NEW YORK – Young African American and Latino mothers with their children walk down the bustling blocks of Liberty and Fulton in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Boys' sneakers scuffle on the cement courts at the park where they play a pickup basketball game.

East New York is home to nearly 175,000 people. Less than 10 percent are Caucasian and most are younger than 45 years old. Many of them seldom leave Brooklyn. About 35 percent live below the poverty line, and only about 8 percent have earned a college degree. The 75th Precinct, which encompasses the area, has accounted for the second-highest number of marijuana possession summons in New York in 2015, similar to the years when it accounted for the most marijuana arrests.

MADRID – Spanish authorities say an inmate has set up what police say is the country’s largest outdoor illegal marijuana plantation.

The 47-year-old Spaniard set up the operation within a 7.4 acre olive grove purchased while on prison leave, Interior Ministry spokesman Federico Pozuelo says.

The prisoner relied on a 59-year-old Lithuanain assistant to tend 75,000 cannabis plants weighing five metric tons. The drugs are valued at 5 million euros ($7.4 million CAD).

Police say the farm, situated in central Albacete, was surrounded by a protective perimeter wall of dung and garbage that masked the plants’ telltale aroma.

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. --

Marijuana plants as large as "Christmas trees" have been seized from a North Carolina man's garden.

WGHP reported that Kelly Gene Hines, 53, of Hickory, faces various charges in connection to the incident including trafficking and manufacturing marijuana.

Officers reportedly found the plants after checking out a tip about another house in the area. Officials said more than 20 marijuana plants were found growing near the home, including one that weighed 23 pounds.

Two men have been indicted in the District’s largest-ever synthetic drug bust, in which police seized more than 250 pounds of a substance marketed as Bizarro from a storage space in Northwest D.C.

On August 27, Maryland State Police and the Metropolitan Area Drug Task Force intercepted the drugs after they were shipped from the West Coast.

The new law allows district officials to shut down any business – typically liquor stores and gas station – caught selling the synthetic drugs, which are supposed to produce a high similar to marijuana, but instead have been known to launch people on hallucinations and violent rampages.

CEBU, Philippines – A reported presence of armed men has led police operatives to a marijuana plantation in the mountain barangay of Apatong, Badian town Friday morning.

Members of the Regional Public Safety Battalion-7 disco-vered at least P2 million worth of marijuana plants in the barangay’s Sitio Busay.

Superintendent Jonathan Pineda, of RPSB-7 headquarters, said they have received information about the presence of armed men in the area, prompting them to send some of their personnel.

While in pursuit of the reported armed men, the team of policemen accidentally stumbled upon the marijuana plantation. The police operatives aborted the hot pursuit operation and uprooted the marijuana plants instead.

The Torrance County Commission and the county's planning and zoning director acted appropriately when they approved a marijuana greenhouse in the Loma Parda subdivision near Mountainair.

Findings of fact were presented to the Commission at its regular meeting on Aug. 26. The Commission accepted the findings 2-1 with Commissioner Julia DuCharme opposing its acceptance.

The findings were the final step in the appeal process on the decision Planning and Zoning Director Steve Guetschow made in approving the greenhouse for operation. Guetschow contended in June that the greenhouse was allowed under the county's zoning ordinance.

Pardon the horrible pun, but the marijuana industry is budding right before our eyes.

CHEYENNE (WTE) - The Wyoming Medical Society has come out against a proposed ballot initiative that would legalize medical marijuana in Wyoming.

The statewide group, which counts more than 700 physicians and physician assistants as members, announced its opposition in a position paper posted to its website.

The statements says the group "opposes medical marijuana outside of the regulatory process of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

A spokesman with the group said its members consulted with several Wyoming medical professionals and the Colorado Medical Society.

The group's opposition comes as Wyoming voters could be asked to decide whether to legalize medical marijuana as early as November of next year.

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NEW YORK – The popular, online site—Craigslist—was getting commended Friday for quickly removing classifieds that advertised sales of dangerous, synthetic marijuana, commonly known as K2.

“As we fight  against the K2 epidemic in New York State, Craigslist’s immediate response to remove K2 classifieds helps us to ensure there’s one less source where people can score this dangerous drug,” State Senator, Jeff Klein, said Friday.

Klein and City Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, had led the call Thursday to various websites—demanding K2 be kicked off the Internet.

United Kingdom —  The U.K. government recently issued a woeful response to a petition calling for the legalisation of cannabis. The crushing response to the 200,000 strong petition calling for the legalization of the production, sale, and use of cannabis was published on the petition website on August 25th.

Despite receiving twice the number of signatures required for the issue to be considered for Parliamentary debate, the government’s response appears to have stifled the debate before it even begun, firmly closing the door on legalization.