Marijuana dispensaries, lounges, and recreational smokers all have reasons to be optimistic following the release of a government report on how legalization in Canada should be shaped.

The Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation made 80 recommendations to the government Tuesday. They include allowing for pot to be sold in retail spaces (a.k.a. dispensaries) and to be smoked at indoor marijuana lounges and tasting rooms.

A highly-anticipated report has given Canada the green light to sell recreational marijuana through a wide range of retail outlets in a boost to the nascent cannabis growing industry as the country moves toward legalizing the drug.

Closing a loophole allowing travellers to bring in prescribed medicinal cannabis into New Zealand from the United States is "barbaric" and "mean spirited", campaigners say.

Information on New Zealand Customs and The Ministry of Health website this week said  cannabis-based products from the US could not be carried into New Zealand. Customs staff were taking that stance from Wednesday.

Golden Bay woman Rebecca Reider, who this year successfully bought in a month's supply of US prescribed cannabis products for pain relief, said the Government's decision was a "barbaric and deliberate attempt to stop sick people in pain from getting their medicine."

It would affect her in a "very real way".

Medical marijuana patients in Portland can have pot delivered to their doors, so should recreational users be given the same privilege? 

Portland's City Council will hear a proposal Wednesday, Dec. 14, that would legalize the delivery of recreational marijuana through licensed dealers. A vote on the plan could happen next week. 

Adrian Wayman, co-founder of Green Box, a start-up online marijuana delivery service, thinks there's a market for delivery of recreational pot products. He says there are plenty of potential customers who don't want to risk being seen going into pot shops. 

Changing marijuana laws aren’t necessarily making weed more welcome in the workplace.

For now, many employers appear to be sticking with their drug testing and personal conduct policies, even in states where recreational marijuana use is now permitted. Others are keeping a close eye on the still evolving legal, regulatory and political environment.

Voters in California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada voted Nov. 8 to approve the use of recreational marijuana, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, where it had previously been legalized. (A recount of Maine’s close result is scheduled.) More than two dozen states have medical marijuana programs.

But the drug is still against federal law.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday, saying it helped his country achieve the "impossible dream" of ending a half-century-long civil war.

A smiling Santos received his Nobel diploma and gold medal at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, for his efforts to end a conflict that has killed 220,000 people and displaced 8 million.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is one less war in the world, and it is the war in Colombia," the 65−year−old head of state said, referring to the historic peace deal this year with leftist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Hoping to preserve its marijuana law under the next president, Colorado is planning a slate of legislation designed to crack down on marijuana that is grown legally but then sold on the black market.

The goal is to cut down on complaints that Colorado’s liberal allowances for growing marijuana without a license has created a thriving network of illegal growers. Colorado allows medical marijuana patients to grow up to 99 plants, far beyond other marijuana states, and it also allows recreational users to group their allotted six plants into massive co-ops, entire greenhouses of pot that aren’t tracked or taxed.

Why are so many military veterans reeling with "a sense of anger, hurt, frustration and betrayal?"

And why is a group of them marching on Parliament Hill? 

Shockingly, it's because ex-servicemen with PTSD aren't getting our government's respect and full support. 

Consequently, the suicide rate among ex-servicemen is at an all-time high. (I'll explain in a moment.) 

This is why a group of wounded warriors have set out on a 1,000-kilometre trek to protest veterans' access to medical marijuana being severely curtailed.

This disregard is going to accelerate an already alarming body count of ex-servicemen driven to suicide.

The dispensaries, which operate illegally, sell to anyone over the age of 19.

Come this Thursday recreational marijuana users in Montreal will be able to walk into a store, browse for their favourite strains and walk away with a few grams of cannabis — all in defiance of federal drug laws.  

That's because a Canadian chain of recreational marijuana dispensaries is planning to open multiple locations in the city. But how long they'll stay open is another question. 

Cannabis Culture, which operates dispensaries in 12 locations across British Columbia and Ontario, said it will announce the new Montreal locations on Dec. 14. They will open their doors to the public the next day.

The Mexican Senate has proposed an amendment and is likely to vote on it on December 12.

The Mexican Senate put forth an amendment last week that will give access to those in need of medical marijuana. 

The reform is expected to commence after it is officially executed next week on December 12. Several members of the Mexican government have been calling for access to medical cannabis.

The bipartisan agreement happened between Mexico's three major political parties – the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

This week, the Senate also heard the expert testimony of Jose Narro Robles as he underlined the importance of Mexico adopting the new legislation.