PDATE: I have some very astute readers. One who shall remain anonymous but is very well-educated on the intricacies of state governments critiqued my Terrible Precedent section. I’ve modified the text with italics for the inserts and strikethrough for the deletions.

It’s on the ballot now. ResponsibleOhio, the group that shocked the drug reform world, has qualified their constitutional amendment to end Ohio marijuana prohibiton for the 2015 ballot as Issue 3.

That means the conversations about which method of legalizing marijuana someone in Ohio may prefer are moot. On November 3, 2015, there are just three choices for the Ohio voter:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT:       Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2016

Pursuant to section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit and/or major illicit drug producing countries:  Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

Marijuana legalization is often compared to the repeal of alcohol prohibition in the 1930s. Many see marijuana following the same trajectory as alcohol, where the states, just as they did with alcohol, start with medical regimes and one-by-one create a patchwork of state-based marijuana regulations leading up to recreational use.

The Canadian marijuana market is suffering difficult times and has been hammered since March, 2014.

Tweed Marijuana Inc. did show a “profit” in its latest quarter, but that number was a fiction created by accounting standards and not real operations. (As an aside, this is yet another example of the International Standards Accounting Board imposing change without actually making a difference.) There is little opportunity for the MMPR’s to create value for their shareholders until two events play out.

Some of us are still processing this whole marijuana legalization deal. For many people, it’s kind of hard to believe legalization is actually really happening — it’s no longer simply a topic of discussion marijuana smokers debate over, it’s right here and right now. Imagine going back in time and telling yourself 10 or 15 years ago that in 2015, recreational pot would be legal in four states — and even Washington D.C.

MANILA, Philippines - While lawmakers are debating the legalization of medical marijuana, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have banned the use of marijuana in consumer products.

In a joint advisory yesterday, the FDA and PDEA said the use of “hempseed oil or their varieties and derivatives from cannabis or marijuana in consumer products” is prohibited in the country to protect the public from the harmful effects of dangerous drugs.

Certain countries classify marijuana as a prohibited drug but allow the sale of products such as soap and chocolate containing cannabis.

Every morning, Rose Renton asks her son Alex to help her be strong and continue fighting in his name.

Alex was a fit and healthy teenager, but died on July 1 in Wellington Hospital, after spending months in an induced coma in "status epilepticus", a kind of prolonged seizure, the cause of which remains unknown.

During her son's illness, Renton made headlines as she and her family pushed for and were successful in getting Alex to be treated with medical cannabis oil.

Renton says the treatment was too little and too late, but regardless, her life has been turned upside down since.

Somedays, she still cries all day about him.

The prohibitionists continue to dig through the latest data in the National Survey on Drug Use & Health, looking for the evidence on marijuana use trends that show ending the punishment of adults who use marijuana will turn the youth of our nation into pot zombies.

CHICAGO • Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration issued a broad rejection last week of expanding the list of diseases that can be treated with medical marijuana in Illinois, refusing to add osteoarthritis, migraine, post-traumatic stress disorder and eight other health problems.

Separately, the governor vetoed a bill that would have added PTSD via a legislative route.

The moves were a stern rebuke of recommendations from an expert advisory board appointed by Rauner’s predecessor, Democrat Pat Quinn.

Adding conditions would have expanded the potential base of patients. So far, only 3,000 Illinois patients have been approved to use marijuana for conditions listed in the original law, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis.

Let it be known that we're still more than a year away from the 2016 presidential election, and the issues that will decide the election are still being felt out. However, with each day that passes it looks more and more plausible that marijuana and the federal government's views on marijuana will play an increasingly important role in the election.