COLUMBUS - Television personality Montel Williams says patients who need medical marijuana are in the middle of a political battlefield and the only answer is legalizing the drug.

"There is zero reasons why it’s not legal," said Williams, who uses medical marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis. "For those who need access to medication, how dare we stand in the middle?"

Last night's election guaranteed Canada a change in government.

But more than just different faces, Canadians can expect a change in philosophy from Ottawa.

One area that could see substantive change is marijuana laws.

On the campaign trail, Trudeau promised he'd get working on legalizing pot right away; however, it's unclear what rate it will be taxed at, how it would be controlled and when it would kick in.

Once it does, It could have a profound effect on people currently facing marijuana possession charges.

Criminal defense lawyer Greg Brodsky said punishment is based on the law at the time of sentencing, not what the law at the time of the crime.

"My advice to everyone is hold your breath, and postpone your case," said Brodsky.

Hazel Crampton does well to outline the colonial mythmaking around marijuana but her book, Dagga: A Short History, still comes across as incomplete.

In a talk at the international conference on law and religion in Africa, held at Stellenbosch University last year, emeritus justice Albie Sachs touched on a momentous 2002 Constitutional Court case involving the religious use of dagga.

Rasta lawyer Gareth Anver Prince had challenged the constitutional validity of the prohibition on using or possessing dagga for religious purposes and was now facing Constitutional Court judges, including Sachs.

“I don’t know why I felt so much for Anver Prince [and his fellow Rastafarians]; they were standing at the back of the court with their dreadlocks, kind of uncomfortable.

On a visit to strengthen economic ties, Hickenlooper goes out of his way to express solidarity for Israelis during terror wave.

Israel could be a key partner in the recreational marijuana revolution Colorado is leading and benefit from the huge revenues the industry is bringing in, said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who headed a visiting business delegation from his state over the past week.

“We are reaching out. You guys have some of the top resources in the world on some of these effects, and we have resource money now, so we are looking for partners,” Hickenlooper told The Jerusalem Post in Tel Aviv on Monday night, at the tail end of the delegation’s visit.

Marijuana may not be the only reason that Canadians voted overwhelmingly for a Liberal government, but it sure didn’t hurt.

Mr. Harper underestimated the power of the people to vote for change.  And last night the country threw him a going away party.

The incoming Prime Minister is promising significant changes in taxation, spending, marijuana policy and even the voting system

Businessman wrote on his blog that the UN office of drugs and crime was poised to embrace decriminalising personal possession and use

Richard Branson has been involved in a bruising clash with the United Nations following his claim that the organisation is poised to endorse a global policy of decriminalising drugs.

With Halloween 2015 less than a few weeks out, government agencies across the U.S. are already putting the word out about the possibility of marijuana-infused candies being given to trick-or-treating children on the candy-fueled holiday.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) appeared set to call on governments to end the criminalization of drug use and possession, according to DPA Honorary Board Member Richard Branson -- but in a dramatic turn of events withdrew its briefing paper under pressure from at least one country, according to the BBC.

ST. LOUIS – Last week, the St. Louis Business Journal conducted an informal online pollasking readers if they would vote to legalize medical marijuana in Missouri. An overwhelming 85 percent of respondents said “yes,” with only 13 percent answering in the negative.

The results caught some attention, especially from people working on the issue, because the Business Journal’s readership, both in print and online, tends to skew older, wealthier and more conservative.