Ohioans in November rejected a well-funded proposal to legalize marijuana, but the issue isn't going away anytime soon.

More ballot issues are in the works, state lawmakers have vowed to act on medical marijuana, and activists across the state are working on local ballot measures that would allow people to possess marijuana without penalty.

With several illegal marijuana grows in the area and recreational pot legal just over the Oregon state line, Siskiyou County law enforcement is taking steps to crack down on drug trafficking.

Medical marijuana is legal in California, but anyone possessing marijuana without a medical card could still charged with drug charges. 

Marijuana is still illegal in the state and under federal law. Just over the Oregon border, people can buy and sell recreational pot legally. 

For the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office, over the last few months deputies conducted a series of marijuana highway enforcement operations.

A national medical marijuana advocacy organization published a memo and model ordinance on Monday for California cities and counties recommending that they regulate the cultivation of medical marijuana instead of banning it. The memo and model ordinance are part of project by Americans for Safe Access (ASA) to support patients and advocates fighting bans on cultivation and pushing for local licensing and regulation of medical marijuana businesses.

Marcus Richardson is, in the eyes of the law, a criminal.

Never mind that a judge ruled the six kilograms of cannabis police found in his car was for severely ill patients at a medical marijuana dispensary.

Or that the same judge imposed only a minimum sentence because anything more would fail to maintain “a just, peaceful and safe society.”

He’s a criminal – and so are scores of other Canadians who face barriers to travel and work because they were caught with a drug that the government now intends to legalize.

“My charge wasn’t like, ‘He was practising civil disobedience at a place that was helping sick and dying people improve the quality of their last days on earth,“’ Richardson said.

As far as big societal shifts go, 2015 has been a remarkable year. One issue close to my heart that has seen changes unimaginable just a few years ago is global drug policy. I’ve long advocated for an end to the so-called war on drugs which continues to wreck millions of lives, causes untold suffering and has wasted trillions in taxpayer money. But I feel more confident than ever that this war will finally come to an end within the next generation.

The Pirate Party of Tunisia has set the decriminalization of cannabis as a priority in their next elections. Earlier the main political parties have committed to address this. However, the State has been passive regarding the revision of Law 52 on consumption of illegal substances. This law has been used to incarcerate more than 1,500 youths since the last elections in 2014.

The Pirate Party of Tunisia has noted several negative developments regarding changing this law:

Miss Universe Australia, Monika Radulovic, has caused a stir by stating that marijuana should be legalised during questions she was asked in the final stages of the Miss Universe competition.

Ms Radulovic from Sydney made the top five of the Miss Universe competition - but narrowly missed out on making the final three at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

The 25-year-old beauty's response may have hit her hopes of winning the competition, while also upsetting anti-drug campaigners in her home country. 

During the question and answer segment of the competition, the show's host, comedian and television personality Steve Harvey, cut straight to the chase. 

Residents of Maryland who want to buy marijuana for medicinal purposes are likely going to have to wait until 2017, nearly four years after the state first made it legal.

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission announced Monday that it won’t award licenses to grow and process the drug until sometime this summer.

It takes about four to six months to grow and process cannabis, industry and government officials say.

The commission had said it would start issuing licenses in January, but backed of that timetable last month after receiving more than 1,000 applications from would-be pot producers and dispensers.

It's been nearly eighteen months since Governor Cuomo signed legislation to legalize medical marijuana, and with only a few weeks left before the Compassionate Care Act is due to take effect, the five companies licensed to grow and sell cannabis are rushing to meet the deadline.