The stark contrast between the two proposed marijuana legalization referendums was made painfully apparent at the Common Ground Country Fair.

Legalize Maine, the local grassroots organization sponsoring the version of the referendum that supports local farmers and care providers, showed their deep understanding of the rural culture of Maine by doing the right thing. They signed up for a table in the Social and Political Action tent at the fair, paid their fees and settled in for the weekend to talk to folks about the referendum and get their support and signatures.

Police in Italy’s San Severo found 400 kg of marijuana worth over EUR 1.5 M in a van with a Bulgarian registration plate.

The Ford Transit van, where the drugs were found, had stopped by the side of a road near San Severo when a police patrol approached it, according to reports of Italy’s Corriere del Mezzogiorno daily, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio.

A man jumped out of the van and ran away into the field.

The marijuana found in the van could be used to make 280 000 single doses.

According to stats included in the just-released Uniform Criminal offense Report compiled by the FBI about all criminal activities in the United States, there were 700,993 marijuana-related arrests made in 2014, up from 693,058 in 2013, with 88 percent of those arrests being for easy ownership.

AUSTIN — A new poll from a nonpartisan leadership group in Texas shows Texans having more supportive attitudes toward gay marriage and softening marijuana penalties.

The poll, from the Texas Lyceum, came out midweek. The Texas Lyceum aims to educate leaders in a nonpartisan manner about the major issues of the day.

Their Day 1 poll (Day 2 shows how lawmakers and politicians are polling) has a variety of findings.

Border security is at the top of most Texans’ list of important issues, such that 62 percent of Texans supported a recent legislative approval to spend $800 million on border security.

About half of Texans still oppose marijuana legalization, although 57 percent said they would support lowering penalties for marijuana offenses.

Public health experts are slamming Stephen Harper’s assertion that marijuana is “infinitely worse” than tobacco, saying the remark has no basis in scientific fact.

The Conservative leader made the comment the morning after the final debate of the election campaign Friday night, during which he criticized Justin Trudeau’s proposal to legalize the drug.

MONTREAL – Marijuana is “infinitely worse” than tobacco and its use should be widely discouraged in Canada, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says.

The remarks come the morning after the federal leaders’ French-language debate, in which Harper’s clash with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau over the issue of legalization was among the evening’s more memorable exchanges.

The Liberals support legalization; Trudeau argued during the debate that if pot were legal and regulated, young people would be less able to easily procure the drug than they are currently.

The Conservatives are vehemently opposed to the idea, with Harper saying that regulating its sale in the same way as cigarettes or alcohol would do nothing to keep it out of the hands of kids.

The nation’s top cop thinks states should be allowed to legalize marijuana, but believes the federal government has a role to play in keeping cannabis away from kids and stopping interstate trafficking in the drug.

“I think states have to make those decisions on their own. They listen to their citizens and they take actions,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Thursday. “What we have said and what we continue to say is that states have to also have a system designed to, number one, mitigate violence associated with their marijuana industries. And number two, and perhaps most importantly, keep young people, children away from the products.”

Legalizing marijuana Issue 3 would legalize recreational and medical marijuana in Ohio. Click here for more information about the proposal. And click here for an updated list of supporters and opponents.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- If Issue 3 passes, Ohio's legal marijuana industry would generate between $133 million and $293.3 million in tax revenue for local governments, according to the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.

Internationally, the drug policies created over the past 50 years have been a bust. The emphasis on prohibition and security has done little to control the production, transit, or consumption of drugs. These policies have failed because the factors driving thousands of people to join illicit drug markets are deep and structural. Try as you might, you can’t just police them out of existence.

With 2016 due to be a huge year for marijuana legalization advocates, the questions have been coming fast and hard at next year’s presidential candidates – about both their personal feelings on cannabis, and how they would address marijuana policy.

Some of the responses we’ve heard have included blatant falsities – if not outright lies. This, of course, is to be expected during campaign season. But with marijuana legalization’s fate largely resting in the hands of the next administration, hearing candidates spout lies about, or exhibit a failure to understand cannabis in the least bit, is disheartening.

Here are seven of those big lies, and which candidates are espousing them.