The Ohio Senate is taking its study of medical marijuana on the road.

Sens. Dave Burke, R-Marysville, and Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, are going on a “listening tour” with stops in Cleveland, Toledo and Cincinnati.

Yuko has advocated for medical marijuana for more than a decade, while Burke said he remains skeptical.

As a pharmacist, Burke said he knows that “all chemicals can cause both harm and benefits, depending on the use.” He said he will remain open-minded during the discussions.

On the evening of Thursday, Dec. 17, Kevin Sabet was working on what he believed would be a bombshell.

Cape Town – Police officers discovered a plot of towering dagga plants between shacks in a Rastafarian informal settlement in Cape Town on Thursday.

The Trio Crimes and Gangs Unit visited the Marcus Garvey community in Philippi on Thursday morning after a tip-off, Western Cape police spokesperson Constable Noloyiso Rwexana said on Friday.

Officers dug up and confiscated the plants - with a total estimated street value of R1.7m - between 05:30 and 10:00. 

Four men and a woman were arrested on charges of illegal cultivation of dagga. The group was due to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court later on Friday.

Will the legalization of marijuana in Canada depend on the votes of federal MPs or on the views of Canada’s international partners? The Post’s Tasha Kheiriddin poses the question, “Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize pot go up in smoke, or will he turn into an activist and try to convince other countries to liberalize their drug laws, as well?” and argues that this is “the choice he faces, if he doesn’t want Canada to run afoul of its international obligations” (‘Seeing green,’ Jan. 7). Fortunately, Canada does not need to convince the world to legalize marijuana.

British Columbia’s Health Minister says he will use meetings with his provincial and federal counterparts this week in Vancouver to push for recreational marijuana to be sold in locations that are strictly regulated and inspected, such as special kiosks at liquor stores.

Terry Lake also said the federal medical marijuana system should be reformed to include face-to-face sales in outlets such as pharmacies instead of limiting it to the current mail-order system, though he said dispensaries – which are flourishing in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto – should not be involved.

Nearly two dozen states have legalized marijuana for medical use; four states, as well as Washington, D.C., now allow the sale of recreational cannabis to adults – and many more states are considering doing the same. Nevada already has a measure that would legalize pot on its November ballot, California is in the process of crafting its own initiative, and Vermont's governor may allow legislators to make the move without even taking a vote to the people.

Oklahoma and Nebraska say legal marijuana is like state-authorized pollution.

The grandparents of a five-year-old with terminal brain cancer have called in a lawyer after doctors refused to consider medical cannabis to treat the child.

In August last year the child was given nine to 12 months to live after being diagnosed with an inoperable tumour on her spinal cord.

Her father also wants her to receive medical cannabis treatment, despite protests from the girl's mother.

Lawyer Rosie Purchas told Morning Report they had been encouraged by reading about the successful treatment of a child with the same condition in America.

She said doctors in New Zealand had refused to offer treatment with medical cannabis because they said there was no supporting evidence, which she said was denying the child's human rights.

A medical marijuana grower may have told a Senate panel last week he was working with University of Florida scientists, but a university spokeswoman now says that’s not the case, according to a report by public broadcasting affiliate WUFT-TV and FM.

Robert Wallace, owner of Chestnut Hill Tree Farm in Alachua, on Wednesday told senators on the Regulated Industries Committee he was “working with” the university’s researchers “to develop and distribute medical marijuana by summer, and that he will donate a portion of his proceeds to the university for research,” the report said.

The majority of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, according to the latest poll.

The percentage of Americans who support marijuana legalization rose four points to 52 percent from when YouGov last asked the same question back in March 2015.

More than half of adults under the age of 65 support legalization but there is still strong opposition from those aged 65 and over. Democrats were overwhelmingly in favor of a more relaxed position on cannabis, with 66 percent supporting an end to prohibition.