The Jamaican government is urging the financial sector to ensure that only clean money from the new ganja industry passes through their systems.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator AJ Nicholson made the call yesterday as he said the opening of opportunities in the industry also involved risks.

Addressing the Jamaica Bankers’ Association/Jamaica Institute of Financial Services 4th Annual Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism Conference, he said that with the relaxation of rules governing the use, possession and trade in medical cannabis related products, financial institutions “must adapt their rules and procedures to be consistent with the amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act”.

The first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday wasn’t the splashy policy rollout marijuana legalization advocates wanted, but it was enough to convince them Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has finally come around to their point of view, adding another cadre of progressives to his army of grassroots supporters.

It came near the end of the debate, and it wasn’t even a question about national politics.

“Sen. Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot,” CNN debate moderator Anderson Cooper asked. “You’ve said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn’t quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote?”

“I suspect I would vote yes,” Sanders replied.

Croatia allowed the sale of marijuana-derived products for medical purposes today, following a campaign sparked by the detention of a multiple sclerosis sufferer who grew the plant to ease his pain.

Medicines containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, can now be prescribed by doctors to ease health problems associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and AIDS, the regulation says.

The drugs can be prescribed only for up to 30 days while the overall quantity for the period cannot exceed 7.5 grams. Other marijuana use remains illegal under Croatian law.

The purchase and use of marijuana for medical purposes became legal in Croatia on Thursday as the country became the first Balkan state to join the global trend towards softening legislation on the drug.

A medical committee set up by the health ministry decided in January this year that the state should proceed with its legalisation because it can be useful for treating some illnesses, according to what it said was “the latest scientific and medical knowledge”.

Doctors will be able to prescribe medicine, teas and ointment containing THC, the active element in cannabis, to their patients. Regulations permit each patient to receive up to 0.75 grammes of THC per month.

Europe has always been an unlikely advocate for pot reform — despite its liberal platforms toward social aid and welfare, most nations still hold surprisingly conservative views toward drugs and immigration. Globally, only one country — South America’s Uruguay — has permitted completeweed production and use, and a handful of others has allowed mere possession. Yet there’s reason to believe that the “forest of chestnuts” and “orchards of fruit trees” that Ernest Hemingway romantically described as the Italian front in A Farewell to Arms could become the fertile soil for the first fully legal green stuff in the Western world.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is facing pressure from marijuana advocates ahead of the first debate.

As more states legalize medical and recreational marijuana, a number of presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle have called for looser drug policies to varying degrees.

Marijuana advocates say it is a positive step for their cause, but they would like to see stronger commitments from Clinton and some of the other candidates.

“Hillary is probably the worst of the bunch on marijuana reform, and even she has said states should be ‘laboratories of democracy’ when it comes to legalization,” said Dan Riffle, director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, comparing Clinton to the other Democratic candidates.

In a decade and a half of practising law, I’ve never come across an industry changing and evolving as rapidly as Canada’s medical cannabis industry.  It’s fascinating, but it’s also time-consuming to stay abreast of everything that’s going on.  So in case you are interested in what is happening in the industry (beyond the legalization debate taking place within election campaigning), here’s a quick update on my ‘top ten’ list of current issues: