This election may decide whether Canada makes a historic leap toward marijuana reform or remains a legal battleground between cannabis advocates and a resistant federal government.

Under the federal Conservatives, Ottawa has long argued pot is dangerous, unproven as a medicine, and a serious risk to youth if legal access grows.

The government has only allowed possession by authorized medical marijuana users after courts ruled in 2000 they have a right to reasonable access.

Since then, tens of thousands of Canadians became approved users and many got federal permits to grow it themselves.

Cities grew anxious about the explosion of often unsafe legal grow-ops in their midst.

Missouri voters could decide on medical marijuana next year. One group in support of medical marijuana, New Approach Missouri, filed petitions with the Missouri secretary of state's office Thursday for a measure to legalize cannabis for medical purposes.

People taking medicinal cannabis will need to be given advice about the potential long-term side-effects, an expert says.

Dr Michael Farrell, director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, says the report on which the Victorian Government’s decision was based was “very well crafted and detailed presenting a balanced view of current research evidence and presents options for moving forward and for improving access to treatment”.

“However if medical use is likely to be long term, patients should be advised that the adverse effects of long term use are unclear,” he says.

LEGAL WEED IN THE HEARTLAND WOULD BE A HUGE VICTORY FOR NATIONAL LEGALIZATION EFFORTS. SO WHY ARE SO MANY CANNABIS ADVOCATES AGAINST IT?

It was unusually warm for late September, but Buddie didn't seem to mind.

As the mascot for a plan to legalize marijuana in Ohio, Buddie has a superhero’s physique, a green bumpy head, and a winning smile. Despite the heat, the woman on Buddie duty stood in the Oval, the center of academic life at Ohio State, and posed for selfies with students, as campaign workers registered young Buckeyes to vote.

Victoria is set to become the first state in Australia to legalise cannabis for medical use.

In a controversial plan, the Andrews government is taking steps to make the drug available for terminally ill people.

While many are welcoming the move, others are deeply sceptical, calling for more research into the long-term effects of medicinal cannabis use.

In a national first, the use of medicinal cannabis could soon be legal in Victoria.

The state government has announced plans to embark on what it says is Australia's first-ever cannabis cultivation trial.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is delivering on an election commitment to make medicinal cannabis available for terminally ill people.

A couple of weeks after the 2014 Election, during which Oregon, Alaska, and Washington D.C. voted to legalize marijuana, all eyes turned to California. California is, and has always been, the ‘top prize’ for marijuana reform efforts. It’s estimated that almost half of the marijuana industry in America is located in California. Think about that for a minute. The marijuana industry is MASSIVE, and getting bigger everyday, and half of that industry is located in one state.

Colorado and federal agents have raided illegal marijuana operations across the state the past six weeks in a concerted effort to take out companies marketing marijuana to different parts of the country.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh's staff has filed numerous criminal charges in recent weeks against illegal operations that are secretly growing marijuana in Colorado for shipment across the country.

BY THE time police were called to look at “a few cannabis plants” in a wasteland in south-west London, the site played host to a forest five feet high and the area of a football pitch. Officers cordoned it off on September 25th, with what sounded almost like a touch of regret for the gardeners. “All their time, trouble and gardening skills”, said Sarah Henderson, a police constable, “will go unrewarded.”

It takes a lot for marijuana growers to attract police attention these days. In July four forces—Derbyshire, Dorset, Durham and Surrey—declared that they would henceforth respond only to tip-offs and “blatant” weed use. Many other forces have also scaled things down, albeit quietly, according to Steve Rolles of Transform, a drug-policy think-tank.

A horse dealer who tried to smuggle 25kg (55lb) of cannabis into Belfast has been given a confiscation order of £80,000.

Drugs with a street value of £750,000 were found in Laurence McAllister's horse box at Stranraer in April 2012.

McAllister, 59, from Kells, County Antrim, was heading back to Northern Ireland when officers at the Cairnryan ferry port discovered the haul.

He was jailed for five years and six months in October 2012.

The cannabis resin was found in four hessian sacks which were stored in the vehicle alongside two horses.

Two men have been jailed for more than two years for running a cannabis farm at a home in Rugby.

Officers raided the property in Howkins Road, Brownsover, earlier this year and discovered a “sophisticated set-up” along with dried skunk-type cannabis with a potential street value of between £2,940 and £3,360.

Police also seized over £1,500 in cash from the house.

Grzegorz Klocek, 25, and Krzysztof Stanczyk, 33, were arrested and later charged with possession with intent to supply cannabis and production of cannabis.