Nine of the ten largest cities in Wisconsin have established local ordinances decriminalizing minor marijuana possession offenses.

The fines range from just $50 (in Milwaukee) up to $1,000 (in Green Bay). Most citywide ordinances do not enforce criminal sanctions unless the quantity of marijuana possessed exceeds 25 grams.

One of the ordinances imposes a maximum fine of only $100 for anyone found in the possession of up to 28 grams of marijuana. Another amended local law makes possession of up to five grams of marijuana punishable by no more than a $100 fine.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a couple of grillings about drugs this week.

First, CKNW Radio's John McComb sparred with the Conservative candidate on marijuana and the party’s tough-on-crime positions that include mandatory minimum sentences for people caught growing pot plants.

The following day, Harper faced questions about former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, his brother, Doug, and their family’s public support for the Conservatives.

Willie Nelson is hoping the “dark ages are finally behind us” in the mission to get marijuana legalised.

The 82-year-old country singing legend has been passionate about decriminalising the drug throughout the United States for years.

And after learning more about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, Willie feels even more enthusiastic about his quest.

“I’m more passionate than ever about this cause,” Willie told Billboard magazine. “I was recently encouraged to read about parents travelling to Colorado and Oregon where they could legally obtain marijuana so that, under a doctor’s care, their children’s seizures could be effectively treated. When it comes to pot, the dark ages may finally be behind us.

In September Toledo, Ohio voters approved a marijuana decriminalization measure by a very wide margin. Even before the vote occurred, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine made it very clear that he would sue the City of Toledo if the measure passed. Mr. DeWine made good on that threat last week when he filed the lawsuit. So much for democracy, right? Per Cleveland.Com:

DeWine asked the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas to invalidate several portions of Toledo’s “Sensible Marihuana Ordinance” approved by voters last month because they contradict Ohio law.

The low-profile statewide ballot measure that arrives in mailboxes this week is focused on a familiar political debate about what constitutes a tax hike — an argument that is causing friction among conservatives.

A medicinal cannabis trafficker has been spared jail at a time when governments are backing medical marijuana trials.

Malcolm Ronald Lee was caught with 116 cannabis plants and large stashes of cannabis oil when his Newcastle home was raided in November.

Newcastle District Court heard he was supplying local cancer patients, who paid him half the street value.

In August he pleaded guilty to three offences, while four other charges were dropped.

A further two charges were also taken into account today.

While sentencing Lee to a two year good behaviour bond, Judge Roy Ellis noted the benefits of medicinal cannabis and noted Lee was not trying to live the high life or get financial gain and was instead trying to help people in chronic pain.

Marijuana became legally available in Croatia for medical purposes Thursday. The decision to legalize followed a high-profile case in which a multiple sclerosis patient was jailed last year for growing the plant to ease his pain.

Huanito Luksetic, 37, was detained for growing cannabis plants in his garden in a village near Rijeka. Police seized around 44 pounds of marijuana from the multiple sclerosis patient, who said he used the plants to make cannabis oil.

THE CONSEQUENCES of drug driving are being highlighted in a new TV advertising campaign being launched by South Yorkshire Police this week.

Aimed specifically at male drivers aged between 17 to 30-years-old, as they are the group that predominantly return the highest number of positive drug tests at the roadside, the advert will be aired on Sky TV.

To run over four weeks on the small screen, the advertisement is funded by the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership.

A portly man with a long, white beard named Santa Claus won a city council seat in North Pole, Alaska, on Tuesday. Reached by phone Wednesday morning, his voice sounded warm and a little gravelly. Perfectly in character.

Claus, 68, had already done half a dozen interviews by 10am, he said, talking with reporters as far away as Israel. North Pole is a community of a little over 2,000 south of Fairbanks in interior Alaska. He won as a write-in candidate with 58 votes.

It seemed everybody got a kick out of his election.

Dehra Dun : No Uttarakhand is not going the way of some of the states of the USA or Holland where marijuana has been legalized for smoking. Resident of this small mountain state, except for the Terai and Bhabar regions will now be able to take up cultivation of cannabis purely for industrial purposes as it will have a tetra hydro cannabinol (thc) content of 0.3 to 1.5 percent.