The Anchorage Assembly will vote on two ordinances at a Tuesday meeting that will finalize marijuana regulations within the municipality. While both ordinances are expected to pass, lawmakers are less certain about which of the eight amendments will be included in the new regulations.

The first of the ordinances, Title 21, deals with zoning and land use. A major concern voiced at the municipality's last public hearing were the proposed buffer zones between schools and businesses selling marijuana. Currently, the ordinance sets the buffer at 1000 feet.

Federal law requires that drug-free school zones be placed 1,000 feet from schools and playgrounds. The state requirement however, is 500 feet.

Today was one of those days that I had to pinch myself because I felt so lucky. I got to attend a brunch fundraiser for legendary United States Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who has fought for the cannabis reform movement for a very long time, and continues that support as more states allow a thriving cannabis industry to exist by leading the charge in Congress. The fundraiser was hosted by the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). Speaking at the fundraiser was another individual that led the charge for many, many years in Congress. That individual was former Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA).

An elderly hippy aims to campaign for the legalisation of cannabis by joining the mayoral contest — backed by the multi-millionaire founder of social networking site Bebo.

Lee Harris — who 50 years ago was among the first to seek the prohibition of drugs in Britain, is gathering the required signatures in order to compete against Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith and Labour’s Sadiq Khan.

The 79-year-old grandfather, who owns a “head shop” on Portobello Road called Alchemy, was a self-confessed “moral crusader” before changing his outlook. He is now the CISTA (Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol) party candidate, and hopes to “undo the damage” he helped to cause decades ago.

First a disclaimer: I believe the Greens are a progressive force in Australian politics.

Which makes me shocked and saddened to learn that the Greens supported the Road Transport Drug Testing Bill that gave birth to saliva testing for cannabis when it was introduced in NSW Parliament in 2006.

This bill was dodgy from the start.

Labor’s Eric Roozendaal, Minister for Roads who introduced the bill, is quoted in Hansard (see below): ‘There will be no need for police to prove that a person’s driving was impaired. It need only be proved that the drug was present in the person’s sample.’

Eric is clear: he’s not testing for driver impairment, which is what he should be as minister for roads to make the roads safe; he’s just testing for the presence of the drug.

We’re nearly a year into the District’s experiment with legal marijuana. But the rules on the books in the nation’s capital are very different from the ones in places like Colorado, where full-scale legalization is in place.

PIERRE, S.D. (Feb. 2, 2016) A bill passed today by a South Dakota House committee would legalize the production and processing of industrial hemp for commercial purposes in the state, setting the foundation for people there to nullify federal prohibition in practice.

Rep. Mike Verchio (R-Hill City) along with a bipartisan coalition of 39 cosponsors introduced House Bill 1054 (HB1054) earlier in the month. It passed the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee by a vote of 11-2.

Marco Rubio is still fighting the war on weed.

The Republican presidential primaries kicked off with an almost comically large pool of candidates, but following the Iowa caucuses, three men stand as top contenders: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

None of these men can be considered progressive in the drug policy arena (well, Trump used to be). However Marco Rubio stands out as particularly threatening to cannabis reform.

Loyiso Maqela* doesn’t see himself as a drug dealer or a criminal.

The 31-year-old dagga grower from a village near Mpande, south of Port St Johns on the Wild Coast, sees himself as more of a cross between a farmer and a herbalist.

Maqela, one of thousands of small-scale growers in his area, has never had a formal job, apart from working as a gillie for fishermen at nearby Mpande Beach since he was forced to leave school at the end of Grade 4. He reckons that joining the region’s multimillion-rand marijuana trade was his only option.

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined with Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici Thursday to introduce a bill that would allow publications in Oregon and other states where marijuana is legal to mail their publications containing written advertising for the product.

The Marijuana Advertising in Legal States (MAILS) Act would reverse the outdated declaration by the U.S. Postal Service in December 2015 that prohibited the mailing of newspapers with ads offering to buy or sell marijuana, even if the marijuana-related ad complies with state law.

As of yesterday morning, medical marijuana dispensaries in Detroit will be opening envelopes containing letters from the City of Detroit regarding the city’s new registration process- and a reminder that most of them will not be in operation for very much longer.

The letter was referenced in a Powerpoint presentation created by three different divisions of government and delivered to City Council during a meeting Tuesday morning. The presentation, titled “Medical Marihuana Caregiver Center Application Process Status Report For Detroit City Council,” identifies 211 dispensary locations in the city and includes a map.