VANCOUVER -- Local governments in British Columbia have declared they have the authority to licence medical marijuana dispensaries, defying the federal government's opposition to regulation of the illegal stores.

Delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention voted in favour of a resolution endorsing the position that they have the power to regulate pot dispensaries.

The resolution states that an ongoing court challenge of Ottawa's medical marijuana laws has created uncertainty while pot shops proliferate and cause problems in B.C.

Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal said the vote sends a strong message to the federal government, which has not provided reasonable legal access to medical marijuana despite court rulings requiring them to do so.

A Vancouver marijuana dispensary is offering some unusual perks in an effort to get voters to cast a ballot for the Oct. 19 federal election — a chance to see American rapper Snoop Dogg perform, and a shot at winning free pot.

Danny Kresnyak said he's spearheading Eden Medicinal Society's get-out-the-vote campaign because he believes marijuana policy is a federal election issue.

"We're going to have people hitting the street with hand bills; there's going to be posters up," said  Kresnyak.

Eden Medicinal Society is offering two prizes as a voting incentive:

I dined on garlic-herb magic mushrooms, lush weed-infused butter, a decadent pot brownie and a cool glass of green juice to top it all off. If the pot industry is looking to reach the bourgie middle class, this is surely the way to go

or the fast-growing industry growing around weed, the current challenge is to make marijuana an item of ordinary middle-class consumption. So how do you persuade bourgie consumers to integrate pot into their lifestyles?

The obvious answer is to turn it into food.

If you can get pot out of dime-bags and onto big white plates, a whole new market awaits. Which is where books like The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, by Robyn Griggs Lawrence, come in.

Between 1911, when Massachusetts became the first state to ban marijuana, and 1937, when Congress made pot prohibition the law of the land, cannabis acquired a reputation as a “killer drug” that drove people to irrational acts of violence. Since 2012, when Colorado became the first state to repeal its ban on marijuana, that quaint notion has made something of a comeback, mainly due to the April 2014 death of Kristine Kirk, a 44-year-old Denver mother of three, at the hands of her husband, Richard.

By Sebastian Marincolo

What is it like to be high? What is the positive potential of this altered state of consciousness for medical and inspirational uses? How exactly does marijuana enhance cognitive functions like our ability to remember episodes, our attention, perception, and our ability to recognize patterns? To introspect bodily states, to empathically understand others and to generate new ideas and insights? How do the various cannabinoids and terpenes contribute to the high? Can we systematically research the high? And how important is research in this field?

Last year on 4/20, a group of liberal-minded Denverites gathered at a bakery for a brunch featuring pot edibles.

As drinks began to be served, a group of black-clad Denver policemen descended on the gathering and ordered everyone to disperse, according to Jane West, the event’s organizer. West, a 38-year-old mother of two, said she was charged with a criminal misdemeanor.

“I wasn’t planning on becoming a criminal,” she said. “I was doing everything i could to make this legit.”

The raid was a result of the ambiguity left in the wake of the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized the sale of marijuana in Colorado three years ago. But while sales are now legal, legislators have left it up to cities and counties to determine where and when it can be smoked.

Huge news for drug reform and residents of Cook County. According to the county’s State Attorney Anita Alvarez, anyone caught with 30 grams of marijuana or less on their first or second offense will not be prosecuted. On a third offense offenders will be sent to drug schooling.

“What we are doing is simply not working,”

Alvarez said Monday morning.

She noted the huge waste time and money spent on cycling small time drug offenders in and out of the penal system, with the new approach based on “treatment instead of traditional prosecution.”

The new law is going to force nearly all medical marijuana dispensaries in our area to close their doors if they don’t reapply for a recreational license.

Washington state on Wednesday began the process of aligning the medical marijuana market with the existing recreational market for cannabis. Existing recreational marijuana stores will be able to apply for an endorsement to sell medical marijuana if they are interested.

Lawsuits over whether or not the treatment was a wise choice could put doctors’ medical certification in jeopardy, especially with how little is known about marijuana-related side effects.

New legislation in Lansing is trying to add more regulation to medical marijuana in Michigan.

Well, It's Illegal If You're Under 21, and Your School Probably Doesn't Allow It on Campus...

Dear cannabis-using and cannabis-curious college students of 2015: You have now matriculated in one of the most weed-friendly cities in the United States. That could be a godsend or a problem for you in the years to come, but we'll get to that in a moment. For now, congratulations.