Cannabis Law in Canada

Ted Smith is a big Boy Scout. He is constantly helping others in need, and Ted has successfully advocated human rights for decades.  Ted is the Founder of the the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, Canada's oldest compassion club, which opened in 1996.  He has played a large role in the battle to legalize cannabis in Canada for the past three decades and continues his advocacy work today .  

Since moving to Victoria in 1995 to star...

Owen Smith is a director of the non profit Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club ("VCBC"), one of the oldest compassion clubs in Canada, with over 8000 active members, which helps members who have documented, serious medical conditions, by providing them with medicinal cannabis and cannabis based products.

Owen is a cannabis subject-matter expert, possessing a wide range of cannabis industry knowledge based on two decad...

Alison Myrden began her career as a Corrections Officer in 1988 after working with the Children's Aid Society. In addition to her website, you can find Alison at the following social media:  Twitter  -- LinkedIn -- Facebook -- During her career, Alison worked at troubled youth facilities around Southern Ontario and eventually solidified her niche with Young Offender cases in early 1989 at Community Resource Services. During he...

Matthew Jerome is the Founder and Chief Consultant of Meristem Cannabis Consulting, a patient-focused education company, and is Canada's first fully certified Ganjier.

Matt's goal within the industry is to provide confidence when it comes to quality related decisions, which he has over 15 years of experience doing. He has been a vocal medicinal cannabis advocate for over a decade and is a board of directors’

Matt is a partner at the Toronto law firm Torkin Manes. He is co-chair of the Cannabis Law Group and chair of the Franchise Law Group. He is also an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer in the Litigation Group with over a decade of experience advocating on behalf of his business clients. 

Matt provides business and regulatory advice to a wide range of cannabis industry stakeholders, including licensed producers, producer applican...

Harrison Jordan is a Toronto-based cannabis and NFT lawyer who focuses on Canadian legal matters related to the regulated industries of cannabis, psychedelics, liquor, tobacco and gaming. See https://harrisonjordanlaw.com/ for more information.

Harrison graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School and completed his articles with Paul Lewin and then opened his law practice in 2018. Harrison also practices law related to NFTs (non...

Ruth Chun is a corporate commercial lawyer focused on providing legal advice to various companies from start-up to exit.

Ms. Chun acted as general counsel for cannabis company Newstrike Brands Ltd., raising over $150 million in financing, from the RTO transaction with Up Cannabis Inc. and sale to HEXO Corp. for $263 million. She continues to act for highly regulated industries including psychedelics and renewable energy t...

Robert W.E. Laurie founded Ad Lucem Law Corporation in 2013. Robert is an international lawyer qualified in England and called to the British Columbia Bar. Robert’s legal practice focuses on commercial business, government, regulatory issues, plus charter and constitutional legalities surrounding cannabis and psychedelic plant medicines.

Robert has eighteen years of policy development and legal practice in corporate, comm...

Keachea Dixon is an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of New York, the Province of Ontario, and the island of Jamaica.

Keachea’s law practice focuses on helping entrepreneurs and small businesses with various issues in Commercial law, Cannabis law, Entertainment law, Real Estate law, Wills & Estates law, Intellectual Property law, and Technology Law.

Keachea is a co-founder and Vice President of...

Generally speaking, David Brown writes about cannabis policy and industry stuff and lives in British Columbia. He likes plants. And his beard.

More specifically, David Brown is a cannabis policy analyst, regulatory affairs specialist and content manager with Stratcann.com, a Canadian cannabis industry news and information publication. David has worked in the cannabis industry for 10 years, first as a co-founder of LIFT Can...

Nathaniel B. Erskine-Smith, MP ("Nate") is a Canadian politician and member of the Liberal Party, he is a Member of Parliament, representing Beaches-East York.

Nate became the youngest MP to be elected in the Greater Toronto Area on October 19, 2015, after a successful grassroots open nomination in December 2014. He successfully retained his seat both in the 2019 federal election and in the 2021 federal election...

Elizabeth Dipchand and Dan Pollack practise IP, corporate law and litigation at Dipchand LLP, a boutique law firm in Toronto.

Elizabeth is the type of person who is driven to find intelligent solutions to problems that are not readily evident to others. As such, she regularly advises corporations on in-depth identification, acquisition, maintenance, management & leveraging and protection & enforcement of intellectu...

Stan Benda, Ph.D. is known as The Plant Lawyer.  We had a fruitful conversation that you may find very sweet.
Stan practices law specializing in contracts concerning technology transfer / licensing with expertise in advanced technologies, especially agricultural biotechnology; novel foods (aka genetically modified); new plant varieties; plant breeders rights; stone fruits and in propagation, genetics, and licensing of cannabis....

Paul Lewin and Jack Lloyd are Toronto lawyers and activists who practise in cannabis and psychedelics law at their firm, Cannabis and Psychedelics Law Group LLP.

What a great conversation!

Paul has represented clients across Canada for over 27 years, practising with Lewin & Sagara LLP, fighting for clients at all levels of the Ontario Courts, including the religious use of cannabis, challenging the medical ca...

Henria Stephens is our incredible Student at Law at Cannabis Law, Barristers & Solicitors.

Prior to law school, Henria worked in the Agriculture, Healthcare and International Development Sectors for nearly 20 years over three continents. She has worked in small grassroots organizations and large multinational corporations. She is a champion of justice and fairness and returned to law school to hone her advocacy skills.

...

Tamar Friedman is a Toronto-based lawyer practicing in the areas of cannabis defence, police and State accountability, and civil litigation. This includes Charter litigation, public interest litigation, human rights law, and regulatory defence.

Tamar received her licence to practise law in Ontario, Canada in 2016. She practiced as a civil litigator on behalf of the Province of Ontario from 2016-2018 where she specialized ...

Pete Young is a master grower from the old school.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Pete began his journey as a cannabis grower at the age of 15 with a few plants on the rooftop of his friend's apartment to avoid having to buy cannabis from the street.

When he moved to London, Ontario to study photography, he developed his talent for growing weed and provided seeds to Chris Clay's store in London, ...

Chris Clay is ahead by a century.

I use the song title from the Tragically Hip on purpose.

In the early 1990s, university student Chris Clay had a vision: cannabis must be legal.

Chris wasn't alone, obviously. But his plan to achieve his vision was unparalleled: Chris opened Canada's first Hemp Store.

Initially a booth at a London, Ontario flea market, Chris moved his table of hemp pr...

Alan Young is the best.

I am proud to have the Cannabis Law in Canada Podcast kick-off with a great interview with Professor Emeritus Alan Young, a retired law professor and lawyer.

I met Alan when shooting my documentary, STONED: Hemp Nation on Trial in 1996-1997. He allowed me and my cinematographer, Jeremy Benning, access to the defence strategy room, defence witnesses and provided several engaging interviews ...