A marijuana social club that opened Friday amid questions over the legality of such venues - and a citywide moratorium on new ones - has been shut down for reasons completely unrelated to the controversy.

Fire investigators went to One Love Club, on 21st Street between Highway 24 and Colorado Avenue in Colorado Springs, before it opened to tell the owner the club needed permits it didn't have in order to open, Fire Marshal Brett Lacey said Saturday. But the club opened anyway, and at 10 p.m. Friday the Colorado Springs Fire Department shut it down and kicked everyone out.

Saturday afternoon, the club posted a "thank you" message on its Facebook page.

If you get a chance to walk in to the medical marijuana dispensary in Ottawa one of the first things you might notice is that it doesn't quite feel like a pharmacy or doctor's office.

The whitewashed clinical atmosphere of most healthcare facilities is replaced by warmer shades of blue and green that feel more welcoming.

That ambiance was intentionally created by the people behind PharmaCannis, which expects to be opening the facility, located just north of Interstate 80, in mid to late November.

"We know the people who will be coming here are people who go to the doctor's office a lot," said Norah Scott, founder of PharmaCannis. "So it was intentional that we didn't want it to feel too clinical but at the same time we didn't want it to feel casual."

Just as Portland’s medical dispensaries gear up to begin selling recreational marijuana in October, a new grower has taken root right here in Vancouver.

Cannanbis Cowboys, a Tier 2 recreational marijuana producer, is likely just weeks or even days away from selling its first batch of pre-rolled joints and cannabis flower in stores. Five strains are awaiting results from state testing labs before hitting the shelves, said Joel Atwood, general manager.

“Hopefully, with a little bit of luck, we’ll have some product out next week,” Atwood said late last week.

The Liquor and Cannabis Board granted Cannabis Cowboys its license in mid-June. For those keeping count, that makes Cannabis Cowboys the fifth recreational marijuana producer up and running in Clark County.

Tribes are posed with a dilemma - whether the cannabis plant offers Tribes and their members a chance to enter into the Universe of Healing through the Great Spirit’s plants or whether we will keep our “mind set” closed to growing this medicine plant. I strongly urge Tribes and Tribal Peoples to learn about the healing properties of the cannabis plant and not just condemn it.

Legal cannabis can mean a lot of things. What will it mean for your drinking experience? Photo taken at Cannabliss on West Burnside St.

t growers have been put on notice by state regulators that they will have to follow the same rules as the rest of the agriculture industry in protecting the state's drought-stricken water supply.

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board issued an order Friday that will require medicinal marijuana cultivators to obtain permits to divert or store water. It also pushes them to use drip irrigation and other conservation measures, and avoid vegetation-clearing activities and other practices that add sediment and fertilizer to local waterways. 

In Episode 12 of Investing in Cannabis, Brandon David interviews Dixie Brands CEO Tripp Keber on a visit to California, where the company recently expanded with a partnership with Altai Brands (Indus Holding).

Medical marijuana centers in Colorado Springs, being eyed by the City Council for a six-month moratorium, brought in $2 million in city sales tax and license fees last year.

Sales tax revenue skyrocketed from $110,765 in 2009 to $1.49 million last year. And money from license fees is at $528,750 this year, compared with $226,000 in all of 2010. The city also picked up nearly $7,000 over the past five years from marijuana business personal property taxes collected by El Paso County.

But that's all small potatoes compared with the millions spent on leases, super-secure construction, extensive renovations, video cameras and 40-day backup video, motion detectors, employee salaries and benefits, armed guards and "product," i.e. medical marijuana.

Two companies have obtained licenses from the Uruguayan government to cultivate marijuana, the country's National Drug Board said Thursday.

"Twenty-two proposals were presented ... and two licenses for production and distribution were given out," Juan Andres Roballo, head of the National Drug Board, said at a news conference.

Calgary planners hope to draft bylaw amendments regulating medical marijuana counselling services by the end of the year in advance of a looming Supreme Court decision that could trigger similar businesses to proliferate across the city.

Councillors Diane Colley-Urquhart and Gian-Carlo Carra introduced a motion earlier this year asking administration to develop new rules to prevent such businesses from clustering in neighbourhoods and keep them away from schools.

Calgary’s existing business use and land-use bylaws don’t have a category to regulate medical marijuana counselling outfits — a service traditionally provided by doctors.