All but two parts of Alaska’s rules governing commercial marijuana were approved by the state government Friday, with one section addressing criminal background checks and another providing exceptions to marijuana testing for growers in rural areas struck down by the state Department of Law.

In an utterly predictable ruling, a federal judge recently dismissed a lawsuit that sought approval for the establishment of a credit union for marijuana businesses in Colorado.

Much as we favor such a credit union, why would anyone expect any other outcome?

Judges, after all, look at issues through the lens of the law. And while marijuana continues to gain footholds as a legal drug on the state level, at the federal level it remains an illegal substance. What else was the judge to do?

U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson expressed sympathy for pot businesses struggling under the current system, but in his order he said the courts simply could not “look the other way.”

Israel's three other health funds reportedly agree that doctors’ prescribing medical marijuana is “problematic,” but they have not yet made statements about it.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver School Board is looking at a motion to increase the distance between schools and marijuana dispensaries.

Right now, the city requires 300 metres between pot-related businesses and schools or playgrounds, but one NPA trustee would like to see that increased to 500 metres.

Fraser Ballantyne says educators need to be a part of the conversation.

“I feel schools should be also part of it. We look after youth through poverty and food programs and all that. We do care about that kind of stuff. I think this is just another issue.”

He feels a broader conversation needs to happen.

BERKELEY, CA - MARCH 25: One-ounce bags of medicinal marijuana are displayed at the Berkeley Patients Group March 25, 2010 in Berkeley, California. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified a ballot initiative late Wednesday to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana in the State of California after proponents of the measure submitted over 690,000 signatures. The measure will appear on the November 2 general election ballot. (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Mexican lawmakers are proposing a bill to legalize medical marijuana for patients in the country.

The Liberal federal government is facing pressure from an unlikely source to quickly legalize and regulate the sale of recreational marijuana: the Conservative Party of Canada.

At a news conference on Monday, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose said the growing number of illegal dispensaries is increasing the risk that children will get access to pot. As such, she said, the pressure is on the government to present and implement its plan to legalize marijuana.

“[Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] said he will legalize writ large, which will make pot much more available, but he will protect kids, he will keep it out of the hands of kids,” Ms. Ambrose said. “I think he needs to move quickly on that, because we already know that this is happening across the country.”

Drug dealers are using flyers and text messages to target young people

Young people at educational institutions in Odense are increasingly being contacted by drug dealers trying to sell them cannabis, sometimes via flyers and text messages, DR reports.

Pupils at Tietgen Handelsgymnasium have been offered cannabis for sale via these ‘marketing’ techniques, and Torben Vangsted, the head of the drug treatment centre Behandlingscenter Odense, sees drug dealing specifically targeting young people at schools as a general problem in the city.

Difficult to police
According to Kim Dyhr Laursen, a policeman regularly on patrol on Funen, officers encounter many difficulties stopping the dealers.

There are two things that politicians tend to be bad at: sex and drugs. Thankfully, MPs' recent visits to our bedrooms have tended to be brief, and usually have left us in a more liberal place than we were before. But drugs? Politicians can really get their teeth into drugs – with often messy results.

The Conservative party was elected in 2015 with a clear majority, and therefore a mandate to start work on its manifesto pledges. One of these promises was to address so-called “legal highs” – a project that birthed the Psychoactive Substances Bill. The Commons and the Lords are now reviewing each other’s final amendments, the bill’s final stop before becoming law.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Canada learn a few things from Colorado when it comes to legalizing pot.

Andrew Freedman, the state’s director of the Office of Marijuana Coordination, tells Maclean’s on the Hill that after the drug became legal, they started public education campaigns on youth prevention and responsible use.

If he had to do it over again, he says he would have started the campaigns well in advance, “just so that people understood that this isn’t a free-for-all culture, that if we’re going to do this, we’re going to set the tone of doing it responsibly and doing it in a way that keeps… Canada safe and healthy.”

Freedman says many issues have popped up which legislators didn’t foresee when they legalized the drug two years ago.