ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is skeptical of a Macon lawmaker’s idea of growing medical cannabis in Georgia, saying he is not convinced the state could control the use of the plant.

“I still don’t think we have sufficient information or ability to control something of that nature if we start production and processing here in our state,” Deal said Wednesday morning.

That puts a roadblock in front of a plan by state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, to try and legalize in-state growing as early as next year of specially-bred cannabis used to make medicine.

Georgians who have certain severe illnesses and who have a doctor’s recommendation can possess a liquid cannabis medicine under a state law that Peake pushed through the Legislature earlier this year.

Police release footage of the seizure and destruction of 8,500 cannabis plants in New South Wales

Australian police seize and destroy a crop of cannabis, measuring the size of a football stadium, after discovering the plant growing in a secluded area off Bundjalung National Park in New South Wales.

Footage released by New South Wales Police shows how the haul, containing 8,500 plants worth around £4m, is incinerated.

The site where the crop was discovered had stock-proof fence surrounding it, with the area measuring 150m in length and 50m wide.

A police spokesperson said the discovery is one of the largest cannabis crop finds in recent time.

The time is long overdue for marijuana to be legalized by both federal and state governments. In 1971, I was a college freshman debater, and one of the issues was whether marijuana should be legalized. As I researched the topic, the arguments were overwhelmingly in favor of legalization, and it was difficult to put together a credible case for continued criminalization.

More than 40 years have gone by, and possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law and in 46 states. Only Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington have legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Just over one year ago, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was openly opposed to marijuana legalization.

Speaking at an October 2014 debate in the closing days of his campaign for a second term as governor, Hickenlooper took aim squarely at legalized weed, saying, "If it was up to me, I wouldn't have done it, right? I opposed it from the very beginning. In matter of fact, all right, what the hell — I'll say it was reckless."

Although he went on to narrowly defeat his Republican rival, Hickenlooper's position on marijuana, at least publicly, remained firm after getting sworn in for his second term.

Quite a bit has changed in the past year.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto came out strongly against legalizing marijuana on Wednesday, the same day his government announced a national public debate on the issue.

He suggested the recent, informal debate on the issue has already created confusion, even among his own children. Mexico's Supreme Court ruled in November that growing, possessing and smoking marijuana for recreation is legal under the right to freedom, but that ruling applied only to the four people involved in the case.

Pena Nieto said Wednesday that one of his own kids asked him "Hey Dad, does that mean I can light up a joint in front of you soon?"

The president said: "No, don't be confused."

The U.S. Postal Service office in Portland delivered some potentially bad news last week to Northwest newspapers: If news outlets run ads for the region’s booming marijuana industry, they might be violating federal law.

The Friday memo pointed out it was illegal “to place an ad in any publication with the purpose of seeking or offering illegally to receive, buy, or distribute a Schedule I controlled substance,” according to a copy sent to the editor-publisher of the Chinook Observer in Long Beach, Wash.

“If an advertisement advocates the purchase of clinical marijuana through a Medical Marijuana Dispensary, it does not comply with” the law.

The Turnbull government has announced the creation of a nationally consistent licencing scheme to regulate the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes. 

Road trip!

With a marijuana legalization measure likely headed to the ballot next fall, the state Senate’s Special Committee on Marijuana is planning a visit to Colorado in January to grapple with what may lay ahead.

Senator Jason M. Lewis, a Winchester Democrat who chairs the committee, says the panel will be meeting with state officials, law enforcement, and industry players, among others.

The delegation, he said, will not be sampling the product: “I don’t think that will be required.”

The committee will take a close look at how Colorado, one of four states that has legalized the drug, handles some tricky public policy questions: regulating home grows, responding to “drugged driving,” and curbing youth consumption.

Police who went to search Lee Hicks' home for cannabis were beaten to it by someone else, a court heard.

Hicks, 40, had been growing the drug in a fortified outbuilding at his home in Sallis Close, Northway, Tewkesbury, and police went straight there to search after arresting him at another address.

But by the time they got there someone had broken down a reinforced outer door, unlocked the inner door and removed practically all trace of the growing plants.

All police found were some seeds and leaves, said prosecutor David Maunder at Gloucester Crown Court.

Despite the limited evidence found, however, Hicks pleaded guilty to a charge of producing a controlled drug between February 16 and March 17 this year.

Enrique Peña Nieto says he is open to discussion but asks: ‘Should we put children’s health at risk in order to combat organized crime?’

Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto has come out strongly against legalizing marijuana on the same day his government announced a national public debate on the issue.

He suggested the recent, informal debate on the issue has already created confusion, even among his own children. Mexico’s supreme court ruled in November that growing, possessing and smoking marijuana for recreation is legal under the right to freedom, but that ruling applied only to the four people involved in the case.