Some B.C. doctors are concerned that the forthcoming guidelines for prescribing medical marijuana will cut off care to a number of their patients.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. posted medical cannabis professional standards to its website outlining instances in which marijuana is not appropriate, such as prescribing it for patients under the age of 25 or those patients suffering from addiction.

Kelowna physician Kevin Kanerva is worried the new rules will be too restrictive and would exclude many of his patients.

From left, Surrey teens Jordan Smith with twins Connor and Duncan Fesenmaier at the Vancouver Art Gallery on April 20. The high school students were protesting the use and legalization or marijuana. Photograph by: Amy Reid , Surrey Now

VANCOUVER — There was a new voice at the annual 4/20 pot protest at the Vancouver Art Gallery this year: Three Surrey high school students who weren’t there to light up.

Wearing anti-pot T-shirts and sporting gas masks, twins Duncan and Connor Fesenmaier and Jordan Smith from Princess Margaret Secondary took the trek to Vancouver to protest the use of marijuana and spread their anti-legalization message.

As one man quite accurately dubbed them, they’re the “bud busters.”

The City of Vancouver's plan to regulate retail marijuana stores has raised the ire of Ottawa.

In a letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson, federal health minister, Rona Ambrose, says she is "deeply concerned" at the city's plan to discuss a proposal to regulate the growing crop of pot shops.

The letter, sent Thursday, says that "legitimizing and normalizing the use and sale of marijuana can have only one effect: increasing marijuana use and addiction."

The professional organization that regulates the conduct of B.C. doctors is cracking down on how patients access medicinal marijuana, and some MDs in the province are not happy about it.

In a telephone interview, Dr. Ian Mitchell, a Kamloops-based physician and clinical associate professor at UBC, described the new rules as “excessive” and “beyond Health Canada requirements”.

“This is very restrictive and a big change from the past,” he told the Georgia Straight. “These new regulations make it almost impossible for anybody to comply with them.”

Patients using and doctors recommending medical marijuana have begun to see the changes from two recent Provincial Colleges of Physicians guidelines released this March.

The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia both released updated standards and guidelines for medical professionals in March highlighting issues like caps on ‘prescribed’ THC levels, recommendations for users under 25, and whether doctors can charge patients or producers for a’medical document’.

VANCOUVER -- Travis Williams works in the Cannabis Culture lounge on Davie Street, which does not sell weed but charges a $5 fee for people to bring in and smoke their own. A separate marijuana dispensary, run by Eden Medicinal Society, is located in the same building with a door that opens into the hazy lounge.

The businesses appear to violate two of the city’s proposed new regulations: that two marijuana-related business cannot operate within 300 metres of each other and that they cannot be located within 300 metres of a school.

Lord Roberts Elementary in the West End is just 180 metres from the two outfits on Davie.

The City of Vancouver is introducing a plan to regulate all marijuana-related businesses to achieve “a careful balance between ensuring adequate availability for those in need and ensuring community health, safety, security, aesthetics, equity and enjoyment of property.”

In a press release, the City cites the lack of a clear regulatory framework for how and where marijuana businesses operate and emphasizes how quickly the industry has grown in Vancouver, with a growth rate of 100 per cent per year in marijuana-related businesses, including from 60 to 80 in the last four months alone.

The annual 4/20 pot-smoking rally, which drew crowds of up to 25,000 to the plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday resulted in 64 people being treated in hospital, including teenagers, said health officials.

All the patients were treated at St. Paul's, making for a very busy night in the downtown hospital.

"64 people in the emergency department is a large number, in an already busy emergency department," said Dave Lefebvre, a spokesperson for Providence Health Care.

April 20, widely known in marijuana culture as "4/20," is a day when thousands of people gather for "smoke-ins" in cities across North America.

Vancouver-headquartered Kaneh Bosm (KBB-CNSX) will take delivery of two marijuana vending machines in late April 2015.

“The BioCanna ADM is similar to the Best Buy kiosks that you see in airports,” explains Kaneh Bosm President and Director Michael Martinz. “They have back-end functionality that provides oversight to the machine operator as well as regulators.”

The ADM will screen out people under the age of 19, and verify that they are registered users – and it can also set daily maximums. After delivery, KBB will take a few days to install the software, test the machines and load up the inventory.

In the small back courtyard of his marijuana dispensary on East Hastings Street, Dana Larsen, a well-known pot activist, talks candidly about a subject he knows well: B.C. bud.

It’s four days out from one of the premier local events for marijuana enthusiasts and Larsen, the author of several pot-themed books whose past political involvement includes a run for the B.C. NDP leadership, sketches out some of the preparations for the annual massive toke-up known as 4/20.

Monday’s event outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, which marks the 20th anniversary of the smoke-out, is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000.

There will be bands, DJs, speeches, lots grass to buy from an expected 200 or so vendors, and, course, an incredible amount of pot smoking.