Hemp seeds, or hemp hearts, are the seeds of the hemp plant, or Cannabis sativa. Although marijuana comes from the same plant, hemp seeds only contain a trace amount of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and they will not get you high. In fact, hemp seeds are safe and very healthy to eat. Hemp Seeds are a gift of nature. They are the most nutritious seed in the world.

Hemp Seeds are a complete protein. They have the most concentrated balance of proteins, essential fats, vitamins and enzymes combined with a relative absence of sugar, starches and saturated fats.

Recently, Karla Ford, daughter of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, shared with her Instagram followers how beyond blissed she was about the “so many amazing” benefits of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) oil, including for soothing anxiety.

While much was made of the post—since hastily deleted—for its violation of federal rules prohibiting the promotion of anything cannabis, largely ignored was whether evidence exists to support cannabidiol for anxiety, or any other mood disorder.

Canadians have had access to legal recreational cannabis for more than four months and, at this point, prices across the country vary somewhat from province to province.  So how much does a gram of weed cost across Canada?

“Each province and territory in Canada controls distribution, with many of them being the sole distributor of cannabis, similar to alcohol,” explains Lisa Campbell, CEO of Lifford Cannabis Solutions, a cannabis brand agency. “As such, each supplier negotiates rates, which are subject to the federal excise tax, as well as different provincial taxes.”

If passed, Quebec’s Bill 2, An Act to tighten the regulation of cannabis, would ban cannabis use in all public places province-wide, reports CFAMM, a federal non-profit, non-partisan, patient-run organization dedicated to protecting and improving the rights of medical cannabis patients.

Toronto’s medical officer of health wants the federal government to ban certain cannabis edibles that would be attractive to kids, such as cannabis-infused gummy bears, candies and lollipops.

The recommendation, which was made in a report authored by Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s top doctor, was approved by Toronto’s board of health on Monday.

De Villa is calling for the government to prohibit edible cannabis products that are “particularly appealing to children due to colour or shape.”

In the first months after the legalization of cannabis, sales at cannabis stores in Saskatchewan were lagging behind every other province in the country, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

Across Canada, $151.5 million in cannabis was sold from the date of legalization on Oct.17, 2018, to the end of December. 

Saskatchewan cannabis stores sold just under $2.5 million in product in that time, below Prince Edward Island's sales of just under $3.4 million. P.E.I.'s population is about 150,000 people, compared with Saskatchewan's population of just under 1.2 million.

In comparison, people in Saskatchewan spent $227.7 million at beer, wine and liquor stores in the months from October to December. 

As the federal government prepares to legalize cannabis edibles next October, the City of Delta is readying its arguments on how the edible market should be regulated.

The city’s primary concern regarding cannabis edibles, city manager Sean McGill told council, is the way products that look like candies appeal to youth. The mayor’s delegation to Ottawa next week will present that concern as well as issues with how edibles are packaged when it meets with federal legislators.

“There are certainly stories of kids accessing things that look like gummy bears or some kind of treats with bright colours, and eating them and overdosing in some capacity, so that’s probably the biggest concern,” McGill said.

Following the legalization of recreational marijuana, a growing number of Canadians are looking to experiment with cannabis for its medicinal properties. But with some doctors unwilling to prescribe the once-illicit drug, many patients are seeking clarity in the hazy world of weed by turning to nurses.

Like thousands of other Canadians, Gordon Bennett was prescribed opioids to ease his arthritis pain. But the problem, the 96-year-old says, was that they just didn’t work.

“I could hardly get out of bed,” Bennett told CTV News from his Ottawa home. “It was hell… I had pain in my back, I had pain in my neck, I had pain in my legs -- every part of my body suffered.”

The owner of a proposed aquaponics farm in St. Stephen is hoping to start growing medical cannabis this year.

The business was announced in 2016, but at the time, Tanner Stewart had planned to grow "leafy green produce," along with farming fish.

As the demand for medical cannabis increased, so did Stewart's vision for his business.

He said he saw a need for organically grown, sustainable cannabis.

"So I pivoted into a cannabis crop," Stewart said.

How the farm works

Stewart's aquaponics farm has a system that sees fish tanks and plants being farmed in the same facility.

Stewart will be farming tilapia but use the water from the tanks to water the cannabis.

The president of Crosby's Molasses has confirmed he's launching a separate company to get into the cannabis edibles business.

James Crosby says the company, EYG Consumables, has applied for a licence with Health Canada and purchased a property in the McAllister Industrial Park in Saint John.

"We are looking to take our extensive food manufacturing experience into the cannabis-infused food space," Crosby said Wednesday in a statement to CBC. "This will be a separate facility at a separate location."

Crosby is the son of Jim Crosby, the owner and chair of Crosby's Molasses.

The new company is not part of Crosby's Molasses.