ANCHORAGE -

The owners of 3 marijuana businesses pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday to a string of drug charges.

Charlene Egbe, Michael Crites and Rocky Burns are all facing felony charges related to misconduct involving a controlled substance.

Charlene Egbe, owner and operator of the Alaska Cannabis Club, attended the arraignment hearing by phone, allowing her attorney to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf. Egbe's attorney said there would be no comment on the hearing.

Burns is associated with a business known as Discreet Deliveries. In an recent interview with Channel 2, Burns said he believes his business isn't breaking any laws because it operates through a church.

TIRANA, Albania –  Police in southern Albania say they have seized 3.2 metric tons (7,000 pounds) of cannabis as part of a major anti-drugs operation in the Balkan country.

A statement Friday said the cannabis was found in a mountainous area near Gjirokastra, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of the capital Tirana, and that a large quantity had already been harvested.

No arrests were made, and police named no suspects.

Once a secluded communist country, Albania has become a major cannabis producer, prompting authorities to carry out regular eradication campaigns, backed by heavily armed police squads.

The Government will not be swayed by "emotional nonsense" colouring calls for wider access to medicinal cannabis, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne says.

The issue has hit the spotlight after outgoing Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly, who has terminal lung cancer, pleaded for the Government to improve access to medicinal cannabis.

Dunne told Radio NZ there was "a lot of very loose and uninformed talk" about current access to medical cannabis, which ignored the current procedures in place for those who wanted to use the drug for health reasons.

The Federal Government has announced it will legalise the growing of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

She said she had been moved by stories of people who got some relief from medicinal cannabis, sometimes legally imported but not always.Health Minister Sussan Ley said the Government wants to give people suffering from debilitating illnesses access to the most effective medical treatments.

"I have heard stories of patients who have resorted to illegal methods of obtaining cannabis and I have felt for them, because with a terminal condition, the most important thing is quality of life and relief of pain," she told AM.

"And we know that many people are calling out for medicinal cannabis.

Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne says the provisions in place for medicinal cannabis are not likely to change.

During an interview with Morning Report, he said people whose doctors felt it would be beneficial for them could already go through a process to access Sativex, the only legal cannabis-based medicine approved in New Zealand.

He said that so far only one person had done this.

"The procedure is very clear: if a person's doctors believe they would benefit from those products, then they can apply for a dispensation, like they would any other [products]."

Mr Dunne said that it was untrue that there were a variety of products available, and said the few others were available internationally were only approved in individual countries or were still undergoing trial.

The legalisation of marijuana in South Africa as of late has been a controversial topic. Around the world many countries are slowly becoming more accustomed to the idea of marijuana as a non-harmful substance and it is high time policy in South Africa embraces it and ease the laws against the possession and consumption of marijuana. “Cannabis is to date a genetically pure plant, occurring globally, which offers massive medicinal, industrial, agricultural, ecological, and socio-economic benefits to the man on the street.” (George, 2015) In 2010 the UN World Drug Report states that between 119 million people to 224 million people above the age of 18 used marijuana. (UN, 2010)

Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, became the first major-party candidate to endorse marijuana legalization. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, by contrast, stuck with a wait-and-see position, saying, “I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today.” But both candidates seemed confused about marijuana’s role in the war on drugs and its contribution to this country’s world-beating incarceration rate.

Super-majorities of voters believe that medical cannabis should be legal, and most men additionally support legalizing marijuana for all adults, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University Swing State poll.

Pollsters gauged support for marijuana law reform in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Florida voters backed legalizing cannabis therapy by a margin of 87 percent to 12 percent. A majority of male voters (57 percent) also supported broader legalization, while only 49 percent of women agreed.