SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Supporters of a California ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use may begin gathering signatures to place it before voters in 2016, a state official said on Monday.

The proposal is the latest of four marijuana-related initiatives vying for a spot on the ballot at a time when many believe the most populous U.S. state is on track to join Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon in legalizing recreational pot.

Legal sale of marijuana for recreational use in Oregon is set to begin on Wednesday.

Not only are people free to smoke weed—the weed is free.

As of July 1, new Oregon laws go into effect making it legal for adults ages 21 and up to possess and use recreational marijuana. It’s legal to grow marijuana in the state—up to four plants per residence, out of public view—and share it with other of-age adults too.

Applications for large-scale growers and retailers aren’t being accepted until early 2016, and no Oregon stores are expected to have marijuana for sale until the fall of 2016. For the time being, then, while recreational marijuana use is legal, people aren’t allowed to buy or sell it.

The job of law enforcement has always been to protect communities, but marijuana prohibition has created a distraction to effectively maintaining public safety. Marijuana prohibition and the drug war as a whole have contributed to an overall decrease in public safety and misdirection of valuable resources. Here’s why law enforcement across the country and around the world are pushing for marijuana legalization:

Marijuana is the most prevalent drug in the U.S. Approximately 70% of the 2.8 million individuals who initiated use of illicit drugs in 2013 reported that marijuana was their first drug. Despite extensive research examining potential links between marijuana use and other drug use, the literature is currently lacking data regarding which illicit marijuana users are most likely to engage in use of other illicit drugs.

A new study, published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse by researchers affiliated with New York University’s Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), examines how reasons for illicit marijuana use relates to the use of other drugs individually, rather than grouping them into a single “illicit drug” group.

Livio went on a trip and left his friends in charge of the most precious thing in his life. It wasn't a child, or a pet or even one of those home appliances so idolized in Cuba. The "apple of his eye" was a marijuana bush, grown, watered and ready to be made into the first cigarettes. Oblivious to the care such a plant requires, the astonished "babysitters" chose to put it behind the glass of a window, away from the eyes of neighbors and potential informers. It survived, but on returning from abroad its owner swore he would never again leave his precious crop in the hands of neophytes.

Marijuana is the most prevalent drug in the U.S. Approximately 70% of the 2.8 million individuals who initiated use of illicit drugs in 2013 reported that marijuana was their first drug. Despite extensive research examining potential links between marijuana use and other drug use, the literature is currently lacking data regarding which illicit marijuana users are most likely to engage in use of other illicit drugs.

Denver is America's cannabis capital. Reefers, pipes, bongs — even candy — whichever way you roll, it's all legal

The mile-high city is what they call Denver on the tourist brochures and the posters — it sits in the lap of the Rocky Mountains. So it was with the serendipity of nominative determination that Colorado became the first state to legalise recreational use of marijuana in America — thus  transferring the slogan onto a million hilarious hippie T-shirts.

ON THE surface at least, closing 'legal high' shops in Plymouth seems a victory for common sense.

The unregulated sale of 'new psychoactive substances', the long-term effects of which are largely unknown, is clearly a public health issue.

However, the proposed legislation to ban these substances – the Pyschoactive Substances Bill 2015 – highlights just how schizophrenic the UK's drug laws really are.

The Bill, currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords, defines a 'psychoactive substance' as anything capable of affecting a person's emotional state.

A major group of churches throughout the Northeast believe that ending the War on Drugs is the Christian thing to do.

The New England Conference of United Methodist Churches voted in favor of a resolution on Saturday to call for an end to the Drug War using Christian principles, according to a release from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

The resolution states:

Like many of their peers, they think drug use is fine so long as consumed in moderation

SINGAPORE — In school, they were students who attended classes diligently and did not have any disciplinary issues. At home, they had good family support and none of their family members had a record of criminal or drug offences, nor did they drink or smoke.

Yet they later became users of cannabis, and like many of their peers, believed the use of drugs — especially cannabis — was fine so long as one consumed it in moderation. And social media and celebrities were influences on them to try drugs.