezoning application goes to a public hearing tomorrow, Oct. 20.  The city's development and engineering services director Marvin Kwiatkowski has said while others have inquired, this is the city’s first formal...

Realeaf ownership change won’t impact medical cannabis access in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – The name might change but the function and location of the Realeaf Wellness Centre won't. The president of Medical Cannabis Resource Centre Inc. out of Vancouver, Terry Roycroft, says his organization is taking over the business and treatment of Releaf’s current patients but will still operate out of the St. Paul Street clinic. He says...

Kamloops doctor explains why he wants to open the city’s first marijuana grow op

KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops doctor could become the proprietor of the city’s first medical marijuana grow operation. Neurosurgeon Dr. Richard Brownlee sees the grow op as both a business and research opportunity. Brownlee opened the Welcome Back MRI and Pain Management Centre in 2008 and while he operates on things like brain tumours, the vast...

First medical marijuana grow op application in Kamloops heads to public hearing

KAMLOOPS - Residents will have a say in whether a medical marijuana grow operation is approved in Gateway Park at the east end of the city. While there have been previous inquiries this is the first formal application for a grow op in Kamloops, development and engineering services director Marvin Kwiatkowski told city council today,...

Lumby company’s hemp-base doggie chews to hit shelves by end of month

VERNON - Dog lovers are lapping up a new hemp-based pet product made by a North Okanagan company. True Leaf Medicine International Ltd. launched its nutritional dog-chews, which contain hemp, at a pet industry trade show in Toronto Sept. 20, and CEO Darcy Bomford said pre-orders are already bounding in. “The last two weeks have...

Kelowna council won’t follow Vancouver’s lead on medical marijuana dispensaries

KELOWNA – More than 80 new medical marijuana dispensaries have opened in Vancouver in the last year, prompting city council there to consider implementing business regulations to keep them from getting out of control. But the mayor of the Interior's largest city says Kelowna council is not planning on revisiting the issue any time soon....

West Kelowna keeping an eye on medical marijuana dispensaries

WEST KELOWNA - A pair of businesses in West Kelowna may have the distinction of being the only legal companies in the province allowed to act as de facto medical marijuana dispensaries. While such dispensaries abound in Vancouver — over 80 at last count — none of them have business licenses, but intstead operate as...

Mother, son duo arrested in connection with Lumby drug rip

VERNON - A mother and son duo are facing charges after allegedly stealing medical marijuana plants from a licensed grower in Lumby. Lumby RCMP Cpl. Henry Proce says charges have been laid in connection with a March 27 drug rip on Grandview Avenue. “The suspects forcibly broke into a house and stole the marijuana plants...

Kamloops Doctor hopes medical marijuana may bring relief for PTSD

KAMLOOPS – There are few studies in the world that have examined the medical capabilities of cannabis, but one Kamloops doctor is hoping to change the trend by studying the drug’s effect on patients suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Ian Mitchell, an emergency room doctor and physician-on-site for the local ReaLeaf Wellness Centre regularly...

West Kelowna takes aim at medical marijuana dispensaries

WEST KELOWNA - Enquiries about setting up a medical marijuana dispensary on the Westside have prompted the district to close what they describe as a loophole in their business licensing bylaw. “We are adding a sentence into the bylaw that essentially says a business must be in compliance with both the Criminal Code and the...

Police took his stuff without a warrant, now he is fighting to get it back

KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops man went before a provincial court judge today with an unusual request—he wants his marijuana plants back. A Kamloops RCMP officer removed ten plants after she found them in Henry Rhode’s apartment while dealing with an unrelated matter involving his daughter, last summer. He was never charged, despite the fact his...

Medical marijuana testing laboratories could soon set up shop in Kelowna

KELOWNA - Medical marijuana analytical testing will soon be a possible business after Kelowna city council agreed with staff that the current medical marijuana production bylaw needed clarification. “We have been approached by several operators seeking clarification,” urban planning manager Ryan Smith told council. “The principal purpose here is to create a definition of analytical...

Kelowna RCMP marijuana raid a ‘form of discouragement’

VERNON - A police raid might seem like an extreme way to send a message, but a Vernon businessman thinks that was the case with a marijuana dispensary that was shut down in Kelowna. Imre Kovacs is a partial owner of The Herbal Health Centre in Vernon, which opened in the summer of 2013, and...