The Oireachtas Justice Committee is preparing to recommend the Government decriminalise the possession of small amounts of all drugs in a bid to alleviate pressure on garda resources and the courts from low level crime.

The committee - chaired by Fine Gael TD David Stanton - is expected to urge the Government to introduce drugs laws similar to those in Portugal. There possession of certain quantities of all illegal drugs - including cannabis, cocaine, and heroin - is no longer a crime.

It is still against the law to take and possess drugs in Portugal but offenders are treated similarly to motorists who breach traffic offences. Police have the power to prosecute but can also send drug users to special courts where criminal records are not handed down.

The Santee Sioux hope the marijuana "smoking lounge" they are building in a converted bowling alley will bring $2 million a month to the tribe, despite opposition from the governor, who calls the project illegal.

Workers are gutting a bowling alley across the parking from the tribe's new growing warehouse, and plan the grand opening on New Year's Eve. Tribal President Tony Reider envisions a hotspot with a stage for performers, a dance floor, a bar, restaurant, smoking lounge and marijuana dispensary.

The tribe invited all 105 members of South Dakota's Legislature to tour both facilities on Friday, but only five showed up.

Governor Dennis Daugaard was a no-show.

Toronto law firm O'Neill Moon Quedado LLP prepared this visual guide to the legal mess that is Canada's approach to regulating and enforcing cannabis laws. A teaser question to entice you to scroll to the end of this long, yet fascinating info-graphic: On what day of the year do the police not enforce the prohibition on recreational cannabis use?

The NSW Government has already started the hunt for sites to grow the herb in NSW to support a pharmaceutical supply if clinical trials are successful.

MEDICAL cannabis detractors need to remember the value of the poppy plant to modern medicine.

Toowoomba doctor Jeanne-Marie van der Westhuizen has spent more than 25 years of her professional life working in emergency medicine and drug addiction fields around the world.

She has added her voice in calling for a measured approach to introducing medical cannabis trials in Australia which would bring it in line with other developed nations in which components of the cannabis plant have been used to aid the sick.

Legalising and taxing cannabis could raise hundred of thousands of pounds a year and save the justice system a fortune, a leaked Treasury report has claimed.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) estimated that legalising and licensing cannabis could help reduce the UK budget deficit by up to £1.25 billion per year.

The leaked report responded to this figure to argue that it was probably over-optimistic, but it conceded that legalising the substance could “generate notable tax revenue” and “lead to overall savings to the criminal justice system”.

The Home Office has said that it has no plans to change the law prohibiting the use of cannabis, which remains a Class B illegal drug.

Unless state lawmakers get ahead of their constituents on legalization, they face a potential regulatory nightmare.

KALISPELL, Montana — In a retrofitted garage in his suburban backyard, Mike Eacker tends to his marijuana plants while he waits to see whether his crop will continue to turn a profit.

For Eacker and other growers here in Montana, there is uncertainty as they anticipate the outcome of a state Supreme Court case that could effectively end commercial sales of medical marijuana and render their businesses unprofitable.

Women still continue to earn less per hour than men for the same amount of work in America, but there is one highlight — the marijuana industry.

Marijuana Business Daily reports this October that the percentage of women executives in the cannabis industry is far higher than in all U.S. businesses as a whole.

About 36 percent of executives in the cannabis industry are women. By comparison, just 22 percent of executives in all U.S. businesses are women.

The UN is expected to call on governments across the world to change tack in the 'war on drugs' by decriminalising all illegal substances. 

In a surprise post on his Virgin website, Richard Branson claimed he had seen a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which dramatically altered the organisation's stance on narcotics, but was going public in advance of its release for fear the UN would "bow to pressure by not going ahead with this important move".

Police cite shrinking budgets and reduced stop and search, as possession offences recorded in England and Wales drop by almost a third.

The number of cannabis possession offences in England and Wales has plummeted since 2011 as forces divert shrinking budgets into tackling more serious crime and officers rein in stop and search.

Figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act reveal offences recorded by English and Welsh police forces – including penalty notices, cautions, charges and summons – fell by almost a third from a peak of 145,400 in 2011-12 to 101,905 in 2014-15.

The National Post’s Graeme Hamilton rounds up five things that are likely to be priorities for a new Liberal government, based on the party platform and comments made during the campaign by leader Justin Trudeau.

1. Tax cut for the middle class