Justin Trudeau’s win in Monday’s federal election could lead to the eventual legalization of marijuana in Canada.

Washington state legalized recreational cannabis use for adults in 2012, and some state officials say delivering on Trudeau’s promise could prove to have its challenges.

“It’s a work in progress,” said Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste, who was in Victoria Tuesday for the annual Pacific Region Cross-Border Law Enforcement Forum.

Batiste admits that since legalizing the drug, Washington state has seen an increase in people driving under the influence of marijuana.

Reaction to Justin Trudeau’s win has been coming in throughout the day.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon, thanking Stephen Harper and all the outgoing MPs for their service.

She also congratulated Trudeau on his victory, expressing confidence he will be open to working closely with the B.C. government.

Touching on a number of points including the legalization of marijuana, Clark said “it’s a federal issue and we will work with the government in whatever moves they make on this front.”

Medical marijuana dispensaries scored a major win on Monday when a federal judge ruled that the Department of Justice cannot prosecute legal providers of medical cannabis. 

In a strongly-worded new report out Tuesday, researchers at the Brookings Institution call on the federal government to eliminate roadblocks to medical marijuana research in the U.S.

"The federal government is stifling medical research in a rapidly transforming area of public policy that has consequences for public health and public safety," the report, authored by John Hudak and Grace Wallack, says. "Statutory, regulatory, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers have paralyzed science and threatened the integrity of research freedom in this area."

As Republican presidential candidates prepare to debate economic issues in Boulder, the sweet smell of success for the state’s legally sold marijuana industry seems impossible to overlook.

Nationally the legal industry brought in about $3 billion in 2014 but is projected to grow to more than $8 billion by 2018, if current politics stay the course, according to the Marijuana Industry Factbook.

Colorado racked up $700 million in sales of recreational and medical pot last year — nearly $76 million in tax revenue, including $13 million in licenses and fees. The industry is expected to top $1 billion this year.

Combined sales in Colorado topped $100 million in August, compared with about $47 million in August 2014.

With the Liberal Party's electoral victory in Canada, the US's northern neighbors could soon undertake an enormous change in drug policy: marijuana legalization.

The policy was a big part of the Liberals' campaign: "We will legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana. Canada's current system of marijuana prohibition does not work. It does not prevent young people from using marijuana and too many Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of the drug."

In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration's interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill "defies language and logic," "tortures the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law." The ruling could have a broad impact on the DEA's ability to prosecute federal medical marijuana cases going forward.

THERE was a small amount of marijuana in Zanele Moyo’s room and not the huge cache of empty alcohol bottles initially indicated, higher education minister Jonathan Moyo said on Wednesday.

Zanele, Minister Moyo’s daughter, was found dead in her off-campus flat in South Africa last Saturday. The 20-year-old was a second year student at the University of Cape Town.

Her body arrived in Harare Wednesday ahead of burial at Glen Forest on Friday.

Addressing mourners who included President Robert Mugabe, Minister Moyo said they found a small amount of marijuana when they got into Zanele’s apartment.

According to The Herald newspaper, Minister Moyo said the family had not raised any suspicion of foul play over his daughter’s passing.

Shares in all of Canada’s major listed cannabis companies surged on Tuesday, as the market reacted to Trudeau’s pledge to legalise recreational use

Among the biggest corporate winners from Justin Trudeau’s surprise victory in the Canadian election is the nation’s cannabis industry.

Shares in all of Canada’s major listed cannabis companies surged on Tuesday, as the market reacted to Trudeau’s pledge to legalise recreational cannabis use.

The U.S. government's classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug is impeding medical marijuana research, a leading think tank said Tuesday, in what it called a misstep that could impact advancements in health care.

“As medical marijuana becomes increasingly accessible in state-regulated, legal markets, and as others self-medicate in jurisdictions that do not allow the medical use of cannabis, it is increasingly important that the scientific community conduct research on this substance,” said the report by Brookings Institution public policy analysts John Hudak and Grace Wallack.