ROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Four people were arrested by Rhode Island State Police Wednesday on charges of selling marijuana, after a raid of a “members-only” lounge that hosts medical marijuana patients.

A complaint dating back to November 2015 alleged wrongdoing at the Elevated Lounge on Peck Street in Providence, the State Police said Thursday.

The four suspects were associated with Rhode Island Care and Patients Services (RICAPS), and they — not the lounge — are alleged to have been acting as an unlicensed compassion center and providing marijuana to holders of medical marijuana patient cards, as well as those who didn’t have cards.

One of the biggest medical cannabis cases in the country is starting up in the heart of Kansas. Shona Banda is facing, what could be, the rest of her life in prison. Last year Banda was the target of a raid by law enforcement in Garden City, Kansas.

Officers conducted the raid after Banda’s 11-year-old son apparently knew “too much information” in relation to cannabis during a drug education class at his school. Remind you, Banda’s son lived in Colorado, where his mother is a medicinal marijuana patient and advocate.

Concentrated drug worries authorities

Drugs and cash confiscated in a drug bust in Mendham Township, including folds of marijuana wax, seen at right, and more than one pound of raw marijuana, Jan. 12, 2016(Photo: Courtesy of Mendham Township Police)

MENDHAM TOWNSHIP -

A Montville teen was arrested Tuesday in a traffic stop that produced more than 1 pound of marijuana along with folds of "marijuana wax," an increasing problem among recreational drug users, according to township police.

"We're starting to see it more and more," said Lt. Ross Johnson, who announced the arrest of Paul Saryan, 19, a resident of Montville's Pine Brook section.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. —

Four individuals appeared in Providence District Court Wednesday following the raid of the Elevated Cannabis Lounge on Peck Street.

Douglas Mulcahey, Alexis Byrd, Frank Pellegrino, and Kevin Holmes have been accused of selling medical marijuana to undercover officers while working at the lounge.

Rhode Island State Police raided the lounge Tuesday night, seizing 21 bottles of liquid tincture THC, 93 bottles of cannabis syrup, 100 marijuana edible candies, 65 grams of marijuana, as well as $2,426 in cash.

"Undercover detectives were able to purchase marijuana, edibles and bi-products from individuals from within this business on numerous occasions," an officer said in court.

A marijuana legalization campaign is nearing its goal of gathering 150,000 valid signatures to get on the November ballot.

The  initiative would ask Arizona voters to legalize marijuana for recreational use and establish a network of licensed cannabis shops where sales of the drug would be taxed.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is a few thousand signatures short of gathering the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, spokesman Barrett Marson said Wednesday. However, some of those signatures are likely invalid — gathered from people who cannot vote — and the group aims to collect 225,000 signatures, he said.

"Arizonans are clearly excited about this initiative," Marson added.

MONTPELIER, VT. — The clock is ticking on a Senate committee considering whether lawmakers should move ahead with a bill that would legalize and regulate marijuana in Vermont.

If the Judiciary Committee decides to move forward with legalization, the five-member panel will need to approve a bill by Jan. 29, according to its chairman. The committee is considering two pieces of legislation: S.95, introduced last session by Sen. David Zuckerman, P/D-Chittenden, and S.241, from Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham.

It's been more than two years since the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program went into effect, but legally distributed pot has only recently become a reality in the state. As of November 9 of last year, more than a dozen dispensaries were open statewide, and patients with one of 39 approved medical conditions and a doctor's recommendation became free to find relief by way of some sweet, sweet cheeba. But Illinois' medical marijuana bill is one of the most restrictive in the nation, and the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) had approved just 4,000 patients as of January 6, which isn't exactly enough to sustain an industry.

But no good news for patients awaiting permits.

The Health Ministry is moving ahead on a comprehensive plan on medical cannabis that would lift many restrictions that currently make life difficult for patients, doctors, growers and marketers of the plant.

An outline of the plan is now available for public scrutiny and comments, and next week it will be discussed by the Knesset Health Committee in the presence of Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who is pushing for the plan.

There are currently 23,000 registered users of the herb to alleviate pain and neurological symptoms as well as cancer patients and PTSD sufferers.

Liberal MP Bill Blair wants to make it clear the growth and sale of legal marijuana in Canada will not be a free-for-all.

In an interview, the chief architect of the country’s new marijuana regime frequently used such words as “control” and “strict regulation” as he discussed the federal government’s options.

The former chief of the Toronto Police Service supports legalization, but mainly as a tool to restrict access for young people and to deal with the social and health problems caused by the drug.

By Anthony Johnson