A former elite Canadian diver is facing charges after police pulled him over for speeding but discovered marijuana, shatter and hashish worth more than $100,000 in his car.

Police says Wegadesk Gorup-Paul, 28, was released with a requirement to appear in court March 9 when he will be charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled substance, which comes with a maximum penalty of life in prison. 

Gorup-Paul competed internationally for Canada for a number of years before quitting diving in 2008.

In a phone interview with CBC News, Gorup-Paul claims he was working for a medical marijuana producer delivering the drugs to medical marijuana outlets on the Lower Mainland.

Two people face multiple charges for drug trafficking and possession after Toronto police raided a Danforth Avenue marijuana cafe and vape lounge.

Christopher and Erin Goodwin, owners of the Good Weeds Vapor Lounge on Danforth near Donlands Avenue, were arrested Thursday evening at the cafe. Their business, one of the first of its kind in Canada, sold marijuana, cannabis resins and extracts, which could be used in vaporizers at the cafe.

The lounge, which opened on Christmas Eve, is part of the Good Weeds chain, which has numerous locations in B.C. and another Toronto location on College Street.

“We want Rand! We want Rand!”

Somewhere near the two-and-a-half hour mark of last week’s Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, protesters supporting Kentucky Senator Rand Paul suddenly interrupted the end of a Chris Christie’s answer in which the New Jersey governor said, “This president doesn’t enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn’t agree with them.”

Having a marijuana pipe or rolling papers won't be a crime in Maryland any longer.

The General Assembly, led by Democrats, overturned five of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's vetoes on Thursday. One result is that a bill making possession of drug paraphernalia a civil offense and setting a fine for smoking marijuana in public will become law.

In a policy brief published by the Medical Research Council on January 5, the medicinal value of cannabinoids was officially – and historically – recognised in South Africa. Three days later, the president signed into law the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act of 2015, a piece of legislation that theoretically allows Big Pharma to feed our dagga to us in pill form – or, if we like, through a straw. KEVIN BLOOM reports.

1. For the winners

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Maryland General Assembly overrode several of Gov. Larry Hogan’s vetoes on Thursday, including his veto of a bill decriminalizing the possession of marijuana paraphernalia and another to ensure third-party travel websites pay all of the state’s sales tax.

Both the Senate and the House, which are controlled by Democrats, also had the three-fifths majority needed to override the Republican governor’s veto of a bill to create a $300 threshold before authorities can seize money in criminal procedures and a separate veto that blocked $2 million for an arts facility in Anne Arundel County.

NFL players are banned from taking medical marijuana – so instead they’re taking a harmful synthetic version. It could be the league’s next big headache

The mood around Foxboro, Massachusetts improved significantly last weekend, thanks to the New England Patriots regaining their home dominance. The Pats beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20 to ensure a fifth consecutive trip to their conference’s championship game, a remarkable feat matched only in NFL history by the 1973-77 Oakland Raiders. The scoreline flattered the visitors: Tom Brady and his offense shook off any concerns and coach Bill Belichick conducted another display of defensive wizardry.

Here we are in 2016, in a world full of ignorance and in a world that continues to breed ignorance and hypocrisy because we are easily influenced into conforming into a way of being and into this closed minded for of thinking.

Cannabis! Here we have a plant that has been demonized for close to a century and still to this very day the world remains ignorant on a plant that grows in nature naturally and causes no harm to no one and yet it is illegal.

Remember Cliff Robinson? The sharpshooting power forward was ahead of his time in the NBA, making the 1994 All-Star game and enjoying a long, productive career. 

Here's a career update: The player once known as "Uncle Cliffy" now goes by "Uncle Spliffy" — he's a marijuana activist in Oregon. 

Robinson will be a featured speaker before 2,500 guests at the 2016 Cannabis Collaborative Conference in Portland on Feb. 3 and 4, according to the Portland Business Journal. 

The interim leader of the Conservative Party, who as health minister consistently railed against any notion of legalizing marijuana, has had something of a change of heart.

No, Rona Ambrose does not suddenly support legalizing pot. But on Wednesday, in another apparent shift from her predecessor Stephen Harper, the official Opposition leader suggested on a Vancouver radio show that the sooner the new Liberal government takes action, the better off kids will be.