A joint between his lips, toes in the sand, Mike Martin looked like just another dude chilling on the beach in Puerto Rico. But as the 47-year-old Rastafarian blew smoke in my direction, he outlined his vision of justice: legal weed in the US territory.

"Legalization is coming," Martin told me. "The last several days have made that clear."

In a Ger-Hasidic convention, MK LIitzman discussed his cannabis reform, child allowance fund.

Health Minister MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) attended a Ger-Hasidic convention in Jerusalem on Sunday where he discussed his Cannabis Reform and clarified he does not intend to distribute marijuana to everyone who requests.

"I was given 40 kinds of herbs, to familiarize with them," said the Health Minister. "I am being pressured to allow cultivation of cannabis, but it will not happen. They say I am a liberal, but just the opposite - I am only worried about supplying to those who truly need it and make it easier for them to acquire."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Almost a year has passed since it became legal to smoke, but not sell, marijuana in Washington, D.C., and pot enthusiasts and opponents alike are chafing under a compromise that leaves smokers in a haze over how to obtain their weed.

Sales of equipment to grow the plants indoors are booming, bartenders are getting joints as tips and the city council is deliberating whether to license cannabis clubs.

Both smokers and police complain that the city's ban on sales, imposed by congressional conservatives, are leaving residents to bump up against legal limits around the drug.

Saskatchewan Compassion Club owner Mark Hauk outside of the Saskatoon Police Station.

A City of Saskatoon committee has made it much more difficult for marijuana dispensaries to open in the city.

Today, the Standing Policy Committee on Planning, Development and Community Services voted against issuing business licences to marijuana dispensaries.

Administration argued that medical marijuana falls under federal jurisdiction, and anyone involved with it must get a federal licence.

It also said that the City of Saskatoon should only issue a business licence to the dispensary if it receives federal approval.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Mormon church has come out against a Utah bill that would allow the medical use of edible pot products, a position that could be a serious blow to one of two medical marijuana proposals before state lawmakers.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said leaders are worried about the unintended consequences of the measure proposed by Republican Sen. Mark Madsen of Eagle Mountain. A majority of Utah lawmakers are members of the Salt Lake City-based faith, and the church's position on an issue can be decisive.

The church doesn't object to another, more restrictive medical marijuana bill that would allow access to a marijuana-infused oil, church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement.

You don’t have to be stoned to be confused by the status of Canada’s marijuana laws.

Users of medical marijuana must wonder if it’s OK to pick up supplies at pot dispensaries across the country.

In Nova Scotia, one operator proudly announced the opening of his Dartmouth dispensary last week.

But at least two in-province pot retailers were raided by police last year.

The law seems to suggest prescription holders should obtain the drug from licensed suppliers — which means by mail-order.

But the Supreme Court says “reasonable access” to medical marijuana should be, and is not being, provided.

No wonder dispensary owners say they operate in a grey area.

The situation is also fuzzy for recreational users. 

The marijuana business is booming in the US, with projected legal sales expected to be up more than a billion dollars in 2016 compared to 2015, when the legal market was worth $6.7 billion in sales.

What’s more, over half of Americans now say they support the legalisation of cannabis, according to a Pew Research Center study.

Marijuana is authorised, in one form or another, across 38 states and the District of Columbia. That means 86 percent of Americans now live in a state where the use of legal marijuana is permitted to some degree.

Salt Lake City —

(KUTV) Utah Senator Mark Madsen said fighting old perceptions about pot have made his efforts to legalize medical marijuana an uphill battle. Then came another hurdle Friday when the Mormon Church said it opposed his bill.

Still, Madsen, who is Mormon, said he won't back down because polls show most Utah residents support the proposed law. Plus, people with serious medical conditions could really use the pain relief.

"It would be immoral to back down," he said.

Madsen said he loves his church and reveres the leaders of the LDS church but he also said he is acting on principle in pushing the legislation because he knows it will make a huge difference in people's lives.

"I don't want to let them down," he said.

At the state level, marijuana has been practically unstoppable for the past two decades.

Since California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 for certain ailments, 22 additional states, as well as Washington, D.C., have taken similar steps. Furthermore, we've witnessed residents in four states -- Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska -- approve initiatives designed to legalize recreational marijuana since 2012.

A former IRS agent in Seattle is set to face trial this week on accusations that he solicited and received a $20,000 bribe from a medical marijuana dispensary.

Federal prosecutors say that after Paul G. Hurley audited Have A Heart Compassion Care in Seattle last year, he told its owner, Ryan Kunkel, that he owed $290,000 on his 2013 and 2014 taxes. But, they say, Hurley told Kunkel it could have been a lot worse: Hurley had saved him $1 million.

As Kunkel described it, the IRS agent rubbed his fingers together and suggested that in return for the leniency, Kunkel should pay off his student loan debt over time, court documents allege. Kunkel said that sounded like a bad idea, but fearing his audit would be held up, he agreed to pay Hurley $20,000 cash.