Louisiana residents, for the most part, have a much more relaxed and tolerant approach toward marijuana than current state laws reflect, according to findings from a statewide survey conducted by LSU this winter. 

LSU conducted its poll of 980 state residents between Jan. 12 and Feb. 13. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points in either direction. The survey is performed every year by the Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs as well as the Public Policy Research Lab. 

The university asked about three different marijuana policies. Here is what it found: 

On 2 April, the Senate closed the door on the possibility to legalize cannabis in France proposed by Senator EELV Esther Benbassa. Exit selling it alongside cigarettes and stamps in tobacco. Exit? Not for long.

They had argued, detailed and demonstrated the benefits of the legalization of cannabis in France, but the bill of Senator EELV went up in smoke April 2 before the Senate. Esther Benbassa encouraged to not give up.

Opium poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan despite the infamous mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater being paid $569m by the Pentagon to stop it

In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year.

Yet one clear winner in the anti-drug effort is not the Afghan people, but the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.

Spreading like wildfire across the news this morning is a statement by the Chairman of Cigarette Dealers Association, suggesting the legalisation of hash in Egypt...

Egyptians are finally waking up to the realisation that Egypt would benefit from the legalisation of the use and trade of hash. Spreading virally online this morning is a statement made by the Chairman of the Cigarette Dealers Association in Cairo and Giza, Osama Salama, who believes that the legalisation would be a fast and effective way to reduce the state budget deficit within a few years.

Medicinal cannabis has become a fast-growing multi-­billion dollar global industry. But Irish people with MS and other conditions are still in a legal limbo, left to buy the drug on the street.

Six months after Marie Fleming passed away after a long battle with multiple sclerosis, her partner Tom Curran revealed she had been smoking cannabis to help ease her pain.

After Fleming died in December 2013, shortly after losing a landmark case against the State to lift the ban on assisted suicide, Curran said he had grown cannabis for his partner.

Bruce Barcott became an expert on the cannabis industry while researching and writing “Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America” (Time Books, available Tuesday) — a book that reflects the ways in which many Americans' outlook on the drug has changed in recent years.

Barcott recounts his own marijuana experiences. They didn't go beyond the sort of youthful experimentation that Americans typically leave behind with the rest of campus life when they move on from college and take on real-world adult responsibilities — until Washington state asked voters about legalizing, regulating and taxing recreational marijuana.

AUGUSTA — The group with national clout in Maine’s marijuana legalization battle has an early money lead over advocates for a rival proposal, but almost all of that money came from one backer.

The Committee to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol in Maine says it has raised more than $50,000 between January and the end of March, said David Boyer, who is leading that group as Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project. That’s well ahead of the $30,000 raised by Legalize Maine.

The SP MP Koco Kokedhima has not forgotten his idea to legalize cannabis. "Marketwired", in an article published a few days ago writes that Albania's Socialist MP, has contacted the US officials to legalize and start the export of cannabis. 

"Kokedhima has been in touch with the Commission of Eurasian Affairs in Washington DC (CCEA), regarding a meeting scheduled to be held later this month, to discuss the next phase of this program", writes "Marketwired".

Four decades after Richard Nixon declared drugs “public enemy No. 1 in the United States,” the tide has turned on marijuana legalization. States are racing to follow Colorado and Washington in ending prohibition, and national politicians are scrambling to get out of the way.

An Alabama Senate bill introduced last week would allow patients to legally possess and use marijuana prescribed by a medical doctor.

The Alabama Medical Marijuana Patient Safe Access Act would apply to “qualifying patients” with serious medical conditions, ranging from severe nausea to AIDS. The bill was read Thursday and is being considered in the Senate’s judiciary committee.

SB-326 is sponsored by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D- Greensboro, and a companion bill is expected to be filed Monday by Rep. John Rogers, D- Birmingham.

“There are doctors that want to prescribe marijuana for their patients because it works,” Singleton said in a written statement last week. “It just makes sense to let them.”