Over the past four years, marijuana legalization has come to the United States at a relatively fast pace, thanks to overwhelming support for it among young adults. But up until now, change has mostly come from the voters -- sometimes in spite of lawmakers' wishes.

That balance could be shifting toward legislators, at least in one state: Vermont. In the next few weeks, Vermont could become the first state legislature to legalize marijuana. At Gov. Peter Shumlin's (D) urging, a bill to make Vermont the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana passed the state Senate in February and is currently being debated in the state House.

We should be growing marijuana here in sunlight, reducing carbon pollution and earning ourselves some dollars in the process, writes Stephen Pain.

I have yet to read the texts recommended by Clifford Schaffer in his letter “Drug laws not helping” on March 15, but otherwise I agree wholeheartedly with his views.

Richard Nixon, under immense pressure following the US disaster in Vietnam and the looming Watergate affair, desperately needed a rallying cry to divert the public’s attention and a “war on drugs” fitted the bill perfectly.

It also put the blame for the thousands of returning heroin-addicted GIs wholly on the drug itself and not on their horrific wartime experiences.

The BRICS nations comprise of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, with a significant influence on regional and global affairs. What is the Brics’ stance on marijuana and why should you care?

ANALYSIS: A quick check of political attitudes indicates Parliament is unlikely to change the laws on recreational cannabis use any time soon.

This is despite a wave of international reports saying that trying to suppress the drug trade by force does not work.

The argument was kicked off by the former presidents of five countries calling for a halt to the war on drugs.

They included the former leader of Mexico, a country which has been torn apart by drug gangs. The former leaders said suppressing the drug trade was handing big money over to organised crime.

"Know your enemy," wrote the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in The Art of War: while it might be infuriating to listen to virulent, ill-informed anti-drug lobby rhetoric, it's still important to be aware of the most vocal opponents of legalization. Here are five of America's most outspoken prohibitionists. 

1. Calvina L. Fay

wsuf.edu

Vancouver marijuana dispensaries have a few extra days grace before an official deadline to close.

The city originally told business owners that any storefront not moving through the regulatory process was to cease operations by April 20. Now, that date as it appears on a city website has been updated to read April 29.

In a telephone interview, Andreea Toma, director of licensing and property-use inspections for the City of Vancouver, told the Straight the change is not an extension, “per se”.

“The deadlines are specific to when a six-month count starts,” she explained. “It depends on when they were notified.”

Speaking at a drug abuse summit in Atlanta, the US president committed to tackling heroin and prescription opioid epidemic with prevention and treatment.

Obama speaking at a National Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Georgia on 29 March 2016. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Barack Obama committed Tuesday to take on America’s growing heroin and prescription opioid epidemic by devoting resources to prevention and treatment, rather than to the “war on drugs” policies of the last few decades.

In July 2001, Portugal decriminalized all drugs,including marijuana, cocaine, and heroin.

The possession of small quantities of those drugs was shifted to a public-health — rather than criminal — issue.

And rather than getting arrested for a small amount, you get sent to a "dissuasion commission," where a doctor, lawyer, and social worker prescribe treatment or give you a fine.

Those behind the THC-limiting proposals say they're smart, cautious moves; Opponents say they'll hurt the pot industry.

A proposed ballot initiative and an amendment to a bill in the state House would cap the THC potency of recreational cannabis and marijuana products at a percentage below most of those products’ current averages.

The initiative would limit the potency of “marijuana and marijuana products” to 15 percent or 16 percent THC.

The average potency of Colorado pot products is already higher — 17.1 percent for cannabis flower and 62.1 percent for marijuana extracts, according to a state study.

California's multibillion-dollar medical cannabis industry is largely a white man's game. It's rare to see a person of color owning a marijuana dispensary or running a major cannabis business; most black and brown people you see in the industry are working security or maybe behind the budtenders' counter.