Legal weed sales numbers keep getting higher and higher.  According to market research group ArcView’s recent reports sales increased to $5.4 billion for 2015 compared to 2014’s $4.6 billion. ArcView’s reports also say U.S. adult-use legal sales grew to $998 million from $351 million in sales in 2014. ArcView projects legal weed sales to top over $20 billion by 2020, which may or may not find us with Kanye for president. (Everyone already knows how he feels about rolling one up.) Late last month Facebook banned gun sales on its site and on Instagram. It’s now going after marijuana dispensaries Facebook pages. 

Howard “Cowboy” Wooldridge is hard to miss. In the middle of a New Hampshire snowstorm the day before the state’s primary vote, Wooldridge could be found at various presidential candidates’ events wearing a big belt buckle and a cowboy hat.

But possibly the most interesting part of his getup was his shirt.

The belt buckle, he explained, was from when he rode a horse by himself across the United States. And the cowboy hat? Aside from proclaiming his Texas roots, he said it helps him stand out among the thousands of lobbyists in Washington, DC.

The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has sparked a new political controversy in an already super-charged election year, regarding who will fill his place on the U.S. Supreme Court and in what timeframe. Scalia’s death has also raises new questions about the federal government and its current prohibitions on marijuana.

Govt aims to let drug be grown for medical or scientific use, but more change is needed, writes Alex Wodak.

This week minister for health Sussan Ley tabled amendments to our drugs act to allow growing cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes.

The amendments will create two licence classes (medicine and research), limit access only to "fit and proper" Australians with no ties to crime, and allow the importation of plants and seed.

The city of Haarlem will not be experimenting with regulated cannabis cultivation with its own cannabis garden, Mayor Bernt Schneiders wrote to the city council. According to him, there is no room for such experimentation in the political climate in The Hague, AD reports.

Schneiders, like many other mayors in the Netherlands, supports regulated cannabis cultivation, believing that it will be a good weapon against drug crime in the city. He thinks a system of permits for the sale and production of marijuana, license holders also providing information on soft drugs, is a good idea.

Vancouver's annual April 20 cannabis celebration is a peaceful, progressive event that embodies the city's ideals of tolerance and diversity. Vancouver citizens and city hall should embrace 420 and join in the celebration.

The Atascadero City Council is planning on repealing the medical marijuana cultivation ban it adopted just last month. Atascadero is set to become the first city in San Luis Obispo County to reverse course on hurried marijuana regulations.

Faced with a new state law, cities and counties in California had until March to adopt ordinances relating to marijuana sales and cultivation or cede control of the matter to state officials. Several cities in the county, including Atascadero, adopted ordinances over the past couple months.

In early February, however, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill repealing the state deadline.

CISTA says it hopes to run 18 candidates for May’s Assembly election.

It’s one year since CISTA (Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol) was officially launched, calling for reform of the UK’s laws on cannabis.

The organisation recently opened a headquarters for the North in Omagh.

Plans to run 18 candidates marks a significant increase on the four who contested the 2014 Westminster election in the North. Running 18 candidates should also ensure that the party is guaranteed a televised party election broadcast later this year.

CISTA NI leader Barry Brown, who will stand in West Tyrone, said 14 other people have so far expressed interest in standing for the party across the North on May 5.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The Senate Health and Human Services Committee is mulling legislation that would allow post-traumatic stress disorder to be treated with medical marijuana.

Democratic Sen. Stephen Archambault, of Smithfield, introduced the legislation.

The bill would add PTSD to the list of debilitating medical conditions that qualify for medical marijuana treatment. It would also accelerate the issuance of an approved medical marijuana use application if the patient is eligible for hospice care.

Archambault says PTSD is especially prevalent among military veterans and lawmakers have a responsibility to provide them with treatment options.

Marijuana legalization is long overdue.

It’s time to stop prosecuting innocent people for the possession of a plant that was clearly put here to help us; it’s basically the same as prosecuting someone for having tomatoes. Cannabis is a crop that’s meant to be utilized and shared, and we have to stand up for it if we want to change the laws.

Legalization is happening at a decent pace, but we can’t wait around for the government to do it when they’re finally ready.