Congressman Earl Blumenauer has been leading efforts to sensibly reform our marijuana laws for decades. As a young state legislator, he helped Oregon become the first state to decriminalize marijuana and he hasn’t slowed down one bit. Now in Washington, D.C., the Portland representative works across the political divide to convince more and more elected officials to support practical cannabis law reform.

Come election time this November, voters in California may finally be looking at a ballot that includes a measure to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. While California was the first state in the U.S. to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, a subsequent proposition to legalize the drug for recreational purposes in 2010 fell short of the votes needed for passage.

The legislation currently being proposed, called the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, will require 365,000 signatures to be placed on the November, 2016 ballot, and is being pushed for by ReformCA, a project of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, chaired by Dale Sky Jones.

Politicians consider potential sites for marijuana facilities ahead of updating bylaw

PORT HOPE -- Port Hope is considering updating its laws to allow medical marijuana facilities to set up shop in the municipality. 

Council will make a decision on Sept. 15 whether to make changes to its current zoning bylaws to include provisions as to where a medical marijuana facility could potentially be built and operate. 

Port Hope’s elected officials and members of staff met on Wednesday for a public meeting on the issue. 

Cannabis News Network presents you with a follow-up on the dramatic case of Johan van Laarhoven. This former Dutch coffeeshop entrepreneur and his wife are still being imprisoned in Thailand under horrific conditions.

The reason for their imprisonment is an investigation initiated by the Dutch government, who is accusing Van Laarhoven of money laundering. Van Laarhoven having retired to Thailand, the public prosecutor triggered the Thai government to investigate Johan van Laarhoven too, which led to his and his wife’s imprisonment for over thirteen months.

MPs will debate whether the sale, production and use of cannabis should be legalized after a petition demanding a shift in the law attracted over 200,000 signatures.

The debate will be led by Labour MP for Newport West Paul Flynn, who strongly advocates the reform of Britain’s cannabis law. It will take place in Westminster Hall and is scheduled for October 12. 

Flynn has campaigned for the reform of UK cannabis law since 1990. In 2011, he presided over the launch of a report examining how cannabis could better be regulated, which was published by Britain’s pro-reform group Clear UK.

In March 2016, South Africa will bear witness to a historical court case that seeks to have one of the oldest and most draconian anti-cannabis laws in the world overturned. In the first of a series of articles leading up to the case, KEVIN BLOOM looks at some of the lesser-known characters in the drama, from the Khoi to Connie Mulder.

They have a sort of hemp growing in this country (Scythia), very like flax, except in thickness and height; in this respect the hemp is far superior: it grows both spontaneously and from cultivation …

—Herodotus, 484–425 BC

Now that Congress has returned from its August recess, it's time for members to debate and vote on the annual budget that will fund the federal government from October of this year through September of next year. And various marijuana amendments will be a part of these discussions.

TRENTON — A New Jersey appellate court on Tuesday ruled that despite a 2010 law legalizing medical marijuana, its smell is still grounds for a warrantless search.

An attorney for George A. Myers, who was arrested in January 2012 after he was found with a small amount of marijuana and a handgun, had argued before the three-person panel that the law had removed the presumption that a marijuana odor means someone is illegally in possession of the substance.