For three decades, America got tough on crime.

Police used aggressive tactics and arrest rates soared. Small-time drug cases clogged the courts. Vigorous gun prosecutions sent young men away from their communities and to faraway prisons for long terms.

But as crime rates dropped since 2000, enforcement policies changed. Even conservative lawmakers sought to reduce mandatory minimum sentences and to lower prison populations, and law enforcement shifted to new models that emphasized community partnerships over mass arrests.

A foreign investor is expressing concern that Jamaica’s delay in establishing a medical ganja industry is providing other countries with the advantage to maximise from the opportunities to cement themselves in the export trade.

Florida-based investor Mark Santiago, who has applied to the Cannabis Licensing Authority for a licence to operate a vertically integrated ganja business, feels that the disunity in communication is a major hold-up in the industry.

“I believe that the foot dragging is because of our lack of communication,” Santiago argued.

He was speaking to the Jamaica Observer at the MoBay Invest Conference put on by the Montego Bay Chamber of Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Friday.

“I don’t think that we should be legalizing this drug; this is a dangerous drug and I don’t want it in the hands of children,” said Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch.

Marijuana is a “dangerous drug,” Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch said Tuesday as she promised to undo the Liberal government’s efforts to legalize it, should she become her party’s leader and eventually prime minister.

There are too many public health and safety concerns surrounding marijuana for it to be legal, Leitch told The Canadian Press as the government prepares to table legislation later this week to legalize and regulate its sale.

Pennsylvania released draft regulations Tuesday for doctors who wish to prescribe medical marijuana as the permitting process for growers and dispensaries continues.

Doctors have until -- perhaps appropriately enough -- Apr. 20 to submit comments on the new temporary rules governing how the medicine can be obtained.

"The process for a patient to obtain medical marijuana will begin with the physician, so it's vital to ensure that our regulatory process for those physicians is open and transparent," Health Secretary Karen Murphy said, in a written statement.

Much like its conditional opposition of the military buildup, Adelup says a Federal about-face has caused them to re-think moving forward with allowing residents 21 or older to possess and grow marijuana.

Although the Calvo Administration cannot say how long it will pause its support for the Governor’s own adult-use cannabis bill, officials are planning for eventual outcomes from announced crackdowns of recreational programs from President Donald Trump. 

Much like its conditional opposition of the military buildup, Adelup says a Federal about-face has caused them to re-think moving forward with allowing residents 21 or older to possess and grow marijuana.

The federal government is getting ready to drastically speed up its licensing process to increase the numbers of companies that are authorized to produce marijuana for the recreational market that will open up in the first half of 2018, sources said.

A senior federal official said that in addition to tabling legislation to legalize marijuana on Thursday, the federal government will announce a push to authorize new producers of marijuana. At this point, there are 42 companies that have the necessary authorizations from Health Canada to produce marijuana for medical purposes across the country.

The chief executive of Canada’s highest-valued marijuana company expects the government to impose strict regulations on packaging and advertising when it legalizes recreational use.

After voters authorized recreational marijuana in November, Nevada lawmakers are discussing a raft of legislation to fill in the details of the new environment.

Here are some key themes running through 23 marijuana-related bills this session, and how they overlap with one another:

The federal government will table a bill to legalize recreational marijuana on Thursday that is expected to tightly control the ability of producers to market their products to the public, federal sources said.

But key issues such as how to deal with drug-impaired driving have yet to be fully resolved.

The government has indicated its legislation will be highly restrictive and designed to discourage people from consuming marijuana, especially under the age of 18. The bill is expected to include tough penalties for those who provide marijuana to children and teens, sources said.

“The goal will not simply be to legalize marijuana, but also to prevent youth from having access to it,” a senior official said.

The elegant white box shipped from the Tweed Inc. medical marijuana plant in Smiths Falls is stamped with a gold cannabis leaf that signals the dried bud inside is endorsed by Snoop Dogg himself.

The rapper who once boasted of smoking 80 blunts a day has a partnership with Tweed that helps both parties: Snoop promotes his Leafs by Snoop cannabis line and Tweed benefits from an association with “the world’s most renowned cannabis connoisseur,” as Tweed describes Snoop.

Tweed is poised to jump into the recreational market, and the marketing deal with Snoop Dogg was a major coup.