This year alone there have already been more than 50 legislative initiatives around the country aimed at legalizing or decriminalizing medical or recreational marijuana. 

Will marijuana legalization in Colorado cause pot use and abuse to skyrocket, along with other problems associated with cannabis? Or will it be a net gain, creating new jobs in a burgeoning industry while cutting arrests for a relatively mild drug?

A new report from Colorado finds a little bit of the first and a little bit of the second.

The report, filed by the Colorado Department of Public Safety for the state legislature, had several big findings:

As marijuana advocates in Canada take part in 4/20 cannabis culture demonstrations today, they know pot-smoking events in the not-too-distant future could actually be legal.

But when the Liberal government makes good on its campaign promise to legalize marijuana, there are bound to be many questions about life in a pot-permissive Canada that are more about social norms than laws. In the U.S., Colorado and Washington have already lifted their prohibitions on weed, leaving American etiquette experts with a new frontier to address. 

CBC News asked Lizzie Post, great-great-granddaughter of renowned etiquette expert Emily Post and co-president of The Emily Post Institute, to weigh in on marijuana etiquette.  

How do you plan on celebrating 420 this year?

Most stoners band together with other fellow marijuana lovers to create the ultimate smoke session right at home. Whether you’re the one hosting or the one attending, there are always a few different types of stoners that can be found in your environment.

From the person who still doesn’t know how to inhale correctly after all of these years, to the marijuana know-it-all who shamelessly takes credit for one of Mother Nature’s most precious offerings, here are the eight different types of marijuana smokers you’ll meet on 420!

The state released a report Monday detailing changes in everything from pot arrests to tax collections to calls to Poison Control.

Colorado kids are not smoking more pot since the drug became legal — but their older siblings and parents certainly are, according to a long-awaited report giving the most comprehensive data yet on the effects of the state's 2012 recreational marijuana law.

The state released a report Monday detailing changes in everything from pot arrests to tax collections to calls to Poison Control. Surveys given to middle-schoolers and high-schoolers indicate that youth marijuana use didn't rise significantly in the years after the 2012 vote.

For a Latin American narcotics kingpin, Guillermo Delmonte cuts a low key figure. The 29-year-old Uruguayan has never smoked cannabis in his life. He’s never smoked a cigarette either, and he barely drinks. When asked if he has any vices, he has to pause to think. “I’m addicted to orange juice. Perhaps,” he eventually says with a bemused laugh.

Sitting in his minimalist office overlooking Montevideo’s main square, and wearing an open-necked Ralph Lauren shirt and expensive blue jeans, he looks every bit the fitness-obsessed executive.

While a lung-full of marijuana can reduce some potheads to a puddle of silliness and sloth — you know who you are — the fact remains: Pot can serve a host of creative uses.

Case in point: TV host Bill Maher.

Since premiering 13 years ago with "Real Time," which HBO airs live on Fridays at 10 p.m. EDT, Maher has provided an essential forum for smart discussion about politics and culture, with his opening monologue often the sharpest, best-crafted topical humor on television.

Even better is his final segment, which ramps up from a litany of so-called "New Rules" to a jestful-yet-meaty meditation on such subjects as the election follies, political correctness, gun control and, yes, legalizing marijuana.

With medical marijuana now legal in 23 states — and recreational weed legal in four — the conversation about pot will only continue to buzz. Soon, weed as research, as medicine, and as business may no longer be a taboo topic.

But what parts of the country talk the most about marijuana? Denver may be the first to come to mind, since it was the first to legalize recreational use, but a new report from Aizman Law Firm finds this isn’t always the case. The law firm decided to see what U.S. cities mentioned weed on social media the most, so it analyzed geotagged Instagram posts hashtagged with the phrases #weed, #maryjane, #marijuana, or #420.

Organizers expect as many as 80,000 people to attend one of the largest annual cannabis-themed gatherings in the world

Colorado's cannabis connoisseurs won't let a looming storm snuff out the festivities at the state's largest marijuana-related rally.

Organizers of the annual 420 Rally in Denver's Civic Center Park say they are expecting as many as 80,000 people to attend the event on Saturday. This year's festival features headlining performances by musicians Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne. As many as 250 vendors have reserved booths.