PEOPLE caught with small quantities of cannabis will face on-the-spot warnings from police rather than prosecution.

The change in enforcing drug laws is part of a major overhaul of how officers handle petty offending to free up police and prosecutors’ time.

Scottish officers will next month start issuing new "Recorded Police Warnings" to many of the tens of thousands of people a year found committing minor offences such as carrying cannabis, urinating in the street or petty shoplifting.

In the wake of monumental state legislation passed earlier this year to regulate the medical marijuana industry, local cities and San Luis Obispo County are rushing to pass cultivation regulations before a March 1, 2016, deadline.

Both the city of SLO and SLO County will be considering the issue at their respective Dec. 15 meetings. At those meetings, decision makers will discuss whether or not to consider bans on the cultivation of medical marijuana.

Nurseries are required to begin dispensing medicinal marijuana by August. A handful of proposed bills would increase the number of patients legally eligible to use the drug.

Medicinal marijuana should be available in Florida by the middle of August.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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GAINESVILLE — A state commission is backing Gov. Nathan Deal in refusing to support the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in Georgia for medicinal use.

“There’s no appetite for cultivation,” said state Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, a member of the Commission on Medical Cannabis. “Until you have a clear model … there are too many vague concepts about cultivation for me to be comfortable with it.”

Lawmakers last spring approved the use of cannabis oil to treat eight medical conditions, but the prospect of manufacturing and selling the drug in-state was left for the commission to review.

The majority of members voted Wednesday to expand the number of conditions legally treatable with the drug, but declined to pursue the issue of access any further.

forts to legalize marijuana in California got a boost this week after competing ballot measures joined forces behind the stronger of the two, backed by billionaire Sean Parker, a former president of Facebook Inc.

The initiative has the support of Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform. Coalition board member Antonio Gonzalez, who is also president of the Latino Voters League, said the coalition withdrew its rival initiative after Parker’s measure was modified to protect children, workers and small businesses.

A man who authorities say was growing marijuana in a central Florida storage unit panicked when he heard a police helicopter hovering nearby and called 911 to surrender.

The problem? Edgewater police officers were in the neighborhood Wednesday afternoon to investigate an unrelated suspicious death.

It was shortly after 12:30 p.m. when 47-year-old Jasper Harrison told the dispatcher he was “the guy” they were looking for, adding he wanted to come out without being shot.

Harrison told the dispatcher he wanted police to contact him.

A Chicago lawmaker plans to try again next spring to drop criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy plans to announce her proposal Thursday in Chicago.

The legislation would replace criminal penalties in Illinois with a civil fine for possession of a personal amount of marijuana.

The General Assembly endorsed a Cassidy-sponsored plan last spring to impose fines for possession of marijuana, but Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner used his power to rewrite legislation to lower the amount of pot allowed and impose higher fines.

The Legislature took no action to overturn the veto.

Advocates pushing to reform marijuana laws in Mississippi say they can no longer raise any funds within the state because their top executive is a convicted felon.

The Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), advocating for marijuana reform in all 50 states, say the recent announcement by the Mississippi government barring them from fundraising within the state could hamper efforts at marijuana reform there and throughout the South.

In an email sent to supporters on Monday, MPP’s Executive Director Rob Kampia explains:

The Mississippi government is saying that MPP is prohibited from raising money in that state because I’m a convicted felon.

Whether a Bangor Township couple broke the law by having too much "usable" pot in their medical marijuana growing operation is the point of contention in ongoing legal proceedings.

Sandra K. Dabrowski, 63, and David A. Dabrowski, 64, both are charged with delivering or manufacturing marijuana. The charge is a four-year felony. A preliminary examination for the couple commenced Tuesday, Dec. 8, in Bay County District Court.

The Royal Navy has fished £1 million worth of cannabis out of the Mediterranean after packages of the drug were dumped by smugglers.

HMS St Albans, a warship based at Portsmouth, was carrying out a routine security patrol when it discovered the traffickers travelling in a small boat.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: "HMS St Albans spotted a small boat acting suspiciously and so launched her Merlin helicopter, this spooked the small boat crew who then tossed several large packages into the water before speeding off into the dusk.

"The frigate then sent one of her sea boats to investigate the packages which later turned out to be approximately 320kg of cannabis resin."