In a public mandate letter issued to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould Friday, Trudeau mandated his Justice Minister to "create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given his first official order starting the process towards legalizing weed.

Advocates for marijuana legalization urged New Jersey legislators to reverse decades of prohibition Monday, testifying that legalization will bring regulation to an underground industry, boost tax revenue and help end racial disparity within the criminal justice system.

Each of the 10 panelists who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee supported the legalization of marijuana, a policy shift enacted by four states and gaining traction elsewhere across the country.

Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari is backing a bill that could make New Jersey the fifth state to legalize marijuana, joining Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. But he acknowledged passing such a law will be a long process.

While the Mexican Supreme Court has legalised growing and consuming marijuana for a single case, many feel that this is the first step towards a nationwide legalisation. But what does this mean for the country?

MEXICO CITY – Since 2013 four plaintiffs from the advocacy group Mexican Society for Tolerant Consumption (SMART) have been fighting the case after they were denied permission by Mexican health authorities to grow marijuana for personal use. The court ruled in a four to one decision that the prohibition of marijuana for personal use violated the four plaintiffs’ “right to free development of personality” and, as as a result, was unconstitutional.

Fourteen years ago, B.C. Marijuana Party candidate Joshua McKenzie ran in the staunchly conservative provincial riding of Fort Langley-Aldergrove. He spent a memorable all-candidates meeting answering every question with one sentence: “If government legalized and taxed marijuana, there would be plenty of money for health care, education and other priorities.” By the end of the meeting, people were chanting his answer along with him.

McKenzie only drew 674 votes, but the belief that legalizing and taxing marijuana could pay for everything has only grown since 2001. The examples south of the border, however, seem to suggest that the truth is very different.

Legalization of medical marijuana can't come soon enough for 8-year-old Lorelei Ulrich, who suffers hundreds of debilitating seizures each day due to epilepsy.

“We’re hoping that we get something passed and something passed soon because people are suffering,” said her mother, Middletown native Dana Ulrich.

To help gain advocates, a rally to support the legalization of medical marijuana hemp will be held in Bristol from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Lions Park along the borough waterfront, 148 Basin Park.

Minnesota has one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the country. For starters, patients are not allowed to smoke medical marijuana – they can only eat it or vaporize it. Also, Minnesota does not allow home cultivation. Only two entities are allowed to grow medical marijuana in Minnesota. Minnesota has one of the smallest lists of qualifying conditions to become a medical marijuana patient out of states that have legalized medical marijuana. Below is the current list of qualifying conditions, per the Minnesota Department of Health:

Drug enforcement agents seized 419.5 kilos of marijuana hidden in a vehicle abandoned in a town in Oruro, a region in the Bolivian Andes, the commander of the FELCN drug enforcement agency, Col. Santiago Delgadillo, said.

The vehicle was found by FELCN agents in the town of Vichuloma, Delgadillo said in a press conference in Oruro.

The marijuana was smuggled into Bolivia from Paraguay and had a street value of about $692,000 in Chile, where it was suspected of being bound, the FELCN chief said.

The FELCN seized 750 grams of cocaine base paste in a separate operation in Caihuasi, another town in Oruro, and arrested three people suspected of smuggling the drugs into Chile.

More than 200 people packed the Willits Community Center on November 5 for an educational event hosted by the Small Farmers Association, which focused on “Laws, Regulations, and Legalization,” and the range of different requirements for cannabis farmers and businesses’ hoping to come into compliance with several new regulations and permits approved this year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given his first official order starting the process towards legalizing weed. 

In a public mandate letter issued to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould Friday, Trudeau listed the government's top priorities, including working with the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Health ministers to "create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana."

MEDFORD — A German prison was the last place Alex Rogers expected to find himself shortly after marrying his Slovenian bride.

Three weeks earlier, on Dec. 19, 2005, the Ashland resident was in Medford, where he had married Tina Rogers. Gathered around him at the family home were his parents, Hank and Charlotte Rogers, and his sister, Paige, who was attending Princeton University. Retired Judge Ray White performed the ceremony.

The couple returned to Europe and landed Jan. 13, 2006, in Salzburg, Austria, where authorities arrested Rogers on an international warrant related to the sale of 50 pounds of marijuana a couple of years earlier. It was Friday the 13th.