Colorado will repeal sales taxes on marijuana Sept. 16, thanks to a quirk in the state's constitution.

The one-time-only holiday from the 10 percent state sales tax on recreational pot is likely to generate buzz in the first state in the nation to legalize marijuana.

The little-noticed provision is part of a larger bill that Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law Thursday that includes a ballot initiative in November and a permanent tax cut on recreational pot sales in 2017.

"This fiscal glitch that we have with the constitution ... that's part of the magic of living in Colorado," the Democratic governor said.

A radio format geared to pot enthusiasts bowed Monday in Denver as Smokin’ 94.1 FM. Picking up the format from Bubba the Love Sponge out of Tampa, Fla., the station is also on 1550 AM. The details:

Bubba the Love Sponge “loves weed, fast cars, hot girls and rock music” — and that’s why Colorado station owner Mark Paskin of Marco Broadcasting adds Tampa-based Bubba for mornings, starting today. Bubba is equally enthusiastic (and quotable) — “Rock music and smoking pot (as you can do legally in Colorado) have historically gone together like peanut butter and jelly.”

European Union countries are unlikely to legalize marijuana any time soon as some parts of the United States have done recently, EU drug monitoring agency chief Wolfgang Gotz said on Thursday.

He did not spell out why he expected no corresponding EU moves. But in a statement, his agency said a key finding in its latest annual report was a "marked rise in the potency and purity of Europe's most commonly used illicit drugs, fuelling concerns for the health of users who, wittingly or unwittingly, may be consuming stronger products".

It also pointed out an increase in the numbers of cannabis-related health emergencies in Europe between 2008 and 2012.

I recently was excited to report on the First Church Of Cannabis, which was approved by Indiana’s Secretary of State under its controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. To me, the even bigger news was that this rather unconventional  church has even been granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. Tea Party conservatives evidently had a lot more trouble with their tax exemption applications.

Time was when most life insurers had no underwriting policy regarding an applicant’s use of marijuana. But that’s no longer the case.

According to a survey by Munich American Reassurance, 29 percent of life insurers with an underwriting policy in place classify marijuana users as non-smokers. The survey is based on on-site interviews of nearly 150 underwriters. They were attending the April annual meeting of the Association of Home Office Underwriters in Washington, D.C.

Of the life carriers represented in the survey, just one in five have no official underwriting policy in place for marijuana users, according to the Atlanta business unit of Munich Re.

The number of cannabis plants seized by West Yorkshire Police soared by more than 70 per cent last year, according to new figures.

West Yorkshire bucked the downward national trend in 2014 for the number of seizures of illegal plants, with 15,327 taken by the county’s police compared with 8,960 in 2013.

The 71 per cent increase is the fourth biggest among the nation’s police force areas last year, according to new statistics from landlord insurer Direct Line.

During the same period the number of cannabis plants seized in neighbouring North Yorkshire dropped by 80 per cent, from 6,594 to 1,304, one of the largest falls in the country.

The Conservatives might have gone in softer than Russell Brand and the gang predicted, with very little change announced in the Queen’s Speech last week, but they didn’t fail to cause a stir. The proposed ‘Psychoactive Substances Bill’ is designed to provide a blanket ban on all substances which produce a mind-altering effect, with several allowances made for booze, fags and chocolate. The idea is to protect the public from any psychoactive substance that ‘affects the person’s mental functioning or emotional state’. Rather than replying to a public demand for such drastic measures, the Home Office stated the purpose of the bill was simply to ‘protect hard-working citizens’.

Kingston, Jamaica: In April 2015, a member of Jamaica’s Rastafarian community, Miguel “Steppa” Williams, asked US President Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, whether he would support the legalization of Marijuana. While it had seemed like an awkward question, President Obama appeared to have long anticipated the question, and had probably long choreographed an answer in order to ensure that it does not get his support or outright rejection.

• Editor’s note: The question comes at the 51-minute mark in the video below.

After all, it was Jamaica, the land of reggae and Rastafarian culture. And his advisers would have told him to expect the question anyhow.

During their trial at the federal courthouse in Spokane last March, Rhonda Firestack-Harvey and her two fellow defendants—her son, Rolland Gregg, and his wife, Michelle Gregg—were not allowed to explain why they were openly growing marijuana on a plot in rural northeastern Washington marked by a big green cross that was visible from the air. According to a pretrial ruling, it was irrelevant that they were using marijuana for medical purposes, as permitted by state law, since federal law recognizes no legitimate use for the plant.

POLICE are continuing their investigation into the discovery of a cannabis farm found in an Wigan home that almost triggered an explosion in the house next door.

Officials have blasted the selfishness of those responsible for cultivating the drugs at the Lichfield Grove semi-detached house, which put the lives of a young mum and her two children at risk.

Exterior of a house on Lichfield Grove, Ashton-in-Makerfield, where a cannabis farm nearly caused a fire to neighbouring property

The woman reported the issue to her landlord when she detected a funny smell coming from her electricity box. He found it was overheating and the fire service and engineers from Electricity North West were called to the scene.