In California's race to legitimize recreational marijuana, at least 10 legalization initiatives are vying to appear on the state’s November 2016 ballot. The political pileup could lead to none of the initiatives scoring enough votes to win, or it could result in the opposite conundrum: more than one legalization effort passing, something that Keith Humphreys, a Stanford professor who co-chaired a recent California Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, predicts could become “an ungodly mess.”

Residents of the United Kingdom have been watching from afar as legalization sweeps across the globe. Uruguay legalized cannabis, the United States followed suit in a piecemeal fashion, and now Canada’s new Prime Minister has made it all but certain that they will be next to legalize. With progress happening elsewhere in the world, where does the United Kingdom stand on ending cannabis prohibition?

Mexico City (AFP) - An unlikely group is leading the legal battle to break Mexico's marijuana ban: Two attorneys, an accountant and a social activist with no interest in actually growing or smoking pot.

Together, they form the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Personal Use, whose Spanish acronym spells "SMART," hoping the Supreme Court will rule in their favor on Wednesday.

While a victory for SMART would only allow the group to grow and consume its own pot, supporters say it could open the door for others to win similar cases and force Congress to consider legalizing marijuana.

"I have never smoked (marijuana), and I will never do it," Francisco Torres Landa, 50, told AFP from his law firm's office in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood.

Dutch non profit organisation VOC (Union for the abolition of cannabis prohibition) has launched a campaign called ‘Justice for Johan‘. The aim of the campaign and website of the same name is to draw attention to the plight of Dutch coffeeshop pioneer Johan van Laarhoven, who has been imprisoned under appalling conditions in Thailand since July 2014. On November 10 a verdict is expected in Bangkok. 

TABOR requirement asks voters to decide whether the state gets to keep $66.1 million in taxes they already have approved

Colorado voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a statewide ballot measure that gives state lawmakers permission, once again, to spend $66.1 million in taxes collected from the sale of recreational marijuana.

The outcome came as no surprise given its bipartisan backing, and election returns as of 9:40 p.m. showed Proposition BB receiving about 69 percent support, well above the majority-vote threshold, according to returns from counties.

Marijuana Oligopoly Rejected by Ohio Voters

Ohio voters have rejected a controversial marijuana legalization initiative that would have restricted commercial marijuana production to the ten properties owned by the principal investors in the initiative.

Now that Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have won the federal election, we will soon see whether our new government will follow through on its campaign promise to legalize marijuana and remove possession from the Criminal Code.

Ten years ago, before the Harper years, the nation seemed poised to revise its position on marijuana prohibition. In fact, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that something was about to change, as the debate at that time often focused on decriminalization versus outright legalization.

However, the Liberals' attempts at decriminalization didn't sit well with our American neighbours, who were vehemently opposed to such action back when George W. Bush was president.

Arrested last year at his Denver law office, a Colorado attorney facing federal charges in connection with an alleged illegal marijuana operation says he shouldn’t be prosecuted.

That’s because state law permits him to do what he did and a federal budget amendment bans the use of federal funds to pursue the case, says attorney David Furtado. In fact, a motion filed last week by his counsel alleges, it is the Department of Justice that is violating the law, because the budget amendment effectively nixes federal prosecution of marijuana businesses operating legally under state law.

When I dreamt of having children, I never thought I’d dream of the day my teenage son could legally use marijuana. When I was in college learning about The War on Drugs, I didn’t appreciate the history behind this substance. I certainly do now.

My son would likely benefit from marijuana. It might help stop his severe seizing, which would change all of our lives.

Unfortunately for us, marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, a class of drugs assumed to be highly addictive, dangerous and without medical value. Cannabis sits on this list with heroin and LSD, but there is no longer a consensus within the medical community that marijuana belongs on this list. And so even promising trials are very limited. The government isn’t listening to the doctors.

On a frigid March morning in downtown Albany, where church spires loom tall and traffic lights dangle from wires that stretch across intersections, a flurry of white-haired men in suits strolled down State Street. They were heading for Sixty State Street, the tony event space and banquet hall in the city's Downtown Historic District, where a team of busboys were hurrying to arrange pastries on silver trays in anticipation of the guests' arrival. Once they arrived, they mingled in groups, chatting over coffee and orange juice, shaking hands and exchanging business cards.