If Ohio voters want to legalize marijuana for medicinal or other uses, let’s debate that honestly and then vote up or down on a straightforward deal for all – not be led by the noses to an artificial windfall for a tiny group of high bidders who are trying to buy their slice of the constitution.

ResponsibleOhio launched its “Green Rush Bus Tour” and Tuesday, September 1, the group will be on UC’s campus.

I am appalled ResponsibleOhio would use such a mascot to promote marijuana (“Meet Buddie: Marijuana mascot” August 28). It was the third week of the bus tour.

Many people use drugs, but not everyone becomes addicted. Why? Part of the reason comes down to how you take a drug. Are you smoking, injecting, snorting or swallowing it? That dictates how much drug gets into the brain, how fast, and how often brain levels of drug rise and fall. These are pharmacokinetic variables, and they reflect how your body absorbs and distributes a drug.

For instance, if you smoke a joint, brain levels of cannabis will both rise and decline much faster than if you had eaten the same amount of cannabis in a brownie. And a rapid rise and fall in brain levels of a drug is more likely to lead to addiction. That is why a substance can lead to addiction in one form (like nicotine in cigarettes) but can treat addiction in another (like the nicotine patch).

Not too much…and that’s greatly to its credit! The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP, pronounced “wissip”), which is the official think tank for Washington’s state legislature in Olympia, has been charged with comprehensively assessing the costs and benefits of marijuana legalization for Washington’s citizens. The initiative that legalized recreational marijuana back in 2012, I-502, explicitly requires reports from WSIPP in 2015, 2017, 2022, and 2032. It published the first of those reports (authored by Senior Research Associate Adam Darnell) yesterday.

I’m excited that Rhode Island, my recently adopted home state, might become the first on the East Coast to legalize a commercial marijuana market. And not just for the obvious reasons, such as changing a war on drugs that disproportionately targets people of color or the option of purchasing and smoking marijuana without fear of jail time.

Though attitudes toward marijuana legalization are undoubtedly shifting, there are still a lot of Americans who can’t let go of the myths purporting the ‘dangers’ of cannabis. And those attitudes are still being pandered to, in large part from conservatives — most notably Republican presidential candidate and governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie.

• Michael Straumietis is the CEO of agricultural firm Advanced Nutrients 
• They develop marijuana-specific nutrients and supplements 
• The 6ft 7in businessman has created a global empire with his products
• Flaunts trips to drug conferences with a harem of women on social media
• He has had brushes with federal agencies including the DEA  

Marijuana laws are relaxing in states across the country.

With it, those involved in the controversial business are becoming more care free.

And one entrepreneur is on his way to becoming the new King of Instagram with wild social media postings of scantily-clad ladies, private jets, and cannabis.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A man sentenced to life in prison without parole on a marijuana-related charge was freed Tuesday from a Missouri prison after being behind bars for two decades — a period in which the nation’s attitudes toward pot have steadily softened.

Family, friends, supporters and reporters flocked to meet Jeff Mizanskey as he stepped out of the Jefferson City Correctional Center into a sunny morning, wearing a new pair of white tennis shoes and a shirt that read “I’m Jeff & I’m free.”

“I spent a third of my life in prison,” said Mizanskey, now 62, who was greeted by his infant great-granddaughter. “It’s a shame.”

LANSING, MI — Marijuana legalization is a "terrible idea," according to Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whose home state will see a pot proposal on the ballot this fall.

"It sends mixes messages to young people about drugs," Kasich told MLive.com on Tuesday as he wrapped up a two-day swing through Michigan. "I don't think we should do that. We need to tell young people to stay off drugs."

Kasich acknowledged the distinction between marijuana and harder drugs like heroin but suggested that legalization could cloud the issue for young people.

Rob Waugh – 

A cannabis activist

The number of university students smoking marijuana every day has rocketed to a level unseen since 1980.

The increase in daily pot use among American students is thought to be a reaction to looser marijuana policies - including states where use of the drug has been decriminalised.

Use of hard drugs remains low, the study released on Tuesday found.

Nearly 6% of college students reported using pot daily or near-daily in 2014, up from 3.5% in 2007 but less than the 7.2% recorded in 1980, the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study found.

Drug laws remain vague and problematic, but what if you get sacked for taking drugs as part of a prescription?

We have all been intrigued by the effects of drugs at some point in our lives. But why do people use illegal drugs to satisfy their interest and pleasure? Are ice-cream and pizza not enough to give us the satisfaction we long for? Over the centuries mankind has developed various tendencies, from the violence of hunting to the  relaxing pastime of smoking small plants … But are these tendencies our friends, or foes?