Washington's top international narcotics official gave a qualified go-ahead for countries to decriminalize drugs on Tuesday — the latest sign that the US is walking back decades of hardline rhetoric ahead of a pivotal special session of the United Nations General Assembly on global drug policy in April.

In a major policy U-turn, Queen’s Park will ban the smoking and vaping of medicinal pot in all enclosed public places, workplaces, and many outdoor areas as well as curb the use and sale of e-cigarettes.

Associate health minister Dipika Damerla is expected to outline the changes on Thursday.

Sources said the potentially controversial anti-toking and anti-vaping measures were approved by Premier Kathleen Wynne’s cabinet on Wednesday afternoon.

The moves are “to strengthen . . . smoking laws to better protect people from second-smoke, whether from a tobacco product or medical marijuana,” an official said.

While a ban on selling e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 19 took effect on Jan. 1, the regulations limiting where adults could vape were in limbo.

Morgan is spearheading the Stop Pot 2016 campaign, which sets up him and his group as the primary political opposition to the marijuana legalization initiative championed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Napster founder Sean Parker.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was campaigning in Michigan on Monday when he suddenly opened up about his own history with marijuana.

One day before Sanders’ surprise win in Michigan’s primary, the candidate dismissed other lawmakers’ comparisons of heroin to cannabis — and he also talked on his limited experience with marijuana.

After the Lib Dems’ betrayal of young people over tuition fees, this last-gasp effort to turn things around is unlikely to impress.

hen I was about 15, my friend’s parents got divorced. Her mum seemed to really flourish following the split but her dad took it extremely badly. Without the security of his marriage he felt exposed and alone, and he responded by desperately latching on to his teenage children in an attempt to rediscover his lost youth. His house became a popular place to hang out because of his lax attitude towards loud music, underage drinking and recreational drug use. Sometimes, he’d even smoke a spliff and share it with my friend’s older brother and his mates.

The island’s parish councils want to be able to make regulations that will enable them to earn fees from commercial activities relating to ganja.

The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) council meeting yesterday supported a resolution passed by the St Catherine Parish Council on January 14 for the Portmore Municipal Council and all the other councils to be allowed to make regulations to enable the sharing of fees related to the “cultivation, processing, distribution, sale, and handling of marijuana within their particular jurisdiction”.

OTTAWA – As the Liberal government began moving on its commitment to legalize marijuana, Health Canada flagged nine key considerations — from health risks and benefits to the experience of other jurisdictions, newly obtained documents show.A November 2015 ministerial briefing presentation, “Legalizing & Regulating Marijuana,” was released to The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. Some conclusions and recommendations were withheld from release, but the document offers insight into how the new government will navigate the issue. A look at the nine areas cited by Health Canada:

Almost 50 years ago The Times published one of the most famous editorials in the history of British newspapers. A few weeks before Mick Jagger was heavily fined thousands of pounds after a punitive trial for possession of cannabis. Conservative and middle-aged England thought he deserved it. But William Rees-Mogg, the then editor of The Times was unhappy. In a legendary leader he invoked Alexander Pope as he railed against the “primitive” impulse to “break a butterfly on a wheel”.

There are increasing signs that 2016 might just be the year the largest state in the nation legalizes recreational marijuana.

Polls have shown from 56 percent to 60 percent of California’s likely voters in the November presidential contest support legal pot. And due in part to hefty financial backing from a Silicon Valley billionaire, the leading pro-marijuana measure – the Adult Use of Marijuana Act – has gotten off to one of the strongest starts among dozens of proposed initiatives on different topics being pitched for the Nov. 8 ballot.

Sales of cannabis to over-18s in the UK should be legalised and "social clubs" should be established to sell it, the Liberal Democrats have said.

The party has backed a study that argues cannabis can't be eliminated by a "total ban" and that it should, instead, be regulated. The report, A framework for a regulated market for cannabis in the UK, puts forward a number of suggestions for how drug policy should be updated: