Avery Collins speaks with the snow-bro drawl typical of many young Coloradans.

With his bloodshot, blue eyes peeking out from under blonde curls and a low-slung hat, he could easily fit in with the stoners at a 4/20 festival.

“For me, it’s a spiritual happening,” he said recently. “Everything is perfect, everything is pure bliss.”

In this week's edition of First-Person Shooter, we gave two cameras to Emily, a Denver-based "budtender" who runs the counter at Magnolia Road, a dispensary that operates both a medical and recreational marijuana storefront, as well as a grow house. A huge weed enthusiast, she smokes about an eighth of dank nug a day, and helps upwards of 300 customers pick out a variety of strains, edibles, and other pot products.

“This is delicious, Roz Bielski says, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. “Like eating a cloud. This is the kind of food I’d picture eating in heaven.”

It is just after 10am on a sunny Sunday morning in Denver’s Highlands. Clusters of smart churchgoers saunter past the windows of the restaurant; an impossibly healthy-looking young couple follow, pedalling up the hill with yoga mats slung over their shoulders. Then the peace is cracked by a cackle. Roz, a wealthy 62-year-old from New York who looks at least 10 years younger, breaks down into girlish giggles as she passes a large slice of sponge tart to her twentysomething daughter, Rachel. “Look, darling, I’m your biggest flan,” she guffaws, bent double with laughter as crumbs fly from her mouth. “YOUR BIGGEST FLAN!”

Thousands of visitors have begun to descend on Nimbin for the town's first Mardi Grass since the Federal Government announced plans to legalise medicinal cannabis.

The event started 24 years ago as a cannabis law reform rally in the main street of the northern New South Wales town.

The rally is now held as part of the three-day festival, which organiser Michael Balderstone said was still relevant, despite the government's plans.

"One of the most important things this weekend is going to be telling people that it's all still illegal," he said.

Conan O'Brien has frequently turned to marijuana to get laughs over his 20-plus years as a late-night talkshow host. Here's a sampling of his best marijuana moments with surprising guests including Martha Stewart and Larry King.

1. The Pot Piñata

To help a staff member get her driver's license, Conan rented a student-driver car in January to show her the ropes of getting around Los Angeles. But things went awry when they picked up Kevin Hart and Ice Cube and took a detour on a mission to buy enough marijuana to stuff into a piñata. Seriously.

The saga of the 2016 Denver 420 Rally will go down in the massive smoke-out’s history as one of its strangest ever.

Colorado's cannabis industry is growing fast, with armoured cars full of cash a common sight on Denver's streets. But businesses are stuck in a legal no-man's land - state laws allow the drug to be sold, but federal laws still prohibit it.

I am in a bed and breakfast, and it's Friday evening, Happy Hour. Drinks and nibbles are flowing freely, but there's something else - a sweet, sickly smell in the air. Yes I'm in Denver, the Mile High City, 1,600m in altitude, in Colorado, the first American state to legalise the consumption and sale of cannabis for recreational use, in 2014.

An article entitled "Comparison of Outcome Expectancies for Synthetic Cannabinoids and Botanical Marijuana," from The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, studied the expected outcomes of both synthetic and natural marijuana.

186 adults who had previously used both synthetic and natural marijuana, as well as 181 who had previously used only botanical marijuana, were surveyed about their expected outcomes of using either type of cannabinoid. The results showed that the expected negative effects were significantly higher for synthetic marijuana than for natural marijuana across both categories of use history.

Last year was a historic year for the Alamo City chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

The group of activists who want to see Texas' pot laws reformed held its first rally and march.

And on May 7, at 2 p.m., it will continue to support Lone Star State pot reforms with its second annual march and rally.

Destiny Young, SA NORML's new executive director (she replaces DWI and 420 Dude Jamie Balagia), said supporters should meet at Brackenridge Park at 2 p.m. at the softball fields.

Police trying to promote more soft drug busts.

Twenty people a day are arrested in Israel for using soft drugs. In most cases they are ordinary citizens, young people starting their lives with a criminal record. Over 20,000 drug-related files are opened annually, more than half of them for personal use.

Following criticism by the public and media of police enforcement policies regarding consumption of soft drugs, former Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino declared in May 2015 that “it’s high time that the police and the state examine the traditional approach to cannabis.”