One of the biggest selling points of Colorado’s Amendment 64 that voters approved in 2012, legalizing the sale and consumption of marijuana for recreational use, was the idea that cannabis would be treated like alcohol in both regulation and consumption. In fact, the bill was literally named “The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012.” While the state has generally done a fine job of abiding by the spirit of the law, one issue has proven to be more complicated than the others: Public consumption.

In recent years, cannabis legalization has been easier to argue—its prevalence means that the population can’t immediately dismiss you when you bring up reform. Prior to this, it was common enough that the only people having this debate were hippies who loved smoking marijuana but maybe couldn’t construct useful arguments or didn’t see the potential of legalization past being able to smoke without stigma. However, as states continue to legalize, the benefits become more obvious and even politicians are jumping on board. Here are 5 of the best points of cannabis reform to help you in your next argument.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Berlin to advocate the legalization of cannabis. The 19th annual "Hanfparade" (hemp parade) has also found support among some politicians.

Berlin police estimate that roughly 8,000 people came together for the "Hanfparade" march (hemp parade) in Berlin on Saturday, moving from the central train station to the Brandenburg Gate. Along the route, they also stopped by at the Ministry of Health and the Berlin Cathedral.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) -- Even before customers can buy recreational marijuana in Nevada, alcohol distributors want to get in on the profits.

Alcohol wholesalers want to earn a piece of that pie by distributing the drug. That's why many alcohol wholesalers are backing a 2016 ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana. If passed, they'd be the middle men between growers and dispensaries.

Irene Lavis wants to see marijuana regulated.

"I think that's an awesome idea. It will keep the crime rates down, if you regulate it you will be able to track where the pot is going," says Lavis.

Nevada State Senator Tick Segerblom supports the measure.

UNINCORPORATED JACKSON COUNTY, N.C. — The chemist who unwittingly helped spawn the District’s synthetic drug epidemic is a hard man to find. His phone numbers are listed under his wife’s name. Strangers who call his laboratories at Clemson University are told he doesn’t return messages.

To find him, you must travel deep into the Smoky Mountains and take a road that winds into the clouds. There, atop a mountain, you will discover a stooped, elderly man padding about a house cloaked in mist.

A US study suggests that marijuana use in adolescence does not cause health problems in adulthood. The work, however, have many limitations.

Cannabis is the subject of intense debate in many countries, including France. The question of legalization is at the heart of these. For several years in the US, states like Colorado, Alaska, Washington and Oregon in July, allow the recreational use of marijuana. However, numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the short and long term effects of this "soft drug" on health. But today, a study published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors newspaper calls them into question.

About 30 party guests wearing suits and summer dresses mingled in the candlelit back yard of a small, private home in the Forest Hills neighborhood in Northwest Washington and snacked on hors d’oeuvres to the sound of jazz. Instead of cocktails, they sipped gourmet coffee and tea infused with marijuana.

In the kitchen, servers poured hot and iced drinks for the tasting party. They were showcasing products from House of Jane, a California-based company that sells cannabis-infused beverages. Jane’s Brew C-Cups were on display in the living room, stacked on a table alongside similarly branded coasters.

Cannabis, not drink, is the major drug problem of 2015 among the young, according to Ireland's leading adolescent psychiatrist Dr Bobby Smyth, who says drug debt is now a huge issue for Irish teens too.

"Cannabis accounts for 85pc of my clients. It's very much the dominant drug, it's head and shoulders above everything else and alcohol would be second.

"Up until eight years ago, cannabis would have accounted for 25-to 40pc of referrals," the psychiatrist and Trinity College lecturer said.

"In terms of the number of young people whose lives have been damaged by this drug, we have nothing to compare to, you would have to look back to the heroin epidemic in the 80s. Although the consequences are different, for me, it is the drug problem of 2015," he said.

Legalisation Leads to US Self-Test Kit Whilst UK Safety Group Pleads for Zero Alcohol Levels

US – UK – In the US a small start-up company has produced an app suitably titled ‘Canary’ which is intended to help car and freight truck drivers decide whether they are fit to take control of a vehicle. Whilst not condoning the practice of taking drugs, prescription or otherwise, if they are likely to affect performance, this application is clearly aimed at those who smoke marijuana, particularly where it is no longer proscribed.

California's most valuable cash crop, marijuana, is taking a heavy toll on some of the state's most sensitive ecosystems, with the effects ranging from erosion, contamination, threats to wildlife, and heavy water use at a time of severe drought. 

The situation is prompting ecologists and wildlife managers to urge greater focus on bringing marijuana plots under tighter environmental scrutiny.

It's a tall order, notes a research team calling for the added focus via an article in the August issue of the journal BioScience.