Pesticides that are illegal to use on marijuana plants in Colorado are being found in some recreational and medical pot products being marketed and sold to the public -- leading to product recalls, plant quarantines and even a class-action lawsuit involving people who say they would not have inhaled the product had they known illegal pesticides were used on them.

Pesticide testing is not mandatory for pot businesses in Colorado, nor are they subject to random pesticide testing, as are other crops, according to Mitch Yergert of the state's agriculture department. Pot businesses generally are left to self-regulate pesticides use, though officials say they are working to come up with a plan for better oversight.

It’s a familiar conundrum. You’re visiting Denver. You purchase a preroll and a lighter at a legal cannabis shop, and...now what? Your hotel doesn’t allow smoking. It’s illegal to fire up in public. You’re caught in the all-too-common Denver dilemma.

WASHINGTON - It has been just over a year since D.C. voters approved Initiative 71, which made it legal to possess and cultivate marijuana with some limitations. Now, it is not particularly surprising someone has decided this would make a great subject for a television show.

What do you get when you mix a woman with a film and media background and a man who has worked for years as a consultant for medical marijuana cultivation centers? One young duo hopes the answer is a smoking hot new fictional comedy series.

Washington D.C. has been the focus of plenty of hit shows, but one local couple said it is high time for a new kind of series -- one focused on D.C.'s marijuana industry.

A man arrested as part of a police raid on a synthetic cannabis ring in South Canterbury has pleaded guilty to dealing the now-illegal drugs.

Aiden Timothy Ward, 23, boasted of running "the synnie game" in the region in texts seized by police investigating him.

He used his cellphone to supply and offer to supply "syns" and "synthetics", making three-for-one deals with his customers.

At the Timaru District Court on Tuesday, Ward pleaded guilty to a representative charge of supplying non-approved psychoactive substances and a representative charge of offering to supply them.

The supplying charge related to 24 transactions between June 17 and July 2, while the offering to supply charge related to five offers between the same dates.

Mike Paterson is one of Canada's hardest working and most beloved comedians. For more than 20 years, he's been a fixture on the national comedy circuit and starred alongside the likes of Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale in Hollywood feature films. He's also a writer, theater actor, musician, wrestler and star of a children's television show. He's been maintaining this gruelling schedule, even though he's been suffering with debilitating sciatica back pain. It had become unbearable for him, and with just four months until his wedding, Paterson needed a quick fix to his back pain and weight problem that had been made worse by a life of too much beer and pizza.

While some modern weddings are dry — no alcohol served, not even for Uncle Larry — most receptions welcome intoxicants that inevitably pack the dance floor with flirty smiles and happy feet.

But what about that kinda new, kinda not, increasingly legal intoxicant marijuana? Cannabis Concierge Events owner Bec Koop knows that weed is no stranger to the after-wedding party.

“I sometimes joke: With every single wedding that we’ve been to, there’s probably been at least one person out in the car in the parking lot getting high,” Koop recently told The Cannabist. “So let’s be honest — it’s always been there, it’s been a part of almost every party and event scene, so why not incorporate it?”

TRENTON - Nearly double the number of people were arrested for marijuana possession in a year in New Jersey compared to 20 years ago, according to the latest figures available.

The change runs counter to the nationwide trend as public acceptance of marijuana use grows in the United States, leading generally to a decline in arrests.

Udi Ofer, executive director of New Jersey’ ACLU chapter, said he’s especially concerned by the numbers because studies show African-Americans are charged with simple possession three times as much as whites despite both groups having the same usage rates for the drug.

WASHINGTON — The smell near the Columbia Heights Metro station Wednesday night was unmistakable. A lit joint in hand, Tony Lee stood outside a residence talking with friends as the evening bustle passed them by, no one paying the group of men any special attention.

“The community I’m in, everyone engages in smoking,” said Lee, 34, a District of Columbia resident who runs his own small construction firm. Plus, he said, if he’s not smoking, he detects the odor of other people getting high throughout the city on a daily basis anyway.

“I’ve grown accustomed to it,” he said.

Joining Oregon, Washington D.C. and Colorado, Alaska became the fourth legal state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana for adult use this year.

Starting from the age of 21 and older, adults may possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants, all for recreational and personal purposes. That was made possible by Alaska voters approving Measure 2, which legalizes possession, use and sale of pot.

Public smoking, buying and selling remains illegal, but private exchanges are allowed if and only if money is not involved.  U.S. president Barack Obama's justice department has permitted this to proceed but with caution, since selling marijuana to children has become probable, as well as people under the influence driving their vehicle.

"I have to admit that I was really skeptical at first about using medical marijuana. I worried I would become just another pot head and be unable to work," says Montreal comic Mike Paterson, right, of filmmaker Ezra Soiferman's idea to put him on a cannabis-laced diet in the documentary Grass Fed. Pierre Obendrauf / Montreal Gazette

Montreal filmmaker Ezra Soiferman could have considered calling his latest documentary Mission Impossible. The task at hand was daunting: Soiferman sought to chronicle wild-man Montrealer Mike Paterson’s efforts to get in shape before his wedding.