A voter-approved law allowing adults to possess, grow and use limited amounts of recreational marijuana has now taken effect in Massachusetts, but it will still be at least another year before the state issues retail licenses to sell the drug. For now, that leaves recreational users with little choice but to buy it from illegal dealers.

The ballot measure passed last month by a margin of more than 240,000 votes out of nearly 3.8 million total votes cast.

Here’s a look at the new law, including what’s legal and what’s not.

The Tottori Prefectural Assembly approved a revision Monday to a drug control ordinance to place a complete ban on growing cannabis, including hemp for industrial use.

The move followed the arrests in October of the president and two employees of a hemp processing company on suspicion of marijuana possession. The company was licensed by the prefecture to process hemp. This was the first case in Japan in which workers at a licensed firm were arrested for alleged violation of the cannabis control law.

The Drug Enforcement Administration published a rule in the Federal Register Wednesday clarifying that certain marijuana extracts — notably cannabidiol, or CBD — are indeed Schedule 1 controlled substances and just as illegal under federal law as whole-plant marijuana itself.

DEA spokesman Russell Baer says it is an administrative measure to help with record-keeping, but the rule drew attention for its use of the archaic spelling of “marihuana" -- with an “H” instead of a “J.” The rule is entitled “Establishment of a New Code for Marihuana Extract,” and uses the H spelling throughout.

There are angry crowds in Tbilisi again. On International Human Rights Day (10 December), protesters gathered outside Georgia’s parliament building to call on the government to “decriminalise!”. The event ended in a confrontation with the police, as protesters obstructed the main road. Nobody doubts that protests will continue; Georgia is fighting a war on drugs, and activists of the White Noise Movement are on the front line. 

The decriminalisation of marijuana has been a real issue in Georgian politics since 2011. The country has a particularly repressive no-tolerance policy towards drug users, which has endured (with a few changes) since the Soviet period.

Who knew Liberal governance would descend so quickly into high farce?

There was the righteous online mockery of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s woefully miscalibrated (and/or entirely sincere) statement mourning Fidel Castro’s passing.

There was Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef’s jaw-dropping attack on the electoral reform committee for not fulfilling its mandate, which it had; her apology for the attack; and then her flailing, incoherent ongoing attempts to portray the Liberals’ promise to ditch first-past-the-post elections as anything better than an insincere election promise gone to seed.

A little three-page document published this week in the U.S. Federal Register sent some fairly big shock waves through the cannabis industry.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration filed a final rule notice to establish a Controlled Substances Code Number for “marihuana extract,” and subsequently maintaining marijuana, hemp and their derivatives as Schedule I substances. According to the notice:

This code number will allow DEA and DEA-registered entities to track quantities of this material separately from quantities of marihuana. This, in turn, will aid in complying with relevant treaty provisions.

The South African Medical Association (Sama) has warned the public that the proposed amendments to allow for the medical use of dagga would be implemented along strict guidelines.

“On 23 November, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health announced that the Department of Health would soon regulate access to medical cannabis for prescribed health conditions,” Sama chairman Mzukisi Grootboom said on Wednesday.

“The public, and healthcare professionals, should note, however, that the Medical Innovation Bill seeks to allow cannabis for medical purposes only. The bill, and the regulatory framework to be introduced by the Health Department, do not apply to cannabis for recreational purposes, which remains illegal in South Africa.”

Anyone involved in the cannabis industry knows that the lack of access to banking services is one of the major issues plaguing the burgeoning industry. Actually, it is a real testament to the quality of the industry that businesses have been able to survive at all with such few banking options. Add on the 280e federal IRS tax provision that denies normal deductions for even state-legal-and-regulated businesses and it is amazing that cannabis businesses have been able to stay afloat at all.

Legalizing pot is just the 1st step before the more complex task of regulating its use and sale.

Legislation to make pot legal will hit the House of Commons come spring, but the day when recreational marijuana becomes officially available to buy across the country could still be years away. 

"I think one of the things we were struck by was how complex this transition actually is, and not only in terms of drafting legislation at the federal and provincial levels and putting in place all the infrastructure and training, but the psychological transition," former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan told CBC News Network's Power & Politics host Rosemary Barton.