Hours after supporters submitted 695,273 signatures on a petition to legalize marijuana in Ohio, state lawmakers moved to chop down the pot-plant plan before it starts to grow.

The House and Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at stopping anyone from creating a “monopoly, oligopoly or cartel” or creating special commercial benefits in the Constitution. The dueling actions set up a likely powerhouse showdown at the ballot box on Nov. 3.

Ohioans likely will decide whether they favor a for-profit, monopoly plan for legal personal and medicinal-use marijuana, or if they want to make it harder for special economic interests — such as marijuana investors — to carve out economic protections in the Ohio Constitution.

Lawmakers moved methodically to ensure that when Oregonians take a drag on their first legal recreational-marijuana cigarettes or plant their first legal seeds Wednesday, that they have the full weight and force of the state behind them.

One bill sent to the governor aims to tax marijuana less than two of the three other Western states where recreational use is legal, a bid to keep smaller producers in the legal-growing system.

COLUMBUS, OH – ResponsibleOhio today delivered petition signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to qualify for the November 2015 ballot.

The Marijuana Legalization Amendment would allow adults 21 and over to buy marijuana and establish a network of 10 authorized growing locations around the state.

ResponsbileOhio says that they have 695,273 signatures on their petitions. They needed about 306,000 to qualify for November’s ballot. Secretary of State Jon Husted makes the final determination as to the validity of the signatures.

Sativex, the first cannabis-based medicinal product authorized in France, might ultimately never happen in pharmacies. The explanation? After months of negotiation, Almirall, the laboratory which markets Sativex in Europe, and the Economic Committee for Health Products (CEPS), the body that sets the price of medicines, are not able to agree. The first proposes to sell Sativex Box 350 euros, 20% less than the average price in Europe. The second did not offer him more than 60 euros. "This is unacceptable: this would sell at a loss! "Growls Christophe Vandeputte, director of Almirall in France, which now wants to go to " political arbitration ".

DENVER — Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul is courting donors from the marijuana business in a groundbreaking event in Denver.

The Kentucky senator is holding a fundraiser Tuesday at the Cannabis Business Summit.

Paul becomes the first major-party presidential candidate to publicly court donations from the pot industry. Though legal weed business owners have been active political donors for years, presidential candidates have shied away from holding fundraisers made up entirely of marijuana-related business owners.

Paul has joined Democrats in the Senate to sponsor a bill to end the federal prohibition of marijuana for medical reasons. The senator also backs a federal drug-sentencing overhaul.

Tickets to the pot fundraiser start at $2,700.

Toronto Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) on Monday reiterated his support for cannabis decriminalization as a “positive step forward for Canada” though there are no immediate plans to follow Vancouver’s lead to regulate how pot is sold.

Last week, Vancouver became the first city in Canada to approve new rules to license and regulate the dozens of outlets that supply pot to medical marijuana users.

Tory said it’s inevitable “that we’re going to have to have some discussion going forward” about the rules governing pot sales. He predicted that marijuana legalization is going to be a major issue in the upcoming federal election campaign.

ASBURY PARK – The city’s leadership is supporting a movement to legalize marijuana in New Jersey.

The City Council has agreed to draft a resolution urging state lawmakers to decriminalize use of the drug which advocates say causes little or no harm to people.

The resolution would be a symbolic gesture, supporting efforts by the community group Help Not Handcuffs which has lobbied to stop law enforcement from arresting people for substance use.

Randy Thompson, founder of Help Not Handcuffs, said arrests for marijuana impose criminal records on people– deterring them from jobs and housing– for a minor offense. He also said marijuana enforcement distracts police from more serious crimes. He called on Asbury Park to make it the lowest law enforcement priority.

The partnership will allot public and private resources to conserve and restore the Sierra-Cascade California Headwaters.

Scott Darroch was caught with 150 plants worth more than £20,000.

A WAR veteran suffering combat stress who was jailed for growing cannabis has had his three-year sentence cut after judges ruled it was excessive

Scott Darroch was caught with 150 plants worth more than £20,000 in his isolated farmhouse in Skelmorlie, Ayrshire, in April 2014.

In January, Sheriff Shirley Foran jailed the former Royal Engineer - who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo - after he admitted producing and being concerned in supplying cannabis.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court had heard Darroch, 42, suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and often checked streets for roadside bombs, believing he was still on active service.

The job of law enforcement has always been to protect communities, but marijuana prohibition has created a distraction to effectively maintaining public safety. Marijuana prohibition and the drug war as a whole have contributed to an overall decrease in public safety and misdirection of valuable resources. Here’s why law enforcement across the country and around the world are pushing for marijuana legalization: