Another push to legalize marijuana in Michigan could launch soon. On Friday, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol submitted petition language to the state Board of Canvassers for approval. If the group gets the nod, it will need to collect approximately 350,000 signatures from valid registered voters within 180 days to make Michigan’s 2018 ballot.

If ultimately approved by voters, the proposal would make recreational marijuana use legal. Purchases of up to 2.5 ounces would be allowed and individuals could keep up to 10 ounces of marijuana in their homes, the Detroit Free Press reported. But the proposal would also give communities the choice of whether or not to allow marijuana businesses.

USA

New York City
Parade Assembly: 11:00 a.m. | West 31st & Broadway, Koreatown, NYC
Parade Start Time: 12:30 p.m. | Parade will march to Union Square (Route South on Broadway)
Rally: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Union Square South Plaza
“The NYC Cannabis Parade is the longest running public expression of drug policy reform in New York City, with roots as far back as the early 70’s. This event have gone by many different monikers, but our purpose remains the same, to spread awareness throughout the world! In 1999, the Million Marijuana March brand exploded and has since turned into a annual event held in hundreds of cities across dozens of countries.”

The movement for racial equity in the medical cannabis trade appears to be going bipartisan—last week, Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, ordered the state to conduct a study on whether racial disparities exist in the process for obtaining a state license for growing or selling medical marijuana.

A University of Guelph professor who penned a book on the history of illegal drugs in Canada says after nearly a century of marijuana prohibition, no one is really sure why it was made illegal in the first place. 

"We don't actually know," Catherine Carstairs told The Morning Edition host Craig Norris Tuesday.

A professor and chair of the history department at the University of Guelph, Carstairs is the author of the 2006 book Jailed for Possession: Illegal Drug Use, Regulation and Power in Canada, 1920-1961.

She said there are two competing theories as to why lawmakers banned marijuana in Canada in 1923, but both remain little more than speculation because of a lack of historic evidence. 

Expect legalization to create drastic changes in the way canna workplaces are regulated and product is produced. In the U.S. a legalizing marketplace may mean lower wages, but it will probably mean better working conditions. Across Europe, legalization is being seen as one way to crack down on slave labor as much as standardize product.

As cannabis becomes a legal commodity in both the U.S. and Canada, the production and distribution of the market becomes more structured. This means that the industry can start to produce higher volumes. However, by definition, this also means something else. The specialised workforces that have grown up around the industry are facing massive changes. Automation is making its presence felt.

An activist group is encouraging people charged with marijuana-related offences to purposefully clog up the courts, to punish the system for prosecuting them.

Quebec-based marijuana activist Ray Turmel says if the government is going to treat people like criminals for what he calls "peanut" offences, then he's going to hit back the best way he knows how.

"What I'm doing is trying to bottleneck the court system and cost them a lot of money," he says.

'Let's leave the court system for the people who really need to be tried.' - Ray Turmel, marijuana advocate

Policymakers seem to be conflicted about marijuana, and as a result, they're sending the public mixed messages. Laws regarding cannabis vary from state to state, and state laws may even conflict with federal law.

"Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing marijuana in some form. Three other states will soon join them after recently passing measures permitting use of medical marijuana," according to Governing.

This information was up to date as of March 23, 2017. That said, "Marijuana possession remains a federal offense," as Norlm points out.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to legalize marijuana and his Liberal government recently introduced Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, to Parliament.

The historic move places Canada at the forefront of global cannabis law reform, but critics across the country are speaking out about the potential dangers of the governments new plan.

I spoke with Kirk Tousaw – one of Canada’s most successful pot lawyers – about the good, bad and ugly of the new bill and how Canada’s cannabis community can continue to make their voices heard.

With just one day left to pass a bill, House and Senate Republican leaders are still struggling to strike a deal on the rollout of a voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for patients with debilitating conditions.

The leaders have reached agreement on a variety of issues — including the number of medical marijuana operators in the state — but remain divided on a major sticking point: how many dispensaries each marijuana treatment center would be allowed to run.

“If this doesn’t work out, this will be the reason,” Sen. Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican who is shepherding the measure, said before the Senate’s 31-7 vote Thursday evening in favor of the Senate version of the proposal (HB 1397).

The Arkansas Legislative Council leadership set in motion the key players in the state's new medical marijuana law from seed to sale.

The council's approval of emergency rules Wednesday allowed them go into effect Monday at noon as required by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016.

"Everybody knows what the rulebook is, how the game is going to be played," said State Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, who crafted the legislation. 

Hopeful cultivation facility and dispensary owners are obtaining land, equipment and employment options, while doctors consider patient certification and pharmacists question how to dose the drug.