SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, joined Friday's debate over medical marijuana in the Utah Legislature, telling lawmakers he is about to introduce a bill in Congress to legalize cannabidiol in states where it's approved for patient use.

In response to questions from lawmakers during his annual report to the Legislature, Chaffetz said he has no interest in seeing the legalization of medical marijuana that could end up being used recreationally.

But Chaffetz said he wants to remove federal prohibitions on the medical use of cannabidiol, a marijuana extract believed to fight seizures that is low in THC, the hallucinogenic chemical responsible for the "high” associated with marijuana.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture clarified its policy regarding the organic certification of industrial hemp production this week.

Oklahoma and Tennessee are two of the 14 states that have laws permitting industrial hemp cultivation under restricted conditions. Eight of them specifically permit its commercial cultivation. Another 20 states considered industrial hemp bills in 2015.

Although nonintoxicating and authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill for pilot programs under the supervision of law enforcement, the USDA states that “organic certification of industrial hemp production at this time is premature.”

This week Helen Kelly had her official request for medicinal cannabis deferred by the Ministry of Health. This has renewed debate about whether the Government’s procedures for dealing with such requests are working or major reform is required.

Photo / Getty Images

Former CTU president Helen Kelly has mounted a campaign that seeks to reform the government's procedures over medicinal cannabis. Kelly has blogged about her predicament and campaign - see: Life and death and Cannabis. This must-read post sets out her problems with getting appropriate treatment.

SOUTH Lakes MP Tim Farron has called for the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use, sparking a row with the Conservative candidate for police and crime commissioner.

Mr Farron will back a motion calling for the Liberal Democrats to extend their existing support for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use to recreational use.

The move comes after the release of findings from a Lib Dem appointed expert panel.

It will see Mr Farron become the first leader of one of Britain’s main political parties to call for the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.

When a Markham father and son’s lease for the medical marijuana site they were maintaining expired, they were forced to get creative and move the operation to the town of Stayner, where the family owned a farm.

Despite having a valid licence from Health Canada to grow 1,025 plants — a limit to which they were adhering — and a lawyer’s letter in hand explaining their actions, their farm was busted by cops and the men were arrested in September 2015.

Zhangjian and Zheng Min Fan now face three years in prison.

Published: Feb 19, 2016, 12:52 pm

By David Migoya, The Denver Post

Former investigations chief and Marines Corps Reserve colonel will lead Marijuana Enforcement Division

The state's Marijuana Enforcement Division on Friday announced that its former chief of investigations is now its director.

Jim Burack was promoted to the top job two months after his former boss, Lewis Koski, was named deputy senior director for the Colorado Department of Revenue's broader enforcement division.

That division oversees the separate enforcement operations of the marijuana industry, auto industry, gaming, liquor enforcement, and racing. All are within the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk was the only one of four panelists at a Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce marijuana event who wouldn't say if she's ever used cannabis.

The morning panel discussion, "Breakfast with a side of ... Marijuana?" was hosted by the chamber for a group of about 75 of its members and other registered guests at the Doubletree Resort in Scottsdale, with the goal of learning more about the proposed marijuana-legalization initiative expected to be on Arizona's ballot this November.

Voters in 20 U.S. states could potentially legalize some form of cannabis use in the November 2016 election — part of a historic backlash to the century-old war on marijuana.

According to Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, activists have submitted ballot measures for public vote in: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

After supporting an intense campaign to place a medical marijuana initiative on the Florida ballot in 2014, marijuana advocacy group Sensible Florida ended their Regulate Florida campaign, after acknowledging that the group will not be able to acquire the more than 650,000 signatures needed to qualify for the Nov. 8 ballot  by February.  

"We suspended the campaign in 2016 but we're shooting for 2018," Hiedi Handford, spokeswoman for the campaign, told Mic.