The Cannabis Growers of Canada are as excited as ever by the approach of another April 20th, or 4/20. Many of our member dispensaries and cannabis farmers across Canada will be participating in their local 4/20 celebrations, and we look forward to seeing the community come out to support cannabis legalization.

As we move into a new era of openness for cannabis consumers and businesses, it is fitting that 4/20 Vancouver has moved to its new location at Sunset Beach. While we continue to fight for patients’ rights and a better future for small cannabis businesses, we are pleased to see the industry transitioning to a normalized and legal future that celebrates local craft producers.

This year alone there have already been more than 50 legislative initiatives around the country aimed at legalizing or decriminalizing medical or recreational marijuana. 

Will marijuana legalization in Colorado cause pot use and abuse to skyrocket, along with other problems associated with cannabis? Or will it be a net gain, creating new jobs in a burgeoning industry while cutting arrests for a relatively mild drug?

A new report from Colorado finds a little bit of the first and a little bit of the second.

The report, filed by the Colorado Department of Public Safety for the state legislature, had several big findings:

As marijuana advocates in Canada take part in 4/20 cannabis culture demonstrations today, they know pot-smoking events in the not-too-distant future could actually be legal.

But when the Liberal government makes good on its campaign promise to legalize marijuana, there are bound to be many questions about life in a pot-permissive Canada that are more about social norms than laws. In the U.S., Colorado and Washington have already lifted their prohibitions on weed, leaving American etiquette experts with a new frontier to address. 

CBC News asked Lizzie Post, great-great-granddaughter of renowned etiquette expert Emily Post and co-president of The Emily Post Institute, to weigh in on marijuana etiquette.  

Experts say listing cannabis among the world’s deadliest drugs ignores decades of scientific and medical data. But attempts to delist it have met with decades of bureaucratic inertia and political distortion.

Speculation is growing about the possibility that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will review by summer its “Schedule I” designation of marijuana as equal to heroin among the world’s most dangerous drugs. Very few Americans know of or understand the DEA’s drug-ranking process, and a review of cannabis’s history as a Schedule I drug shows that the label is highly controversial and dubious.

A marijuana ordinance passed its first reading Monday in a 4 to 3 vote. 

Leaders will return for a second vote on May 9.

It was a packed house at Orlando City Hall on Monday as leaders discussed the ordinance that will decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

Some residents spoke out with major concerns about how marijuana offenses will be handled in Orlando in the future.

“We feel it’s a gateway drug. We feel it leads to young people trying other things,” said opponent Jim Millar.

Others were worried about how the proposed rules would be enforced.

“It is a false sense of protection, especially for people of color in Districts 5 and 6,” said opponent Cynthia Harris.

Medical marijuana programs are gaining momentum across the country. Yet, while Pennsylvania just became the twenty-fourth state with a comprehensive medical marijuana program, the District of Columbia is working to roll back patients' rights and criminalize consumption.

NBC’s late-night host introduces some incredible pint-size imitators of the GOP presidential candidate

On Friday’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the NBC late-night host unveiled a special Donald Trump edition of his segment for fans to submit clips of their kids doing celebrity impressions.

And the kids did not disappoint. One boy called the GOP presidential frontrunner “Donald Trunk,” while a blond girl promised to build a wall “and make Mexico pay for it — it’s gonna be hoooge.”

Proposal for one-schedule drug regime in Queensland described by experts as ‘scientifically questionable’

Plans by the Queensland government to increase penalties for cannabis possession and trafficking to match those for “harder” drugs has been described by drug policy experts as a “retrograde” and “uninformed” step.

On Tuesday, Maine will be the first state to formally consider the idea, even though the federal government still classifies marijuana as an illicit drug.

Medical marijuana caregivers and patients will ask state regulators Tuesday to consider adding opiate addiction as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana.

Maine will be the first state to formally consider allowing medical marijuana to be used as treatment for addiction to opiates and other drugs derived from chemical synthesis, said Dawson Julia, a caregiver from Unity who submitted a petition to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to request the public hearing.