Like too many politicians of his generation, President Obama seems to think that proper enforcement of our nation's drug laws would be hypocritical.  We know from David Maraniss's highly acclaimed biography, Barack Obama: The Story, that the marijuana-smoking "Choom Gang" was all too much a part of the young Obama's days at Hawaii's exclusive Punahou prep school.

The first numbers are in, and they point to a resounding success: the state of Colorado’s Department of Revenue announced that legal marijuana pulled in some $70 million in taxes last year- nearly double the amount made from alcohol taxes ($42 million)!

On Wednesday, September 16, the state celebrated its new, “higher” source of income by suspending marijuana taxes for one day.

The marijuana legalization experiments underway in Colorado, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington have attracted a lot of attention around the country as test sites for the effects of legalization and exploring pot’s potential as a source of tax revenue.

I receive the following legislative alert:

Yesterday, Rep. Jeff Irwin introduced HB 4877, a bill that would end marijuana prohibition in Michigan and treat cannabis similarly to alcohol. Marijuana prohibition is just as destructive, costly, and ineffective as alcohol prohibition, and it’s time for Michigan to choose a better path.

Please take a moment to encourage your representative and senator to support HB 4877.

Continued war on weed infringes on personal freedoms.

The end of the second prohibition era draws near. The disastrous consequences of the misbegotten “War on Drugs,” with its focus on marijuana, are now widely recognized. More humane approaches to drug use are being implemented as states ease restrictions.

But not if the bitter-enders prevail -- as witness Gov.Chris Christie's struggle with the issue in Wednesday night's GOP debate."

VANCOUVER – Vancouver’s police board has unanimously rejected a prominent advocate’s complaint that the city’s police department was failing to enforce the law against marijuana dispensaries.

Pamela McColl of the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada had accused the department of not doing its duty “to maintain law and order” by not shutting down all pot shops in the city.

But deputy chief Doug LePard delivered a report to the board Thursday that stated criminal laws are less effective than municipal bylaws at closing illegal businesses.

The VPD must respect the City of Vancouver’s decision not to use its bylaw powers to shut down dispensaries and instead create a regulatory framework, he said.

The Colorado Department of Revenue reported $70 million in tax revenue from the sale of recreational marijuana, between July 2014 and June 2015. This history-making record easily topped the $42 million revenue the state made from alcohol in the United States within the same period of time. Marijuana has been so productive in Colorado that the state issued a tax holiday for marijuana items, proving that legalisation and proper regulation of the drug can significantly contribute its quota to revenue in any economy.

Mr. Schuh cannot be permitted to succeed in his quest to continue the criminalization of Maryland's sick patients. Citizens across our state, in every jurisdiction, deserve access to helpful medication regardless of Mr. Schuh's adherence to a philosophy...

× New side-effect of Washington’s marijuana law: Youth possession now a felony

LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A prosecutor in southeastern Washington has charged three teens with felonies for marijuana possession, saying a new law demands the higher level of offense.

The Lewiston Tribune in Idaho reports (http://goo.gl/g8Xhpl) three teens ages 14, 15 and 17 have been charged in nearby Asotin County, Wash., with felonies that could net them up to five years in prison.

The offense was previously a misdemeanor with a maximum 90-day jail sentence.

Asotin County prosecutor Ben Nichols says Senate Bill 5052 contains the new language.

Government of Puerto Rico could raise between $ 50- $ 100 million received by taxing cannabis use

The medicinal use of cannabinoids derived from Puerto Rico could represent an increase in government revenue through excise taxes on the sale, job creation in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, clinical research, production of plants, and others exhibited in the printed version of the Puerto Rican Journal of Medicine and Public Health (MPH) Mario Jordi Maura Perez, Department of Finance, School of Business Administration at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras.

It was announced this week by the Nevada Athletic Commission that welterweight UFC fighter, Nick Diaz will be fined $165,000, and will be suspended for five years after testing positive for marijuana.

The government agency levied the ridiculous fine and multiple-year suspension, not because Diaz was cheating or using steroids, but because they found traces of a plant that grows out of the ground in his blood.

According to Sherdog.com:

The UFC welterweight failed just one of the three drug tests administered during a five-hour period on the night of the event. The two negative results came from the