From California to the Baltic, the dam is breaking. Meanwhile, the British government sticks to its ‘war on drugs’, and pays the heavy price.

How did the world change on 8 November 2016? No, it was not the election of Donald Trump. It was the passage of California’s proposition 64, removing legal controls on the production and sale of marijuana.

Tuesday's election notched several wins for marijuana law reformers across the country, including those in four Ohio communities.  

Three states legalized recreational marijuana and the vote was too close to call in a fourth state, according to unofficial election results. Four states legalized medical marijuana.

And four Ohio communities passed local ordinances reducing penalties for marijuana possession to none. 

Marijuana decriminalization measures passed in Newark in Licking County, Bellaire in Belmont County, Logan in Hocking County and Roseville, on the border of Perry and Muskingum counties. A measure in Byesville in Guernsey County failed. 

Minister makes promise to mother of child with a catastrophic form of epilepsy.

Minister for Health Simon Harris has promised the mother of an ill child that he will take action on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in January.

The Minister made the promise to Vera Twomey after she embarked on a walk from Co Cork to Leinster House in order to draw attention to the issue.

Supporters of the marijuana industry should be celebrating this week’s passage of eight state ballot measures to permit its use by adults. That promises to triple the industry’s size in coming years. 

But harshing their buzz are several key allies of President-elect Donald Trump, such as his running mate Mike Pence, who are skeptical about the benefits of marijuana legalization.

Not surprisingly, many in the cannabis industry had expected Democrat Hillary Clinton to cruise to victory and were stunned when it didn’t happen. Now, they’re awaiting signals of how Trump will approach cannabis, even as the industry is set to expand significantly.

The FDA is going to end up Chief Regulator of all things cannabis. Take a deep breath, feel the conflict, move through it. You’ll be OK. Now, let’s talk about when and how this will happen, and take notice that it has already started; just because you didn’t see it happening doesn’t mean it isn’t. Maybe it’s all for the better, we’ll see.

The election wasn't just about Republicans and Democrats, marijuana also won big on election night. Voters approved recreational marijuana in California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine. Medicinal marijuana passed in Montana, North Dakota, Arkansas and Florida. 

But will either of those measures ever reach Texas?

We have seen a very slight softening on the attitudes of legislators here in Texas when it comes to marijuana legislation, but there is still a long way to go before there's any sort of wide-scale legalization.

Californians overwhelmingly said yes to recreational marijuana on Election Day.

Those in favor of the decision owe a big thanks to billionaire Silicon Valley fixture Sean Parker.

The former Facebook president and founder of Napster contributed $8.5 million to the effort to legalize recreational marijuana in California.

Parker has been radio silent regarding Proposition 64, though his dollars said otherwise.

Is Big Weed on the way? Now that California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts have legalized recreational marijuana, investors should expect the explosion of a major new industry which could have a major economic impact on America.

One main reason why the potential in recreational marijuana is so great is that, until Colorado and Washington legalized cannabis in 2012 (Oregon and Alaska legalized it later), there was no legitimate industry in the country to speak of. By virtue of being legalized — and in particularly in a state as large, and with as vibrant an agricultural sector, as California — the recreational marijuana industry has now created a solid foundation for itself and its own ground floor.

Sales of illegal drugs inside Colombia were worth more than $2 billion (1.61 billion pounds) in 2015, the equivalent of 0.75 percent of gross domestic product, the government said on Wednesday.

There are at least 1.5 million consumers of cocaine, marijuana and synthetic drugs like ecstasy in the Andean country, the national planning agency said in a report, placing Colombia fourth in rates of drug addiction in South America.

Colombia is one of the world's top producers of cocaine, with the capacity to make 646 tonnes of the drug annually and more than 96,000 hectares devoted to cultivation of coca. Most of that is destined to be trafficked overseas. Authorities say marijuana growing is on the rise.

Canada's effort to craft a legalized marijuana regime could be boosted by the move of four more U.S. states to approve recreational use of the drug, says a Halifax law professor.

As it designs a new system, the Liberal government must address the fact Canada is a signatory to three international conventions that require criminalization of the production and possession of cannabis.

The nod this week to recreational pot use from voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada should give Canada more ammunition in the court of global legal opinion, said Archie Kaiser, a professor in the schools of law and medicine at Dalhousie University.

It seems that Canada may be part of an emerging consensus," Kaiser said in an interview.