Fifteen years after Hawaii legalized medical marijuana, the state plans to begin licensing pot dispensaries.

Until now, Hawaii’s 13,000 qualified patients had to grow their own marijuana or buy it on the black market.

Gov. David Ige signed the measure Tuesday, along with an accompanying bill that bans discrimination against medical marijuana patients. Both laws went into effect Wednesday, but it will take months for the state to draft rules to implement the licensing law.

“The bill sets a timeline,” Ige in a statement. “We will make a good-faith effort to create a fair process that will help the people most in need.”

ALTURAS, Calif. — Last week, federal agents raided land belonging to two federally-recognized Native American tribes, and seized 12,000 cannabis plants from their properties. The bust came despite new federal guidelines designed to allow limited marijuana cultivation by indigenous groups in the United States.

The agents arrived at the properties at the far northern edge of California on July 8, ultimately seizing the plants and over 100 pounds of marijuana ready for use from two buildings — an event center belonging to the Alturas Rancheria and a greenhouse belonging to the Pit River tribe. Benjamin Wagner, the U.S. district attorney in Sacramento, led the raid.

The 2016 presidential candidates are discussing marijuana legalization in ways unimaginable less than a decade ago.

Candidates from both parties are accepting substantial donations from business owners and activists in the marijuana industry that hope to expanded marijuana legalization in the U.S. The marijuana industry also landed their first major candidate: Rand Paul.

In June, Paul became the first major-party presidential candidate to hold a fundraiser with the legalized marijuana industry, courting about 40 donors at the Denver event.

KINGSTON, Jamaica –  Jamaica's justice minister has signed an order to expunge some marijuana-related convictions now that the island has partially decriminalized small amounts of pot.

Justice Minister Mark Golding said Wednesday that he signed an order to provide a path for people to get criminal records purged if they have minor convictions for smoking or possessing marijuana.

In April, drug law amendments went into effect that partially decriminalized small amounts of pot and paved the way for a lawful medical marijuana sector in Jamaica. The act made possession of up to 2 ounces of weed a petty offense that would not result in a criminal record.

Italy took its first official step toward full legalization of pot on Wednesday, leading Europe in what would be a groundbreaking change for the continent.

The Intergrupo Parlamentare Cannabis Legale, a cross-party committee of lawmakers, agreed on a provisional text to legalize the consumption, growing, production and sale of cannabis under certain conditions. The text was signed by 218 members of parliament, and not just the usual backers of such measures.

Some medications available through prescription or over the counter in the U.S. are prohibited in Japan and cannot be brought into the country.

Heroin, cocaine, MDMA, opium, cannabis and stimulant drugs, including some prescription medications such as Adderall, are prohibited.

There are no exceptions in bringing these prohibited medications into Japan, even if the medication is legally obtained in another country.

Speaker of Poland's lower house of parliament Małgorzata Kidawa-Błonska has said the issue of widening availability of medical marijuana could be taken up at the house's forthcoming sitting next week.

Kidawa Błonska, a member of senior coalition partner Civic Platform, noted that Health Minister Marian Zembała “agrees with me that this problem has to be dealt with.”

She likewise referred to studies that “appear to confirm that medical marijuana can help in the treatment of many diseases.”

Today 218 members of the Italian parliament voted for a bill to legalize cannabis. Sponsored by Benedetto Della Vedova, a junior minister for foreign affairs, the bill would allow the growing of up to five plants. You could store 15 grams at home and be allowed to carry five grams outside. Selling the plant would still remain illegal.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica's justice minister has signed an order to expunge some marijuana-related convictions now that the island has partially decriminalized small amounts of pot.

Justice Minister Mark Golding said Wednesday that he signed an order to provide a path for people to get criminal records purged if they have minor convictions for smoking or possessing marijuana.