OSLO: Norwegian customs agents have reported a three-fold increase in the amount of cannabis confiscated at the nation’s borders.

Through the first six months of 2016, the Directorate of Norwegian Customs has seized 1,600 kg of cannabis, while just 550 kg was seized in the first half of last year. The agency director general, Bjørn Røse, said the increase may indicate that cannabis use is on the rise both in Norway and elsewhere in Europe. “Cannabis use has remained stable in Norway for several years, but the new figures give cause for concern,” he said. Røse said that major seizures had been made in trailer transports, vans and campers.

An Oregon teenager is facing federal drug charges and up to a year in prison for possessing a gram of marijuana, according to his lawyer — the first marijuana possession case federal authorities have prosecuted  in the state since 2011.

Devontre Thomas, 19, recently graduated from Chemawa Indian School in Salem and is heading to college this fall. But first, he'll have to take a trip to the federal courthouse in Portland to fight the charge, stemming from an incident in March 2015.

As proponents gathered outside the State House Wednesday to urge support for marijuana legalization and condemn arguments against it as rooted in fear, opponents of a ballot question to allow the adult use of marijuana released a list of 119 members of the Legislature opposing legalization.

Massachusetts voters will decide at the ballot box in November whether to legalize adult use of marijuana while also setting up taxation and a regulatory structure for marijuana sales.

Supporters on Wednesday described backing the question as a matter of fairness and racial justice and said the tax revenue could provide an infusion of financial resources for areas like education, infrastructure and addiction treatment.

Boston City Council President Michelle Wu and Councilor Tito Jackson will formally endorse the state ballot push to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The move, to be announced at a State House event Wednesday morning, puts them directly at odds with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who is helping to lead the charge against the referendum. 

A 2007 graduate of Harvard College, Wu said she never used the drug but recalled some classmates did during their years in Cambridge.

“It just seems ridiculous that kids at Harvard can smoke pot and have incredibly successful careers while blacks and Latinos, particularly men and boys, who are using the same substance are sent to jail,” she said, voice rising.

Bruce Schulte at a press conference held by the Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation in February 2015. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)

One of the state’s key regulators on commercial cannabis has been unexpectedly ousted by the governor.

Bruce Schulte was active in the 2014 ballot initiative legalizing commercial marijuana in Alaska. He then served as chair of the Marijuana Control Board, a position with tremendous influence in crafting regulations for the new industry.

Recently though, he’d been voted out of the chairmanship. And last Friday, Schulte — who is a commercial pilot — landed after a flight to find an unexpected voicemail.

Hillary Clinton has solid support from cannabis industry executives even though she isn't a strong supporter herself of legalization, according to a new survey by Marijuana Business Daily (MBD).

In fact, as you can see from the MBD chart below, she has greater support from them (43 percent) than does from the national polls of the general population (39.8 percent).

According to the MBD poll, Clinton has even stronger support from cannabis industry investors (45.9 percent).

Michal Otipka one of the Czech Republic’s most influential cannabis entrepreneurs. He’s also a self-defense instructor. But when it comes to taking on the country’s court system, he’s powerless.

Otipka runs Czechia’s largest grow stores, which offer an array of wares such as cultivation media, nutrients, and lighting systems. The goods are legal, but perhaps due to Otipka’s success he’s become the fall guy in the country’s war on drugs — or, more specifically, the nation’s war on indoor gardening shops.

Pot is everywhere in Miami. Its scent wafts from bus stops, floats through open windows, and cascades out from under lifeguard stands on the beach at night. Spend more than a week here and you will, at least once, wonder if the server delivering you overpriced cocktails is stoned out of his mind. 

Which is why it's so surprising that, according to one of the most respected marijuana-usage surveys in America, roughly half the residents in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties think smoking weed once a month is "harmful" and should be avoided. That's the highest rate in the nation.

Sixty-five percent of Americans ages 18 and older believe that "government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth" and 55 percent of respondents say that it should be legal to consume the herb, according to national polling data compiled by YouGov.com.

Those living in the western region of the United States (65 percent), Hispanics (64 percent), Democrats (63 percent), and those under 30 (63 percent) were most likely to endorse legalizing marijuana use. Republicans (45 percent), African Americans (44 percent), and those over the age of 65 (40 percent) were least likely to be supportive. 

After Bernie stepped aside in the race for president of the United States, the closet ally the industry has is Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton is no hero for the marijuana industry, but after the Democratic party endorsed moving marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II to allow for more research, 43 percent of cannabis industry executives and professionals said they'd vote for Clinton for president.