A physician accused of violating Illinois' medical marijuana law could lose his license in a case critics say highlights the state's strict enforcement.

Dr. Bodo Schneider is accused of charging patients for marijuana recommendations without a legitimate doctor-patient relationship.

His case came before an administrative law judge Tuesday in Chicago. Attorneys say they're negotiating a possible settlement.

The case highlights how Illinois and other states handle doctors who cater to marijuana-seeking patients, though it isn't the first time Schneider has faced trouble.

Search warrants for three storefront dispensaries executed after complaints

Nanaimo RCMP served search warrants on three marijuana dispensaries Tuesday following several complaints including selling pot to minors and actively soliciting sales from the sidewalk.

The warrants came just weeks after 10 pot shops in the city were hand-delivered letters from police asking them to cease sales within seven days or risk criminal charges.

By Nicolas Delaunay

Once in his greenhouse in a remote Dutch village, Doede de Jong proudly nurtured a thriving cannabis crop to sell to local users. Now only five plants remain, after the police moved in.

Yet the 66-year-old Dutchman remains unbowed after symbolically winning a court case despite deliberately flouting the country's liberal drugs laws.

In a verdict that could have major implications for cannabis growers in The Netherlands, a court last month found De Jong guilty of breaking the law, which allows individuals to grow a maximum of only five plants each.

November was a dizzying month in the marijuana movement, one whose impact will be felt for years to come. California inched closer to full legalization with the unveiling of a well-funded, heavily endorsed 2016 ballot initiative.

ANCHORAGE -

As marijuana regulations begin to take shape, many entrepreneurs were hoping to see changes that would allow out of state investors to buy into their businesses. But a Tuesday meeting of the Marijuana Control Board stopped short of voting on the issue due to a procedural technicality.

Under the current proposed regulations, marijuana businesses are not allowed to receive any funding from out of state investors. A recent amendment proposed by MCB member Brandon Emmett would allow for a 12.5 percent outside investment.

The board was scheduled to vote on the amendment Tuesday. However, according to the Department of Law, there wasn't proper public notice to address the issue at the meeting and so no vote could be taken.

It all starts with correlation. In 1950, the British Medical Journal published an article showing a high correlation between lung cancer and smoking tobacco. In 1998, the tobacco industry entered a settlement agreement with the attorneys general of 46 states, agreeing to change its marketing tactics, to abandon certain industry groups, and to pay out more than $206 billion.

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is back from an appearance at an international climate change conference with a simple question hanging over his head: What now?

A 90-day countdown is underway before Trudeau meets again with Canada's premiers to hammer out a climate-change framework that would guide federal and provincial efforts in meeting the ambitious talk from the Paris conference.

The provinces will be looking to the federal government for money to help pay for their climate-change commitments. But the Liberals have a slew of green spending promises of their own to keep, totalling more than $13 billion in new, green spending over the next four years.

As rural youth have known for more than a generation, growing pot, even in the Canadian climate, is not so difficult. A sunny patch between young pines, a bit of fertilizer and seed and then go away till autumn.

The constraint on pot production has never been agricultural.  

Marijuana laws have been in place for so long that there will be political pressure to make sure any changes put health and safety first as Canada leads the way on pot regulation. But as governments across the country consider how to liberalize the rules on the distribution and use of cannabis, they are also laying the ground rules for a multibillion-dollar industry.

Cannabis plants worth more than £62m are seized every year by police.

And a report by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has linked the cultivation of the illegal plant to other crimes including money laundering, human trafficking and illegal immigration.

The study said commercial cultivation of cannabis "continues to pose a significant risk to the UK" with more than a quarter of a million plants seized every year.

Data used in the report said most of those caught commercially cultivating cannabis are white British men aged between 25 and 34.

"Reports suggest a new trend of cultivation sites being controlled by white British organised crime groups which employ Vietnamese nationals who are forced to work in cultivation," the report said.

Matthew and Elizabeth Pallett at home with their dog Champ. Photo: Joe Armao

A Melbourne couple who supplied medicinal marijuana to the chronically ill say they'll take their fight against serious drugs charges to a jury, and are prepared to be jailed for their beliefs.

Matthew and Elizabeth Pallett​, who provided medical cannabis products to people with multiple sclerosis, cancer, epilepsy, fibromyalgia and Crohn's disease, face charges of cultivating, possessing and trafficking cannabis at a time when governments are moving to legalise medical cannabis.

About five years ago the couple established a "compassion club" and began openly providing cannabis-based tinctures, chocolates and butters to regular clients.