Maine is among many states legalizing industrial hemp farming in recent years. The crop was banned by the federal government several decades ago, because it's related to cannabis, which is used to make marijuana. However, hemp is not a drug and contains only a small amount of the ingredient that induces a high. Hemp is instead used in manufacturing, which required United States companies to import it from countries that do allow industrial hemp farming. 

The owners of Goodweeds Lounge, a newly opened recreational pot bar in Toronto's east end, have been charged with multiple trafficking and possession-related offences following a police raid that took place Thursday evening.

Chris and Erin Goodwin opened up the vapour lounge a few weeks ago where customers can purchase dabs and bong hits on site as long as they're aged 18 and older. No medical prescription is necessary.

But Toronto police confirmed they executed a search warrant at the venue, located at 940 Danforth Avenue, under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act on Thursday evening.

A bill proposed in the Colorado state legislature would mandate the creation of a label informing consumers whether or not cannabis products they purchase have been grown using pesticides.

HB16-1079, proposed by Reps. Jonathan Singer (D-Longmont) and KC Becker (D-Boulder), would require the Colorado Department of Agriculture to design a system for companies to have their pesticide-free cannabis products certified as such under a state-sanctioned label.

I am helping circulate the NORML Wyoming petition to put the question of legalizing the possession of medical marijuana on the ballot in 2016 so the people of Wyoming can vote on it.

I have had many people sign, though some ask: Why support this initiative? My question is: How much are we willing to pay to make sure no one in Wyoming has medical marijuana, even if proponents can show that marijuana has medical benefits to people with cancer, epilepsy and glaucoma, to name a few?

Why lock up people with cancer and other medical conditions in jail or prison or levy heavy fines? Possession of 3.1 ounces of marijuana, medical or otherwise, is a felony punishable up to five years in prison.

The City of Ketchikan will not prohibit retail marijuana businesses within city limits.

The Ketchikan City Council, by a 3-2 count at its meeting Thursday night, voted down an ordinance in second reading that would have temporarily prohibited such businesses.

Council members Judy Zenge, KJ Harris and Julie Isom voted against the ordinance, while council members Bob Sivertsen and Dick Coose voted in favor. Council members Dave Kiffer and Janalee Gage were not at the meeting. Kiffer voted against the ordinance at the council’s Jan. 7 meeting but had previously supported prohibition, while Gage voted in favor of prohibition both earlier this month and in late 2015.

Aspiring marijuana businesses in the Kenai Peninsula Borough may face only a few additional requirements on top of the state’s regulations.

After many months of deliberation, many amendments and dozens of public comments, the borough’s Marijuana Task Force arrived at a set of recommendations for the borough assembly at its Wednesday meeting.

The requirements the task force members changed were to increase the setback for marijuana establishments from schools, increase the number of hours retail stores must be closed for business and specify that the only prohibited odor outside marijuana establishments is that of marijuana itself.

“Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” – Henry David Thoreau

Witnessing the slavery and imperialism being carried out by government during the mid-nineteenth century, Henry David Thoreau was compelled to apply his transcendental philosophy to challenge the fallacies of the state. Civil Disobedience is one of the greatest American texts, and was a prime influence for Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

ATLANTA — More than 100 legislators have signed onto a measure to expand the state’s medical marijuana law and allow for production of cannabis oil in Georgia.

Moultrie Rep. Sam Watson isn’t among them.

Watson voted for a bill last year, the Haleigh’s Hope Act, that allows Georgians with a qualifying condition to possess medical cannabis oil.

Georgians who use the oil in Georgia still risk arrest when transporting it here because cannabis and its extracts are still deemed illegal under federal law.

But Watson says he’s reluctant to expand Georgia’s law. The vegetable farmer said he has plenty of questions about, among other things, how the oil would be produced.

COLUMBIA - Marijuana supporters are collecting signatures for a petition to legalize medical marijuana in Missouri.

The Missouri Secretary of State approved an initiative earlier this month that allows for the circulation of a petition for medical cannabis.

"This law would set up access for patients to safely obtain their medicine in a legal way under the supervision of a doctor, so I think it just makes sense," Spencer Pearson said, Vice President of Mid-Missouri NORML.

Pro-marijuana group New Approach Missouri is in charge of collecting signatures. Other groups like Mid-Missouri NORML will be working with them to train volunteers and collect signatures.

While legalizing medical marijuana may still be in the distant future for the state of Maryland, the Democrat-controlled state senate ensured that criminal charges could not be brought on residents of their state for public use of marijuana or possession of marijuana paraphenelia. While possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana was decriminalized in 2014 while presidential candidate Martin O’Malley was governor, those who supported this bill said it was “really a correction to what we did a couple of years ago” when these specific applications were overlooked.