On Thursday, a Quebec judge called out Canada's "ridiculous" marijuana laws, noting that lawyers and others who work in the legal system are probably getting high themselves. The judge, Pierre Chevalier, then handed down a $1 fine to man who was prosecuted for owning 30 marijuana plants.

Dutch municipalities are renewing their efforts to end a nationwide ban on regulated cannabis cultivation. The Association of Dutch Municipalities is advocating for the introduction of a municipal permits system that gives the government control over the entire cannabis chain – sale, use and production.

This is according to the report on an eight month’s long study done by an Association work group, consisting of seven mayors and an alderman, the Volkskrant reports. The newspaper calls this the local authorities’ most serious attempt to get rid of the current tolerance policy, which states that cannabis may be sold and used in coffee shops, but the cultivation is illegal.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Prosecutors have been given the green light to pursue charges against medical marijuana users who are smoking pot in their car in parking lots, clarifying a complicated piece of the Michigan marijuana regulatory puzzle.

The Michigan appeals court says a car is private property but parking lots generally are open to the public. The court says the state’s medical marijuana law prohibits use “in any public place.”

The decision last week involves a man with a medical marijuana card who was smoking pot in his car outside the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant.

Robert Carlton was charged with a misdemeanor. The prosecutor appealed after judges in Isabella County said Carlton’s car wasn’t a public place and dismissed the charge.

ST. LOUIS, MO -- This #GivingTuesday, Show-Me Cannabis released the first commercial in the state of Missouri advocating for medical marijuana reform. The video, entitled "Guilty," is now available for online viewing on the crowdfunding website for nonprofits, Gladitood.com, where the organization is also raising $100,000 in support of its public education efforts around medical cannabis policy in Missouri.

The crew of a Royal Navy warship seized around £3m worth of cannabis during a security patrol in the Mediterranean.

The Lynx helicopter from Portsmouth-based frigate HMS Richmond was sent in to investigate after spotting a suspected drug smuggling boat. With Richmond nearby, her Royal Marine boarding team was sent into action. The crew of the smuggling vessel then threw their drugs shipment - which would have had a street value of £3m overboard and fled. Richmond’s team recovered 1,015kg of cannabis bound for mainland Europe.

The Minister of State for the National Drugs Strategy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is considering decriminalising heroin, cocaine and cannabis. In other words, possessing small amounts for personal use will no longer be an offence.

Recently the Justice, Defence and Equality committee heard evidence from various stakeholders on this issue. A number of groups working in the frontline gave evidence. Most were in favour of the measure and Portugal was held up as the model we should aspire to.

Two psychiatrist colleagues working at the coal face of the drug problem are Dr. Eamonn Keenan and Dr. Gerry McCarney, and they gave important evidence to the Committee as representative of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association.

MIAMI(CBSMiami/ NSF) — A Senate panel is taking up a bill this week that would allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana.

All this as lawmakers continue to grapple with whether to go beyond a 2014 law that approved a limited form of cannabis.

The Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled Thursday to take up the bill (SB 460), sponsored by Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, that would allow marijuana for patients with terminal conditions.

A similar House bill (HB 307), sponsored by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, and Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation, has been approved by one House panel and is pending in the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee.

Canadian judge Pierre Chevalier has issued a very symbolic ruling in a marijuana possession case. Mario Larouche, 46, was facing possession charges for having 30 marijuana plants at home. In line with the recently elected Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his party’s promises to legalize marijuana, the Quebec judge said this:

Prof. Shitij Kapur. Explanation Awaited.

On Friday, 27th November 2015, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London issued a press release titled “Study shows white matter damage caused by ‘skunk-like’ cannabis”.  As a result, hundreds of media outlets across the world have published to the effect that cannabis use causes changes in the corpus callosum, the largest white matter structure in the brain, which is responsible for communication between the left and right hemispheres.