Legalized cannabis in Canada could be a bigger industry than forestry.

Legalization could usher in new tax revenue streams in the billions, unprecedented job creation for a nascent industry, and reduced judicial costs for Canada’s overburdened justice system. The economic ripple effects are estimated to be in the tens of billions per year.

There are some who dismiss legalization as a fringe issue: not a big deal. It’s only hippies and potheads who care. The truth is that legalization of cannabis can have one of the broadest economic, taxation and job creation impacts of any new industry in our nation’s history.

“Before the cannabis oil I obviously didn’t go to school very often, and just walking from our lounge room to my bedroom was a struggle,” said Tabetha.

“I would just walk around, get a little bit tired, and not really play that much,” said Georgia-Grace, who experienced  fatigue. “I’d sit on the couch and watch TV all day.”

Both were put on heavy doses of corticosteroids to keep the inflammation down and hooked up to oxygen tanks 24 hours a day.

While the steroids appeared to be the girls’ only option, Bobby-Jo said the drugs started causing even worse side effects for Tabetha.

Politicians know how to harvest the low hanging fruit at election time.

Now, Justin Trudeau has sniffed out the low hanging cannabis on the campaign trail — and promised to legalize it.

It’s time, long past time. The Liberal leader can make up for the sins — or omissions — of his father in failing to decriminalize marijuana possession generations ago, when Pierre Trudeau ignored the recommendations of the 1973 Le Dain Royal Commission he created as prime minister.

In fairness to Trudeau the elder, it was a different time. In the decades since, Canada has decriminalized homosexuality and legalized gay marriage.

Stephen Harper’s recent comments on marijuana have drawn ire from community advocates and medical users of the drug.

While speaking at a campaign stop in Montreal Saturday, the Conservative Party leader said cannabis is “infinitely worse” than tobacco.

He insisted his government would continue to apply tough laws against its use, a stance he’s maintained even during candidate debates. Keith Fagin, founder and director with Calgary 420 Cannabis Community, an advocacy group that looks to legalize the sale of marijuana through regulation, much like alcohol, said Harper’s comments are “complete nonsense.”

“It’s ridiculous,” he said.  

A newly opened medical marijuana clinic could be a useful resource for Windsor's medical community, but a local physician says doctors likely need to know more about the treatment before they can refer their patients there.

Tim O'Callahan, the president of the Essex County Medical Society, said the Canadian Cannabis Clinics office that opened on Taylor Road is "an interesting option" for doctors who may not personally feel comfortable prescribing marijuana to patients.

A number of Canada's medical marijuana growers are poised to release cannabis oils for authorized patients who don't want to smoke or vaporize the dried herb to relieve their symptoms.

In July, Health Canada gave growers the green light to begin producing the plant-based extracts, which are expected to be approved for sale in the coming months.

About a dozen of the country's 25 medicinal pot producers have sought expanded licences to produce and market cannabis oils and/or fresh marijuana buds and leaves under the updated federal regulations. Among them are Ontario companies Tweed and Bedrocan Canada Inc., and B.C.'s Tilray.

Is cannabis, as Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper claims, “infinitely worse” than tobacco, a substance that kills tens of thousands of Canadians each year?

Definitely not, say medical researchers and addiction experts, who are refuting Mr. Harper’s provocative comparison between cigarettes and marijuana.

Mr. Harper has routinely brought up marijuana as a campaign issue, contrasting his government’s tough stance against the drug with the Liberals’ and Greens’ plans to fully legalize it and the NDP’s pledge to at least decriminalize it and study legalization.

OTTAWA -- "Tobacco is a product that does a lot of damage. Marijuana is infinitely worse and it's something that we do not want to encourage." -- Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

Canadians have one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world, and a relaxation of marijuana laws is now an election issue.

It's a path Conservative Leader Stephen Harper vehemently opposes, using it to drive a wedge between him and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who wants to legalize marijuana. After Harper clashed with Trudeau over the issue last week, the prime minister was asked Saturday why he was so opposed.

Nanaimo-based producer Tilray got a licence to produce cannabis oils from Health Canada in August. The federal regulator is letting licensed producers make – and eventually sell – fresh marijuana and cannabis oil as well as dried marijuana in light of a Supreme Court decision that patients have a right to these forms of the drug.

As Oregon legalizes recreational marijuana use, and the Pacific Northwest morphs into the “bud hub” of America, there is a growing level of concern about the thousands of stoned individuals who hop in their cars every day to go pick up yet another package of Double Stuff Oreos. Marijuana advocates argue that being high behind the wheel is not nearly dangerous as being drunk, to which pot opponents merely answer with “Being under the influence while driving is against the law regardless of what your drug of choice may be.”