TRENTON, N.J. --

New Jersey's Democratic-controlled Legislature took a step toward a showdown with Gov. Chris Christie over legalized marijuana on Monday.

A state Senate panel convened a hearing on legalizing the drug, and a leading Democratic lawmaker says it's time to bring it out of an underground economy by legalizing, taxing and regulating it.

"I believe our state should lead the way," Democratic state Sen. Nicholas Scutari said. Scutari, who has authored a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for people over 21, sketched a scenario in which the drug comes out of what he called a "black market" and gives way to a billion-dollar industry.

Spanish police said Monday they have arrested a suspected British drug trafficking boss who is listed among Britain's 10 most wanted fugitives.

Police detained Michael Roden along with six other suspected members of a drug trafficking ring earlier this month in the province of Granada in southwestern Spain, a police spokesman said.

Roden, also known by his nickname "Dodge", is wanted by British police in connection with the importation of 70 kilos (155 pounds) of cannabis into Britain from Spain in 2013.

The 26-year-old was convicted in October 2010 in Britain of large-scale production of cannabis and jailed for three years.

He was released early the following year, but failed to meet his probation conditions and is wanted for recall into prison.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed a bill Monday he calls "a robust and free-market regulatory approach to the governance of cultivation, processing, and retail sale of medical marijuana in Florida."

SB 852, like measures Brandes has supported in the past, will allow qualified patients with a range of conditions or symptoms to access medical marijuana if recommended by their physician.

The bill licenses cultivation, processing, and retail facilities and -- important to note -- fully replaces the existing Charlotte’s Web licensing system.

Why then have so many Tribal marijuana experiments been met with DOJ resistance? Is the DOJ treating Tribes more harshly than it treats the states? Or is it that so many Tribes have failed to comply with the tenets of the federal tribal marijuana memo?  It’s some of both.

The DOJ tribal memo provides as follows:

JAMAICA-BORN Queen’s Counsel Dr Courtenay Griffiths has been appointed to the legal team of Trinidad and Tobago’s first incorporated cannabis law reform non-governmental organisation.
Griffiths has been officially appointed as C420’s consultant on matters of law reform. 
“Dr Griffiths was born in Jamaica and received his training in the United Kingdom. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1980 and was made Queen’s Counsel in 1998. Dr Griffiths also holds honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from both Coventry University and Leeds Metropolitan University. 

Starting next year, recreational and medical marijuana sold in Oregon must be screened for nearly 60 pesticides commonly used in cannabis cultivation.

Labs analyzing pesticides will have to be accredited by the state, a rigorous process designed to ensure they are using appropriate equipment and scientific methods.  

Labs, not growers or processors, will be required to take samples from every batch. Marijuana concentrates, which tend to be contaminated at higher levels than flowers, must be tested before they go onto store shelves or used to make edible products.  

And marijuana that tests at levels higher than what the state allows must be destroyed under the watchful eye of a state regulator.  

DENVER — Colorado's governor ordered the destruction Thursday of marijuana treated with unapproved pesticides, his first action on the matter after months of product recalls and media warnings about unhealthy pesticides on pot.

The executive order by Gov. John Hickenlooper called marijuana treated with certain pesticides a "threat to public safety" and said it should be destroyed.

The governor acknowledged that there's scant scientific evidence about which pesticides and fungicides are safe to use on marijuana, but he said that questionable pot should be destroyed until more is known.

Ministers handed marching orders to repeal key laws, legalize pot and help mentally ill offenders

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered a major overhaul of Canada's criminal justice system that will put a new focus on restorative justice and hatch a priority plan to regulate and legalize pot.

Trudeau delivered mandate letters to each of his cabinet ministers Friday, and among the long list of priorities is a sweeping review of the last decade of laws and sentencing reforms brought in by the Conservatives.

THE medicinal cannabis debate has heated up with two state member sponsored proponent e-petitions still open for signatories and a third already closed.

The e-petition which has garnered the most support, lodged by the Medicinal Cannabis Users Association of Australia and open to all Queensland residents until the end of this month, has already collected more than 7000 signatures.

Requests to the House made by the Medicinal Cannabis Amnesty petition include allowing "all persons with a medical conditions or symptoms... access to Australian made whole plant cannabis therapies" and to "provide immediate amnesty to all cannabis therapy users, their carers and cannabis therapists to facilitate discussion and research without fear of prosecution".

NEGRIL, Westmoreland -- President of the Westmoreland Hemp and Ganja Farmers Association Ras Iyah is urging the Government to "align" with other countries to secure a slice of the international marijuana market.

"I think the Government of Jamaica has a duty and responsibility to align themselves with other countries, because I know there are other countries, here in the Caribbean, in Latin America...that are against this big stick that America has over our heads that says 'you can do what I say but not what I do'," he argued.