Years before U.S. arrest, cannabis stores, Marc Emery was a bookshop owner on a mission.

Marc Emery and his stores, Cannabis Culture, came out of nowhere last week with the announcement that they were breaking federal marijuana laws at eight secret locations in the city. 

A few days later, the stores were raided, closed and Emery was thrown in jail. He was charged with drug trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy. 

He has been released on bail and is due back in court Feb. 15.    

Here's a look at Emery's background and what he might hope to accomplish in Montreal.

Tania Cyalume and Brandy Zurborg are the brains behind Bloorcourt’s Queens of Cannabis, a dispensary that sells to approved medical marijuana patients. But it’s so much more than that – it’s also a healing centre.

A knowledgable, articulate couple who live and work together, Cyalume and Zurborg were patients with medical cannabis prescriptions before deciding to open a dispensary. Originally hoping to start a female-oriented head shop, they were inspired to go the dispensary route after a trip to Vancouver, where they experienced that city’s dispensary culture while shopping for woman-made wholesale pipes.

Seantrel Henderson isn’t your typical user. Marijuana serves as a pain reliever for the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills offensive lineman who was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease one year ago. Doctors told Henderson medical marijuana was the best medicine for his inflammatory bowel disease, which caused the 2014 seventh-round selection to have 80 centimeters of intestines removed during two different surgeries last year. Still, the NFL suspended Henderson 10 games in late November for violating the league’s substance abuse policy for the second time this season. 

With the state's pot industry poised to explode, Florida health officials have agreed to issue another medical marijuana license --the state's seventh-- to a Central Florida nursery that lost out to a competitor by a fraction of a percentage point last fall.

The Department of Health inked the agreement with McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery last week--after nearly a year of protracted and expensive litigation over the license--before Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth McArthur could issue a ruling and as health officials tried to work out a deal over another license in a separate challenge.

States with medical-marijuana laws have fewer traffic fatalities than those without, especially among younger drivers, a new study has found.

You would think crash rates might be higher, supposing that more drivers are, too — especially around midnight, when a run to a 7-Eleven becomes necessary.

But, no. Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health found an 11 percent reduction in traffic fatalities on average when examining places that have enacted medical-marijuana laws — 23 states and the District of Columbia. The presence of medical-marijuana dispensaries also correlated with fewer traffic fatalities, the study found.

Kiwi doctors need to be at the forefront of the debate around medicinal cannabis, two Wellington experts say.

Until now the push has been largely consumer driven while doctors have remained largely silent, according to Giles Newton-Howes and Sam McBride in an article published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Currently doctors are able to prescribe cannabis-based products to patients in New Zealand, but require ministerial sign-off to do so.

Dr Newton-Howes, who works at the University of Otago's psychological medicine department, says there are issues accepting cannabis as a medication for a variety of purposes.

Many staff members at marijuana dispensaries have not had any formal training for their positions, according to a small new study.

Researchers found that 30 people of the 55 dispensary staff members surveyed in the study (55 percent) had received any sort of formal training for their current positions.

Taking advantage of progressive government policies regarding marijuana cultivation for medicinal and research purposes, Israeli entrepreneurs are aiming to make the country a “global hub for medical cannabis research.”

Applying advanced agricultural technology to provide medical-grade cannabis for research (and eventually for export, if expected changes in the current laws are made), several Israeli startups are already reporting a brisk trade – particularly from clients in countries like the United States, where marijuana research is either illegal or strictly controlled.

Is it possible that 2016 studies have concluded that weed kills brain cells? While over half of America’s states legalized marijuana for recreational or medical purposes leading up to the end of 2016, there is still concern by organizations like the DEA that not enough testing has been done to protect weed smokers.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, there were lots of new studies from 2015 that show marijuana, weed, or cannabis are promoting positive results with brain cells as well as at least one study that showed weed does kill brain cells.

Easing pain and improving quality of life for end of life patients — the focus of a groundbreaking medical marijuana study.

The first of its kind in New England.

The research will soon be underway at America’s first hospice, The Connecticut Hospice in Branford.

This is a federally approved medical marijuana study.

Governor Dannel Malloy and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, among those at a news conference, announcing the federally approved medical marijuana study.

The 66 hospice patients, who are yet to be enrolled, will help determine the benefits and safety of using medical marijuana for pain management.