Pietermaritzburg - Quick work by police officers resulted in two massive consignments of dagga being confiscated in Ladysmith and Newcastle on Monday.

In two separate cases, officers from both stations recovered more than R1 million worth of the drug.

In the first case, Newcastle police were doing their rounds when they saw a suspicious vehicle parked on the side of the N11 highway.

The officers searched the vehicle and found 58 bags containing 2 000 kg of dagga to the street value of more than R500 000. The driver, 33, believed to be from Bergville and en route to Gauteng to deliver the drugs, was arrested and charged with dealing in dagga.

I have worked locally as a police officer for the past 27 years and have spent the past 13 years working with juveniles as a school resource officer and juvenile detective.

Board member Michael Collins said he talks regularly with educators from Colorado who tell him that young people have not handled easier access to the drug well.

In May, ResponsibleOhio was criticized in an editorial in High Times magazine, the monthly publication that supports marijuana legalization.

One issue would allow recreational marijuana use, but the other issue would take away most of the framework of that law.

If we want to do something about the heroin epidemic, a significant impact can be made by preventing teenagers from using drugs in the first place.

Kentucky senator Rand Paul put more traditional conservatives on the defensive during the CNN GOP presidential candidates’ debate on Wednesday night, framing a fierce defence of cannabis use and states’ rights.

“There is at least one prominent example of someone who’s said they’ve smoked [weed] in high school,” Paul said. “I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration.”

“But the bottom line is … we say we support the 10th amendment until we start talking about this.” He also said the war on drugs had led to “a racial outcome”.

There's a very real reason Carly Fiorina is against legalizing marijuana: The Republican presidential candidate watched her stepdaughter, Lori Ann Fiorina, battle drug addiction and die an early death, at just 35 years old.

At the debate Wednesday, the moderator asked Chris Christie about his earlier statements saying he'd ban marijuana even in states like Colorado that have legalized it. When Fiorina had a chance to weigh in, her statement turned to her personal history.

"My husband and I buried a child to drug addiction," Fiorina said, acknowledging that the same is sadly true for many watching. "We must invest in the treatment of drugs."

In a notification to the Congress, Obama determined that Bolivia, Burma (Myanmar), and Venezuela "failed demonstrably" during the last twelve months to make sufficient or meaningful efforts to adhere to their obligations under international counter narcotic agreements.

How many wars can we fight?

Our presidential candidates demand "stronger action" against both illegal immigration and illegal drugs. But those goals conflict. The War on Drugs makes border enforcement much harder!

America's 44-year-long Drug War hasn't made a dent in American drug use or the supply of illegal drugs. If it had some positive effect, prices of drugs would have increased, but they haven't. American authorities say drugs are more available than ever.

Drug prohibition, like alcohol prohibition, creates fat profits that invite law-breaking.

It clocked in at $70 million last fiscal year alone.

Pot is a boon for tax revenues in Colorado, outpacing revenue from alcohol taxes in the fiscal year ending on June 30.

Colorado collected almost $70 million in marijuana taxes during that time, nearly double the $42 million collected from alcohol taxes. The state had a tax holiday for marijuana on Wednesday, an event that was welcomed by consumers and producers alike.

By a margin of over 2 to 1, voters in Toledo, Ohio yesterday approved a municipal ballot measure removing criminal and civil penalties associated with minor marijuana possession offenses. The vote took place during a special city election.