A Chilean mother says a hospital is restricting her access to her newborn baby because she said she smoked marijuana.

Sindy Melany Ortiz said she smoked pot for medicinal reasons to alleviate pain in one of her arms.

She says she is not being allowed to breast-feed her daughter and can only see her for two hours a day.

Hospital officials in the southern city of Talcahuano said they were following protocol and the baby was at risk.

“They have violated my rights as a mother,” said Ms Ortiz, “I use this drug only for the pain in my arms, it was recommended by a medical professional to me and I am absolutely not a drug consumer.”

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission received over 1,000 applications for licenses for the state's medical marijuana program, with the majority of the applications being for dispenser licenses.

he recent report from the Oireachtas Justice Committee on the proposed decriminalisation of certain drug use is timely and important (“Minor drug use ‘should not be criminalised’”, November 5th).

Members of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force discovered more than 355 pounds of marijuana Oct. 27, 2015.(Photo: Submitted)

Drug task force units in St. Clair and Sanilac counties received $41,740 and $18,483 respectively in medical marijuana grant money in 2015, according to a Sept. 25 report from the state department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

The money was awarded to four counties statewide through an inaugural program that awards grants for the education, communication and enforcement of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.

The Medical Marijuana Operation and Oversight Grants come from fees paid to the Michigan Medical Marihuana fund by people applying for or renewing their medical marijuana patient registry cards.

A cannabis factory has been shut down in Earl Shilton as part of a crackdown by Hinckley police.

Members of the Hinckley Police Dedicated Neighbourhood Team executed a drugs warrant on a property and seized a “quantity of cannabis”, the force said.

The factory was discovered following a patch walk by Hinckley police and staff from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s anti-social behaviour team on the street a few days before.

It is one of a number of raids carried out in the borough over the last few months as part of a crackdown on the growing and supplying of illegal drugs.

Vermont could make history next year by becoming the first state in the American northeast to legalize cannabis. Meet the local activists, politicians, businesspeople, patients and students who hope to see the Green Mountain State legalize recreational cannabis use. "I do see tides turning, even attitudes changing, but the law still exists, our prisons are still full," says one Montpelier resident in this engaging and entertaining video by Eva Soldberger.

Exemption for medical pot users was only announced on Wednesday

Ontario's Liberal government says it will re-examine its recent move to allow medical marijuana users to smoke and vape the drug anywhere in the province, just one day after announcing the change.

"We've heard the concerns around this regulation, and we're going to take this feedback and see if this regulation is the best way to move forward," Associate Health Minister Dipika Damerla said Thursday.

Celebrating a day of thanksgiving has a long history in this country, dating back to the first year of George Washington’s first term as president, when he proclaimed Nov. 28, 1789 “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God.”

The tradition continued, although on different dates in different states, until President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, proclaimed the final Thursday in November as Thanksgiving nationwide. Of course the Confederate States refused to recognize Lincoln’s authority, and it was not until after the war ended, during reconstruction in the mid-1870s, that all states participated in the national Thanksgiving celebration.