In Europe, the legislation varied from one country to another. And the most stringent laws do not necessarily produce the best effects.

According to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), nearly one in two French smoked cannabis. However, France has one of the toughest laws on drug use, even so-called "soft" drugs. In Europe, laws differ. On one hand the countries that decriminalize, are tolerant, do not condemn. And conversely those which are very severe. Scientific studies are struggling to establish links between the laws in force and the actual consumption of drugs. If consumption is sometimes tolerated in different forms, the sale and cultivation of cannabis are of course mostly misdemeanors.

Countries that tolerate

Opposition Spokesperson on Tourism and Cruise Shipping, Shahine Robinson has called on Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeil to pull together a working group to exploit the new provisions of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act as it relates to the use and cultivation of ganja. 

“I am calling on the Minister to establish a small and efficient working group, inclusive of the Health Ministry, Customs and other critical stakeholders to review and assess the amendments and put in a place of programme of work ultimately aimed at enhancing the benefits to Jamaica,” said Robinson in a release.

The price of legal recreational marijuana is down to an average of $12 per gram in Washington state lately. Last summer, it was as high as $30 per gram.

One justification for making recreational marijuana legal in Colorado, Washington, and perhaps elsewhere soon is the hope that it will help put an end to the black market, which is unregulated and untaxed and has been known to involve gangs, drug cartels, and crime far beyond the low-level dealing of weed. But it’ll be all but impossible to stop the black market if its prices are substantially cheaper than rates on the up-and-up.

MAKING cannabis treatment more readily available to patients for medicinal relief would be the first step to regulate and control marijuana use in Guernsey, a campaign group has said.

About 20 islanders behind the Guernsey Drug Strategy Campaign have put forward proposals that would eventually legalise and regulate the use of both ‘medicinal and recreational’ marijuana for over-21s using an ID system, but they insist their motives are not driven by encouraging or promoting cannabis use.

Queensland has woken up — or at least arched its eyebrow and propped one lid open.

We can only hope that it will continue to emerge into consciousness.

Signing up to be part of NSW’s medical cannabis trial for suffering children and dying adults is a sign it is at least willing to listen to the people.

We should be grateful for small mercies.

But nagging concerns about this whole positive medical movement linger.

It is concerning that NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the trials would not include crude cannabis, but a derivative — presumably in a pill.

This is presumably to head off any chance that the public might envisage children puffing on a plant and getting high.

A former Health Canada manager who helped Canadians navigate the sometimes hazy world of medical marijuana access has been appointed CEO of an emerging company that educates patients on its use.

Gulwant Bajwa, 53, has taken on the lead role at National Access Cannabis (NAC), an alternative treatment care centre that first opened in Victoria with new locations slated to open across the country this year. The company will open its first Ottawa location in Hintonburg in June.

During Bajwa’s four years working with Health Canada’s medical marijuana program, he investigated its impact on patients suffering with ailments such as fibromyalgia, arthritis and cancer.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which will oversee the regulated marijuana industry, is already laying the groundwork for security improvements and an upgrade of its entry area in anticipation of the influx of cash from the marijuana industry.

Steven Marks, the agency's executive director, said Wednesday he expects to add a dedicated window where marijuana business owners can pay their cannabis sales taxes. Marijuana's prohibition under federal law has kept traditional banking generally off-limits to state-licensed growers and retailers.

"It's more of a public safety issue than people think about," said Marks. "There is a lot of cash floating around in this system and that cash is a source of problems."

More than two years after Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, a small but growing number of publicly traded companies are betting their futures on the hope of a thriving legal market for pot-based products. Bloomberg Intelligence identified 55 public companies whose business is based largely or completely on legal marijuana, and whose shares traded at $0.10 or more as of April 15th. These wildly fluctuating penny stocks aren’t for the faint of heart.

Organizer dodge permit costs by insisting it’s not an event or festival 

Vancouver’s annual 4/20 rally has evolved into a giant farmer’s market for marijuana and attracts tens of thousands of people. So why don’t the organizers have to go through the city’s official permitting process?

According to a city spokesman, officials have repeatedly suggested that organizers obtain a special event permit to hold the gathering at the Vancouver Art Gallery, but to no avail. Despite the increasingly commercial flavour of the day, the rally is still considered a protest, and not an event.

Earlier this year, Dixie Elixirs & Edibles, perhaps Colorado’s best-known cannabis brand, took its THC-infused drinks off the market. It had no choice.

That's because a couple of weeks later, on February 1, new packaging regulations for recreational marijuana edibles went into effect in the state and the screw top aluminum bottles were no longer compliant.

Peach Iced Tea: all the luscious flavor of a perfectly ripe peach briskly blended with iced tea and expertly extracted THC gives Dixie’s Peach Iced Tea the best of everything.Photo: courtesy of Dixie