At the very first Tribal Marijuana Conference held last weekend in Tulalip, WA, the former chairman of the Moapa Paiute tribe, William Anderson, tall and dignified and walking with a cane, explained to me what brought him: “I was just laying in bed in pain. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom or go to the kitchen because I was in so much pain.”

An infection in his foot had spread to his spine and deteriorated the bone, exposing nerves. Doctors replaced the bone with titanium steel. For two years, the infection, even with prescription creams and antibiotics, kept coming back. The Indian Health Service recommended amputation of his foot.

The Global Marijuana March (GMM) is an annual rally held at different locations across the planet. It refers tocannabis-related events that occur on the first Saturday in May, or thereabouts, and may include marches, meetings, rallies, raves, concerts, festivals and information tables.

A bipartisan group of three Senators will introduce a historic bill Tuesday that could end the federal ban on medical marijuana, a substance that 23 states have now legalized.

The plan sponsored by Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand would “allow patients, doctors and businesses in states that have already passed medical-marijuana laws to participate in those programs without fear of federal prosecution,” according to a statement the three Senators released Monday.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you have a cookie on your computer or your smartphone that says how much you like weed—or at least how you feel about the idea of weed being legalized.

Entrepreneurs in the legal weed industry are seeing green not just in their products, but in their profits. Startup companies selling everything from portable smoking devices like vaporizer pens to more efficient watering systems and state-of-the-art LED lighting panels for growers are proving that there’s money to be made in legal weed.

"Under full legalization, this could be a $36 billion industry," Troy Dayton, chief executive of ArcView Group, a San Francisco-based investment and research firm focused on the cannabis industry, told CNN Money. Most people opening legal marijuana businesses aren’t becoming growers -- that requires a special skillset. "It's like with the Gold Rush. It's a great time to be selling picks and shovels, instead,” Dayton said.

Utah's Republican-controlled Senate rejected a bill Monday night allowing those with chronic and debilitating diseases to consume edible medical marijuana products.

Senators voted 15-14 against the proposal, citing concerns about unintended consequences and trouble with the language that they said needed to be studied later this year.

Saratoga Springs Republican Sen. Mark Madsen sponsored the bill, which would have forbidden the smoking of marijuana but allowed businesses to grow marijuana and sell pot-infused products such as brownies, candy and lozenges.

Medical marijuana oil, produced in Colorado.(Photo: Associated Press file photo)

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy disappointed medical marijuana advocates again Monday.

Board members rebuffed a request that they recommend changing Iowa law’s classification of marijuana in a way that would make it easier to use the drug for medical purposes.

The board, which regulates medication sales, said it didn’t want to get involved now. “This is clearly a political issue at this point,” said board member James Miller, a Dubuque pharmacist.

An issue which continues to arise in each new state that legalizes or depenalizes marijuana is where those who wish to gather with others who enjoy smoking marijuana are legally permitted to do so.

This seems like an easy problem to solve — we’ve done it before. At the end of alcohol prohibition, the majority of states legalized and licensed bars and lounges where any adult could legally go to meet friends and enjoy their choice of legal alcohol drinks, and to spend some time with others who enjoy drinking.

Is Ohio, long considered the nation's leading political bellwether state, going to pot?

If some big-money investors, former sports stars and grassroots activists get their way, voters in November could make Ohio the first state to go directly from a total ban on marijuana to one allowing production and consumption of both medical and recreational marijuana.

Katy Perry visited Copenhagen's Christiania commune to 'get tips' on planning her own.

The 30-year-old Dark Horse singer is currently in Europe performing shows on her The Prismatic World Tour.

And when she reached Denmark's capital city, Katy was delighted to explore the controversial neighbourhood, which is also referred to as Freetown.

'Went to the commune Christiania in Copenhagen to get some tips on how to plan my own in the future. (sic),' she wrote on Instagram Friday, attached to a pic of her standing amidst a graffitied landscape warming her hands by a trash fire. '*PS IT WAS DOPE, PUN INTENDED* (sic)' she concluded.