The time has come for British Columbia to take the lead on the marijuana legalization process — according to one medical marijuana producer.

The long-awaited federal marijuana legalization bill being unveiled today, 

The legalization bill will consider how marijuana will be taxed, regulated and sold safely, but many critics say it will still leave a lot of details to the provinces — especially on how these policies will be enacted.

For some, the bill is a huge entrepreneurial opportunity.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressed shock at the swift public backlash to his fiery rhetoric on federal marijuana policy and his opposition to legalization.

Speaking on a range of issues at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona Tuesday, Sessions addressed his opposition to further easement of marijuana laws in states across the country. He also expressed confusion over the amount of attention his comments on marijuana during his confirmation hearing received, reports AZ Central.

An Iowa Senate subcommittee meets Wednesday to discuss a bill to legalize the production and sale of medical marijuana in Iowa.(Photo: William Petroski/Des Moines Register)Buy Photo

Legislation authorizing the use of medical marijuana is quickly moving through the Iowa Senate with the goal of providing help for patients with cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and a host of other ailments.

The Colorado Senate passed a bill Wednesday to allow pot growers and retailers to reclassify recreational pot as medical marijuana in the event of a federal crackdown.

The bill is seen as the boldest bid yet by a U.S. marijuana state to avoid possible federal intervention in its pot market. But critics say nothing guarantees that reclassifying pot as medicine would stop federal action.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and the Trump administration has given mixed signals on its policy toward U.S. marijuana states.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been skeptical of pot's medical value. President Donald Trump has suggested the handling of marijuana should be up to the states.

Regardless of how you feel personally about recreational marijuana, the majority of Illinoisans and the vast majority of Chicagoans support marijuana legalization. According to a recent poll from a public policy institute at Southern Illinois University, 66 percent of voters in the state support recreational marijuana, while 74 percent of Chicagoans are in favor of legalization. Citing these and other statistics, state lawmakers and marijuana reform advocates held a press conference in Chicago on Wednesday to unveil a new approach to making pot legal in the Land of Lincoln.

Mayor Eberhard van der Laan of Amsterdam wants medicinal marijuana to be more easily obtainable for people who need it, he wrote in a letter to the Dutch Senate and Ministers Stef Blok and Edith Schippers of Security and Justice and Public Health respectively, Het Parool reports. 

According to the Mayor, too many people don't have access to medical marijuana, despite it being able to improve their health. Van der Laan calls for a discussion with all stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry and health insurers. According to him, the situation around medical marijuana is too unclear in the Netherlands' current tolerance policy. 

The spice outbreaks of altered behaviour in Manchester and Wrexham have hit the headlines. Scare stories and images of so-called zombie–like behaviour (people being completely intoxicated and sometimes frozen in an unresponsive state), have become commonplace. Although these terms sound perjorative, this is not scaremongering - these behavioural changes show the profound impact that new powerful forms of synthetic cannabinoids can have on users. So what is spice, why do we have it, and what can we do to mitigate its possible harms?

It appears President Donald Trump is about to make another staunch marijuana opponent a member of his staff.

Reports indicate that Pennsylvania Representative Tom Marino, who has served three terms in Congress, is on the verge of stepping down from his role as a one of the nation’s legislative forces to become the leader of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Ottawa will have to launch a series of negotiations as soon as it tables its long-awaited bill to legalize marijuana on Thursday, needing to strike deals with the Senate, the provinces and the U.S. government in its bid to lift the 94-year-old prohibition on the drug.

For starters, the Liberals will need to adopt a raft of legislative changes in the House of Commons, where they have a solid majority, but also through an independent Senate that is increasingly asserting its desire to study and amend government bills.

Organized crime groups, including the Hells Angels, have managed to obtain legal personal production licences for medical marijuana, only to turn around and illegally sell the product across the country, CBC news has learned.

Several sources described to CBC how organized crime groups have obtained personal grow licences and are using them to try to hamper police attempts to shut down their operations.

CBC is not naming the sources, who fear reprisal from criminal groups or worry about interfering in criminal investigations. 

"We often don't have the the resources to chase down the true identities behind the licences," said one source.