TRENTON — New Jersey's medicinal marijuana program last year served 4,228 patients and their caregivers who chose from 33 different strains of cannabis to alleviate their suffering, according to the latest annual report issued by the state Health Department late Tuesday.

A Cincinnati developer will be the primary owner of the Toledo marijuana-growing facility if Ohio voters approve a proposed marijuana legalization amendment, the campaign announced today.

David Bastos, a partner with Capital Investment Group Inc., is the lead investor in the firm that will own 6070 Hagman Rd. in North Toledo.

The 28.5-acre site, now a corn field with a house, will be one of 10 marijuana “grows” allowed in the state under an amendment to the Ohio Constitution, if voters approve in the Nov. 3 election. All 10 locations, which will grow marijuana and sell it to manufacturers, medical dispensaries, and marijuana retailers, are already identified, by parcel number, in the proposed amendment.

As Uruguay embarks in a historic direction to control and regulate its marijuana industry, nearly six out of 10 of its citizens disagree with the policy according to the Latin American Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University.

Law 19.172, passed in December 2013, made the small Latin American country the first in the world to take over all activities related to the marijuana market, including growing, distributing and selling cannabis and all its byproducts. While the measure has earned Uruguay kudos in some quarters for creativity, parts of law 19.172 violate treaties that comprise the International Drug Control Regime.

JUNEAU — Pictures of blown-up homes, pot-infused candy and a dire warning that weed edibles will kill children weren’t enough to ignite support for a Fairbanks senator’s amendment to ban marijuana concentrates in 2017.

Republican Sen. Pete Kelly’s attempt to criminalize marijuana concentrates when the two-year constitutional protection for Ballot Measure 2 expires fell flat on the Senate floor Monday, with many fellow Republicans and urban Democrats concerned the ban was an overreaction that undermined voter intent.

Looking to shake the stoner stereotype, the marijuana industry drops famed smoker Tommy Chong as an activist.

The marijuana lobby is tired of the “Cheech & Chong” stoner jokes and wants to be taken seriously in Congress.

That’s why the National Cannabis Industry Association dropped actor and marijuana activist Tommy Chong from its Capitol Hill lobbying push slated for the end of April. According to an internal email obtained by POLITICO, the cannabis industry wants to move past the stoner stereotypes embodied by Chong as it tries to remake itself as a serious and respectable segment of the economy.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission plans to announce the makeup of its marijuana rules advisory committee by the end of April.

The agency initially planned to have the committee's membership finalized by mid-March, but was swamped with applicants, said spokesman Tom Towslee. Towslee said an estimated 500 people expressed interest in serving on the panel, which will help shape the rules for the regulated recreational marijuana industry.

Eight Russian tourists were detained, and two of them charged with possessing and selling marijuana and bamboo pipes for smoking it online, on Koh Phangan in Surat Thani, police said on Wednesday.

A police officer shows a carved bamboo pipe used for smoking marijuana following a raid on two houses on Koh Phanan island on April 1 in which eight Russian tourists were detained, and  two of them charged with possessing and selling marijuana and bamboo pipes for smoking it on Facebook. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)

Pol Col Pachum Ruengthong, chief of Koh Phangan police, announced the arrest of the three men and five women following a raid on two rented houses on the island.

THE governor general has given his assent to the Bill amending the Dangerous Drugs Act, making possession of two or less ounces of ganja a ticketable offence.

Justice Minister Mark Golding made the disclosure yesterday, just over a month after the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the legislation now being called the Ganja law.

"My understanding is that the GG has now assented to the Bill and the signed Bill is now on its way back

to Parliament," Golding informed advocates of decriminalisation or legalisation of marijuana, who were anxious that the amendments became law as soon as possible.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A bill to fast track some medical marijuana use in Florida is moving forward in the state legislature.

The Senate Health Policy Committee approved the legislation Tuesday in an 8-0 vote.

It would make changes to the law already passed by Florida lawmakers last spring. That measure has yet to help anyone because of legal challenges and bureaucratic delays.

"There are just some flaws that need to be corrected in the bill that we passed," sponsor Sen. Rob Bradley said to the committee as they considered the measure Tuesday.

The new bill expands the list of illnesses for which medical marijuana can be used. The new list includes HIV, epilepsy, ALS, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.

An effort to legalize marijuana is getting underway in the Italian parliament, with some 60 lawmakers having signed onto a motion to do just that by the time it was rolled out three weeks ago. Now, the "all party" group is getting to work on the twin tasks of drafting an actual bill and getting it enacted into law.

The effort is being led by Sen. Benedetto Della Vedova, who is also Italy's undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. Della Vedova was a long-time member of the country's Nonviolent Radical Party, but was elected to parliament as a member of the centrist Scelta Civica.