Marijiuana, a divisive issue that normally resurfaces in Europe during election campaigns, has come home to France's hotly-contested presidential race.

With eight months to go until the 2017 French presidential election, marijuana - or cannabis, as the French prefer to call it - is an honored guest meme in the candidates' discourse, and a subject of intense controversy among the French electorate.

Oh that smell, can’t you smell that smell? 

The 2017 inauguration for President Trump takes place in Washington D.C. in a little over a week, and cannabis supporters are making a point – by handing out 4,200 joints to onlookers at the National Mall.

DCMJ, a D.C. cannabis advocacy group, is organizing the event. Their objective is to remind Trump and his fellow politicians that there’s a ‘marijuana majority’ in America.

“We legalized cannabis in Washington, DC and we are not going to let anyone take that away from us,” reads the invitation.

Medicinal cannabis advocates are pleading for compassion and urging Australian authorities to legalise the drug to help ease the pain and suffering of those who desperately need it.

It follows the South Australian police raid on Adelaide supplier Jenny Hallam's property last week that sparked an outcry from families who rely on her for the supply of cannabis oil.

There are couple of charges that qualify as a driving offence, commonly called DUI (driving under the influence). These include Impaired Driving, Over 80, failure or refusal to perform physical sobriety tests or give breath or blood samples.  Not only that, but this also includes Impaired Driving charges connected to driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.This is noteworthy because as Canada moves to legalize marijuana, new changes will be implemented to existing DUI laws. Marijuana consumption trends are changing, and with it the way in which people interact with and interpret the law.

Today, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and its supporters will participate in a “Day of Action” to mobilize opposition to the appointment of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General.

“Senator Sessions’ views are out of step with mainstream America and they are in conflict with laws throughout a majority of states,” stated NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri, “We must demand that Senators on the Judiciary Committee ask this nominee whether he intends to respect the will of the voters in these states and whether he truly believes that no ‘good people’ have ever smoked pot. If he truly believes such outdated Reefer Madness rhetoric, then he should not be the next Attorney General.”

In the last few years, attitudes to marijuana in the U.S. appeared to be easing.

And in many ways, they have. Four states have fully legalized recreational cannabis, and four more voted to follow them in November.

But the same election that doubled the number of pot-tolerant states brought Donald Trump into the White House. With him come people in key cabinet positions who loathe marijuana and have at least some power to act on it. Marijuana is still illegal under U.S. federal law.

The likely consequence: an end to the easygoing attitude that the Obama administration brought to states that chose legalization.

Several bills pre-filed in 2017 legislature.

Several bills filed by Texas lawmakers would decriminalize marijuana in the state, or at least allow it for medical reasons.

The 2017 session begins Tuesday.

"I believe Texas is at a tipping point where we're seeing the rest of the country having a sensible marijuana policy,” said Shaun McAlister of Arlington, the leader of DFW NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Eight states have now legalized marijuana possession. Some 28 allow it to be used for medicinal purposes. 

But critics, like recently retired Texas Department of Public Safety narcotics agent Corky Schalchlin of Frisco, don’t see any changes coming.

The United States is gradually becoming the land of the red, white, and green.

After a historic election cycle, which saw four states pass ballot initiatives legalizing nonmedical marijuana, one in five Americansnow live in a state where it's legal to smoke weed without a doctor's letter.

The industry is on track to post $20.2 billion in sales by 2021.

Here's a summary of where Americans can light up legally so far in 2017.

It looks like 2017 is the year that marijuana legalization finally takes off — a full three years after Guam voters approved the legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

During the waning days of the 33rd Guam Legislature, senators passed Bill 343-33, which provides for the rules and regulations of the medicinal marijuana program. Gov. Eddie Calvo then allowed the bill to lapse into law.

Calvo, however, vetoed a related piece of legislation, Bill 344, which would have allowed qualified patients or caregivers to grow marijuana at home for medicinal use.

California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada recently passed laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota enacted medical marijuana initiatives, bringing the total of states (and the District of Columbia) that allow some form of marijuana use to 33.

What does this trend mean for entrepreneurs thinking of entering the cannabis industry?

National prohibitions against interstate cannabis commerce and federal banking and drug laws are keeping big companies at bay, which opens the door for small businesses and startups to establish dispensaries, retail stores, cultivators, processing, manufacturing and testing facilities.