As cannabis advocates debate whether a proposed Arizona legalization law allows counties or towns to ban home growing, attempts to regulate home cultivation of medical marijuana have failed.

The inability of counties to control home cultivation by qualified medical-marijuana patients gives insight into how the planned legalization measure may work for those who want to grow their own.

A marijuana advocate and talk show host on the Valley-based Cannabis Radio Network has a target on his back. Literally.

"Radical" Russ Belville, host of the Russ Belville Show, has a map of the United States tattooed from shoulder to shoulder. States that have legalized recreational use of marijuana  Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska  are shaded in green ink.

"I'm not stopping until all 50 states are legal. I'm not stopping until nobody has to fear a drug test for their job. I'm not stopping until every patient who needs medical cannabis can get it."

Belville dove into marijuana advocacy full-time in 2006 after a failed drug test disqualified him from a job in information technology.

Tampa City Council gave final approval Thursday morning to a new law allowing police to fine rather than arrest people found in possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Council members voted 5-1 to adopt the law, which gives police the option to issue a civil citation for possession of up to 20 grams, roughly three-quarters of an ounce, of marijuana. The new law will take effect once it is signed by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who supports the measure.

The law is intended to prevent offenders from winding up with the life-long stigma of a criminal record that can hinder job, scholarship and housing opportunities. Council members previously said it will also free up police and the courts.

British Columbians are taking a keen interest in a petition that asks for the Canadian government to fully repeal the prohibition of marijuana.

Of 12,549 signatures gathered so far, residents of B.C. account for 5,133 of them. That’s 41 percent, whereas B.C. accounts for roughly 13 percent of the country’s population.

The petition was launched on February 10 and is sponsored by Elizabeth May, leader of the federal Green Party and the B.C. MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

For once, there’s a bigger problem in New Zealand than its flag being confused with Australia’s: a chronic shortage of marijuana.

The “catastrophic” situation was first reported on by Don Rowe, a staff writer at The Spinoff, who wrote that New Zealand’s most popular illegal substance was “almost unobtainable in any meaningful amount right now”.

“Blame it on the police, the gangs, the weather or just the grow cycle of your average cannabis harvest; no matter which way you slice it, it’s dry out there.”

Earlier this month, in a packed classroom at the University of Denver’s law school, more than 60 people listened intently to a line-up of speakers: experts who deal regularly with the legal issues surrounding industrial hemp in the United States.

The event’s organizers, the National Hemp Association (NHA), say they’re trying to assist those interested in industrial hemp as they navigate the sector’s rapidly-evolving legal statutes.

”The biggest need for a seminar like this is because the legal issues are complex, changing and inconsistent between state and federal (laws),” said Zev Paiss, the NHA’s executive director.

Of all of the promises the Liberals made in the lead-up to last year’s election, one would have thought that legalizing marijuana would be an easy one to keep, as it would be pretty easy to do.

The basis for marijuana’s illegality in Canada is its inclusion in several schedules of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is serious about his election promise, he should take the obvious first step and propose legislation that would remove marijuana from the CDSA. Regardless of what marijuana legalization scheme is dreamed up over the next couple of years, this will need to happen. The sooner it does, the better.

After a successful court battle to shut down one of Don Briere’s illegal pot shops in Abbotsford, the city is now asking a judge to outlaw his remaining franchise and ban the cannabis entrepreneur from operating in the community.

The City of Abbotsford filed a petition this week to stop Mr. Briere, owner of the largest chain of dispensaries in Canada, or any of his partners from running a pot shop in the city without a valid business licence – something the mayor says Mr. Briere will never obtain as long as marijuana remains illegal. The city is also asking a judge to force Mr. Briere’s business to pay all outstanding fines, which bylaw officers have been levying almost daily as they ticket the store on South Fraser Way for operating illegally.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts took the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday as a way to start promoting their campaign for the November Ballots. The group has aired their first billboard advertisement this week (it launched Monday March 14th) and it will run through the 20th.

When it comes to trying to convince those against legalization that it is the right thing to do we often turn to the argument that marijuana is safer than alcohol – and while that is the truth, some people still just don’t want to hear it.

Well this St. Patrick’s Day a strategically planned billboard will be reminding thousands – including many Massachusetts lawmakers – that marijuana is safer than alcohol.

Beth McCormack of Camp Hill was among a group — some with sick children and some sick themselves — who celebrated on Wednesday evening after watching the House finally pass a medical marijuana legalization bill 149-43.

Many had lobbied for the bill for more than two years, and endured let downs and frustration as public opinion swung strongly in favor of medical marijuana and the state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill, but the House let eight months pass before Wednesday's final vote.

"I feel like I can see the end of the the road. I feel like I can see health in my future for the first time in 18 years," said McCormack, 33, who has suffered from medication-resistant epilepsy since being injured in a fall during her late teens.