Marijuana activist Dana Larsen is making another tour stop in Calgary a year after he was arrested for giving away cannabis seeds.

The Vancouver-based cannabis legalization advocate admits he is “a little nervous” about coming back to the city where he was charged with one count of trafficking marijuana and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The Liberal government's point man on pot says Canada Day 2018 should not be about legalizing marijuana but about recognizing the country's history.

Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, said Wednesday he's a proud Canadian who believes July 1 is a day to celebrate the country's birth "for that reason and that reason alone."

"I believe that ... a reasonable goal is to have all this work done by the beginning of July, but by that date and on that date are very different things," Blair said in an interview.

"I don't think that's an appropriate date. That's my opinion."

States that have legalized recreational or medical marijuana could have a better idea by late July how the Justice Department intends to handle marijuana enforcement under the Trump administration.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo Wednesday indicating that the initial recommendations from the department’s new task force on crime reduction and public safety were due by July 27.

The task force is expected to identify ways to reduce violent crime and illegal immigration, and as part of that undertaking is evaluating existing policy in numerous areas — including marijuana enforcement, charging and sentencing, and asset forfeiture.

Gov. Jerry Brown has made his wishes clear: He wants the conflicts between California's medical and recreational cannabis laws resolved by the end of the year.

On Tuesday night his office published a 92-page document offering up recommendations for how to settle key differences in laws regulating both segments of the industry, with the governor choosing sides on everything from how many licenses marijuana business owners can hold to how weed should be distributed statewide.

The proposals were included in a trailer bill to Brown's 2017-18 budget. The Legislature will vote on whether those proposals become law, before they ultimately head back to Brown for final approval.

A state commission decided Wednesday to study decriminalization of marijuana, an idea sparked by a discussion in Norfolk.

The study this year by the Virginia State Crime Commission, which makes recommendations to the General Assembly, could be a first step toward a bill in 2018 or later to change marijuana laws.

The discussion in Norfolk started after Councilman Paul Riddick said during a public meeting in August that he wanted the city to push for decriminalization.

Mayor Kenny Alexander recommended the council try to get the Crime Commission, made up of state lawmakers and citizens, to study the issue. The commission has a staff that performs studies.

At least three provinces are making it clear they expect Ottawa to foot the bill for costs associated with its plan to legalize marijuana — an issue that will have significant impacts in their jurisdictions.

In Edmonton on Wednesday, Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said there likely be additional financial pressures related to regulation, testing and sharing public information about a legalized regime.

“We certainly are expecting some help with that — in what form that comes is difficult to say without having seen the regulations,” she said.

The government is expected to introduce legislation as soon as next week, ahead of annual “Weed Day” celebrations on April 20, to regulate the use of marijuana.

Governments across Canada will unveil an internal-trade agreement Friday designed to not only knock down domestic business barriers, but also lay the groundwork for talks to eventually establish a cross-country marijuana market.

Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains says the long-awaited deal, meant to boost economic growth, will also establish a clear process to help provinces and territories regulate the trade of recreational pot.

Those discussions can only come, of course, once the federal government legalizes marijuana with legislation that government insiders have said would be introduced next week.

Alaska marijuana regulators will resume the on-again, off-again debate over onsite pot consumption in retail stores Wednesday amid a rejection of the concept from the state's top medical officer.

The Alaska Marijuana Control Board began mulling — and preparing for — onsite use of marijuana in 2015, following voter approval of recreational use of pot by those 21 and older.

Members peppered regulations with references to onsite use and worked on rules for how that would be carried out. The board veered away from the visions some had of Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes, instead proposing that retail stores cordon off separate rooms for onsite use.

With legalization imminent, pot's reigning power couple looks more and more like a liability.

“I’d still like to be the Starbucks of weed,” says Jodie Emery, fresh from her first strip-search jail stint. After an arrest in Toronto, she’s back in Vancouver, sipping a latte inside a busy West Hastings Street cafe. Across the street is her grungy Cannabis Culture headquarters. Which, because of certain Ontario court bail conditions laid down in March, she cannot visit.

While the tension between state and federal laws has created a difficult situation for cannabis users, there’s another factor that is complicating the changing attitude towards weed: hospitals. Though it isn’t legally mandated, many hospitals won’t allow people who use weed to be placed on organ transplant waiting lists.