Legalization: 
The majority of Americans (57%) support legalization, and support is highest among men (61%), particularly younger men (79%), and Millennials overall (68%). Among current users in states where marijuana is not currently legal, 37% say they are likely to consume more marijuana after it’s legalized.

Only 16% of Americans believe Marijuana is “very harmful”, which is lower than alcohol (27%), processed sugar (23%) and saturated fat (33%). A majority (51%) believes consumption can be beneficial, while only 32% believe that regular users are less successful in life. However, 25% report having a close friend or family member whose life was negatively affected by marijuana.

Growing cannabis in Malta could become easier if the government accepts a proposal being made by a magistrate who handles the bulk of drug cases on the island. 

Magistrate Natasha Sciberras has called for more leniency when it comes to cultivating more than one plant of cannabis if it can be shown that the plants were grown for personal consumption and not with intent to traffic. 

Somebody caught growing more than one cannabis plant in Malta currently faces a mandatory jail term but the magistrate believes the judiciary should have more discretion once it is evident that the cultivation was for personal use. 

As the federal government moves closer to legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, the debate is intensifying over the impact of driving while stoned.

One of Canada’s leading automotive journalists is suggesting the issue may be overblown.

David Booth, senior writer for Postmedia Driving, says he has not been able to find one study that definitively says the use of marijuana will increase the number of serious traffic accidents or fatalities.

He says he has looked at more than 20 scientific tests that included simulations and not one showed that drivers were unable to perform basic tasks behind the wheel.

In fact, Booth says the studies show that even “during emergency manoeuvres, there was no downside.”

Does anyone still believe that using marijuana makes people dangerous?

United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly certainly does. He declared in a speech yesterday that marijuana is a “dangerous gateway drug,” and that this makes marijuana offenses fair game for “targeted operations against illegal aliens.”

Conservative leadership candidates are split over marijuana policy, with Kevin O’Leary the only serious contender voicing support for legalization and Maxime Bernier refusing to say whether he’ll vote in favour of the Liberal legislation to lift the prohibition on the recreational use of cannabis.

Mr. O’Leary said up to 30 per cent of the population uses the drug medicinally and recreationally, and he believes the Conservative party membership understands it has to embrace “a much larger constituency.”

Capitol Hill is about to get a bit hazy.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans will be given the opportunity to bake out a “Joint Session” of Congress on Thursday, as Americans across the nation celebrate the unofficial weed-smoking holiday known as 4/20.

Members of DCMJ, a pro-cannabis activist group, plan to camp out near Capitol Hill to puff-puff-pass out at least 1,000 free marijuana joints to members of Congress, congressional staffers, interns and credentialed members of the press. The group offers to give out two joints per person, as long as the tokers are older than 21.

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who has spent the last five years railing against marijuana legalization, made headlines again earlier this week when he claimed that marijuana is a “Trojan horse” and warning that cannabis consumption is a “hazard to public health.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo News, Kennedy, the son of iconic Sen. Ted Kennedy, once again expressed his fear that the legalization of marijuana will lead to “permanently disabled” youth:

Medical marijuana will be grown on up to 24 licensed sites statewide -- subject to some of the highest fees in the country -- under the final rules presented to lawmakers Monday.

The cultivator portion of the rules, which also details the application and license fees for retail dispensaries, product processors and testing labs, cleared the Ohio legislature's Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review without objection from the panel.

The rules will be officially filed later this month and take effect before the May 6 statutory deadline.

Raegen Arnold, 13, of Pleasant Prairie, was among the children who circled Gov. Scott Walker Monday to witness him sign legislation into law to add cannabidiol oil to the list of options available to treat medical conditions.

For Raegen, who has battled with epilepsy since she was 2 years old, CBD oil could help calm the seizures for which she is taking three prescription medications.

State Sens. Bob Wirch, D-Somers, and Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, were among the legislators who introduced Senate Bill 10, a trailer to "Lydia's Law," named in honor of the late Lydia Schaeffer of Burlington, who suffered from seizures due to Kleefstra syndrome. Lydia's mother Sally Schaeffer led the charge to lobby for its passage. 

The CEO of Hill and Gertner Capital first got involved in the marijuana industry in 2004 and now presides over upscale pot brand Tokyo Smoke.

Lorne Gertner understands the power of a label. “As things become commoditized, then brands and design becomes important,” he says.