Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and one of the most recognized speakers in drug-policy circles, doesn’t mince words when he gets up to talk at marijuana industry events. “Frankly,” he often says, “I am not interested in meeting most you.” The only people he wants to talk to, he tells his audiences, are those who are going to make a lot of money in the new marijuana industry in an ethical way and are interested in certain social issues that could make them ideal foot soldiers in the wider struggle against the global war on drugs.

What drug poses the biggest problem in your community? When Americans are asked, the biggest answer isn't cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or opioid painkillers. Instead, Americans point to a totally legal substance: alcohol.

Those findings come from a new survey by the Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which asked more than 1,000 US adults to identify how big of a problem certain drugs are in their communities. The results point to alcohol as the biggest cause for concern:

To make a truly informed cannabis-buying decision, you have to smell the product. And I don't mean taking a dainty whiff. You've got get in there and really inhale, because smelling it — really focusing on the fragrance — may just be the best way to choose your cannabis.

“Depending on what the scent is, it can make or break a strain for people,” said Tyson Dieter, a manager at the Southwest Portland outlet of Nectar, an Oregon cannabis retailer.

This past January marked the first month that the state of Oregon collected taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana, marking another milestone in the state’s unfolding experiment with legalized pot.

But it was the amount collected in taxes in January that raised eyebrows in Salem and around the state: The Oregon Department of Revenue pegged the amount at $3.8 million.

Let’s put that number into perspective: Obviously, no one knew for sure what sort of sales would result from the voter-mandated decision to make recreational use of marijuana legal, so state economists admitted that their estimates were little more than guesses. But they figured that Oregon would collect somewhere between $3 million and $4 million in tax revenue a year.

Faced with an FDA-manufactured opioid painkiller overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control has revised its guidelines to avoid something possibly making the epidemic worse — the routine screening of opioid users for marijuana use.

Today, the CDC instructed doctors to stop routine testing of pain patients for marijuana use. The costly tests have dubious health benefits, high potential legal ramifications for the patient, and could actually increase overdose deaths.

Cannabis been causing quite a stir in recent years. From political debate to the business world, the iconic green plant has got people talking. Recent years has shown progress towards cannabis acceptance within the law books and recognition for its potentially beneficial healing properties. However, there is still work to be done in order to achieve nationwide legalization. One way to continue this progress is through uniting the community. MassRoots (MSRT), an online community for cannabis users, supporters and businesses, is on a mission to strengthen the pro-cannabis movement by providing a positive and supportive communication platform.

Amsterdam has been a symbol of cannabis freedom for a few decades already. Long traditions like Cannabis cup and coffeeshops created a profile of a city that welcomes tourists from all over the world just because there is no problem smoking weed here. Whether you just want to do some cannabis tasting, or you just like to buy some cannabis seeds to grow home, Amsterdam is the place to be.

So, here we are. Tourist buses load off thousands of weed-hungry people, older couples visit the Red Light district and stop for a smoke and a laugh at one of the biggest attractions: coffeeshops. I mean “coffeeshops” with many “”””…Nowhere is “coffee” so popular. It is a normal day in Amsterdam.

As government opens registry for pharmacists wishing to sell marijuana, sales through pharmacies are expected to begin in the second half of this year.

The first country in the world to legalize marijuana sales was Uruguay, a tiny South American nation with a population of only 3.3 million wedged between Brazil and Argentina.

It didn't take much detective work for 17-year-old Tommy to find the common thread among his Minnesota high school's best athletes: They all smoked pot. "Everyone who had school records [and] state records ... had been a user," recalls the now 27-year-old teacher in Denver, who requested his last name be kept private.

After Joe Ceci told a roomful of rural politicians that Alberta's liquor stores could sell pot if was ever legalized by the federal government, the provincial finance minister quickly had to clarify that his comment was a joke.

But as it turns out, Ceci wasn't that far off the mark.

Members of the Alberta Liquor Store Association are currently doing a survey on the idea of selling marijuana in stores.

"We're going to our membership to see first of all, is this a good fit for our stores?" said association president Ivonne Martinez.