Columbus mayoral candidates Andrew J. Ginther and Zach Scott have differed on nearly everything: tax abatements, fixing education and body cameras for police.

But they do agree on one thing: Don’t legalize marijuana.

Ginther said he opposes Issue 3, which would legalize marijuana via the Ohio Constitution. Scott said that as a career-long law-enforcement officer, he has “my own personal feelings,” when asked during recent interviews with The Dispatch’s editorial board.

Those close to Scott, who is the sheriff of Franklin County, said he opposes legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

But both Democrats also agree that voters should decide whether to make pot legal.

In an attempt to police marijuana use on the West Cost, the Drug Enforcement Administration has spent $960,000 to destroy Oregon marijuana plants in 2014.

Riverfront Park might be the worst place to get high in Spokane.

Data from Spokane Municipal Court shows marijuana users are far more likely to be fined for consuming pot in public by a park security guard than by a Spokane police officer, though they’re unlikely to get a ticket at all.

Citywide, law enforcement officers have written 28 tickets for public consumption of marijuana since March 2013, when an ordinance prohibiting public consumption was added to the city code. Only six of those tickets were written by Spokane police officers, who say they’re usually too busy with other calls for service to deal with pot smokers.

David Companioni, 32, of West New York, was sentenced to 20 years in state prison, including six years and eight months of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Siobhan A. Teare in Essex County.

Companioni was tried in front of an Essex County jury in August and convicted on Aug. 20 of charges of first-degree maintaining or operating a controlled dangerous substance production facility and second-degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, court documents show.

A co-defendant, Aday Y. Fernandez, 34, also of West New York, pleaded guilty on April 10, 2015 to charges of conspiracy and maintaining or operating a controlled dangerous substance production facility, authorities said.

Ah, 1996. Clinton was in the White House, “Braveheart” won Best Picture — and California was the first state in the nation to pass a medical marijuana ballot initiative.

For some Californians — whether they were yet unborn, or whether their lives would be cut short in the 19 years of the War on Drugs before California’s lawmakers would get their act together and enact a regulatory regime for the medical marijuana marketplace their constituents had loosed upon the state — it was literally a lifetime ago.

There were a couple of decisions on Tuesday involving marijuana. In our view, both were wrong.

The state Supreme Judicial Court ruled that police cannot pull over a vehicle simply because an officer smells burning marijuana, pointing to a 2008 ballot question approved by voters that decriminalized possession of one ounce or less of the drug. The court argued in part that because of the change in the law, the "strong" or "very strong" smell of unburnt marijuana is no longer enough to provide police with probable cause to believe that a criminal amount of the drug is present.

That's true, but that's probably not why an officer would pull over the vehicle. There is still the possibility that the driver may be impaired by the burning marijuana.

Let's set aside for the moment the merits of legalized medical marijuana and the dueling zoning bills from County Executive Steve Schuh and Councilman Chris Trumbauer to ban it or regulate it.

Instead, consider the curious opinion from Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe on whether Schuh's proposed ban is even legal under state law permitting the growth, distribution, sale and use of medicinal cannabis. In a 2,300-word advisory opinion requested by the chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Rowe reviewed the relevant legal precedents that spell out whether a county has the power to ban an activity specifically permitted by the state.

Richard Kirk's attorneys are poised to argue that marijuana intoxication led to wife's slaying

Authorities remove evidence from an Observatory Park home in April 2014 as they investigate a homicide. Richard Kirk, above left, faces murder charges in the shooting death of Kristine Kirk, above right. Cannabis intoxication will play a pivotal role in the trial as Kirk pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

For the first time since marijuana was legalized in Colorado, defense attorneys are poised to argue that cannabis intoxication played a key role in a homicide.

Detective Superintendent Ishmael Samura of Trans Organized Crime Unit (TOCU), in his statement marking the official launching of the first ever National Drug Policy Network of Sierra Leone (NDPN-SL), said it is now an open secret that Cannabis Sativa is now widely cultivated in all the four corners of Sierra Leone so much so that it has now become a serious threat to national food security drive. (Photo: Members of the High Table at the launching ceremony)

Detective Superintendent Ishmael Samura made this disclosure at the CHASL Hall, 4b Kingharman Road in Freetown on Tuesday 22^nd September this year.

Nearly 90 days since medical cannabis became legal to sell in Minnesota, the young industry is working through some growing pains. While a number of patients express vast improvements in their quality of life after using cannabis, others complain of high costs and trouble getting the drug.

So far, the state has registered 518 patients and 404 health care practitioners. The most common condition among those patients is muscle spasms, followed by seizures and cancer.

But not all approved patients have actually purchased medical cannabis.

Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, who sits on the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Task Force, said the law has created even more hurdles for patients suffering from chronic conditions.