PATRICK CO., Va. -

The largest outdoor marijuana grow ever found in Virginia was discovered in Patrick County on Wednesday morning, according to the Patrick County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities found the vast network of makeshift terraces in a remote area on the southeast side of Bull Mountain around 6 a.m. after conducting surveillance.

There were 35 different grow areas, yielding a total of 30,255 plants. Deputies estimate the street value at $30 million to $105 million.

The plants were located about two miles from the nearest public road.

Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith said there were crude trail systems cut through the mountain side.

TRENTON — More than half of New Jerseyans — 58 percent — either support legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana for adults 21 years old and older, according to a Rutgers-Eagelton poll released Thursday.

Nearly just as many people — 57 percent — say it is not a pressing issue, while 44 percent called it "very" or "somewhat" important priority for elected leaders.

The experience of drug prohibition in Queensland, where police charge more users than anywhere else in Australia, shows the state “can’t arrest its way out of the problem”, says a leading social worker.

The chief executive of the Ted Noffs Foundation, Matt Noffs, said he hoped to lobby local politicians about following interstate moves away from the “war on drugs” and reducing the burden on law enforcement.

Drug arrests in Queensland have long dwarfed those elsewhere, reaching 32,391 of a national total of 92,882 in 2013-14, with NSW next on 25,738 despite its larger population.

Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding is refuting claims in some sections of the media which suggest that the government is trying to make money from the implementation of a ticketing system for persons in possession of small quantities of marijuana.

With the amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act earlier this year, the government has decriminalised the possession of less than two ounces of marijuana.

Instead of being charged with a criminal offense, persons found with less than two ounces of the herb will be issued a ticket.

According to the Justice Minister, the government has no intention of benefiting financially from the change.

Voters appear ready to end marijuana prohibition but politicians are slow to act.

Two polls released today show a significant upward trend favoring marijuana legalization among Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents.

A Franklin & Marshall poll showed that a staggering 87 percent of Pa residents approve of medical marijuana. Although support has been above 80 percent in several polls since 2009, this is the highest number to date.

Few issues have ever seen this massive level of public backing.

Reggae musician, Blakk Rasta says about 80 percent of Members of Parliament smoke marijuana.

Controversial reggae artist and radio presenter with Accra based Hitz FM, Blakk Rasta has disclosed been called to the privileges committee of the Ghanaian parliament to answer questions on his utterance that 80% of its members use marijuana will be the least of his worries.

Speaking on News Night on Joy FM, the presenter disclosed almost everybody knowingly or unknowingly used the illegal substance hence his utterance which makes MPs no exception. Read more MPs drag Blakk Rasta to Parliament over ‘wee’ smoking allegation

Coach loads of trots are being bussed into London on Saturday for a union-funded End Austerity Now march on parliament. Jeremy Corbyn will be there, hoping to convince as many as he can to pay their £3 and sign up to vote.

Among those joining Corbyn will be the “Cannabis Campaigners Against Austerity” group, who sound like they have a fun day planned:

Forget this lot, what were the MPs who nominated him smoking?

A huge cannabis haul with an estimated street value of almost £4 million was found among a lorry-load of pizza cheese understood to be destined for Northern Ireland.

The lorry was stopped by Border Force officers at the inward freight controls at Dover’s Eastern Docks.

Approximately 380kgs of cannabis were seized, worth around £3.8 million.

The drugs were found in the early hours of Tuesday in a British-registered lorry and its load of pizza cheese.

The investigation was passed to the National Crime Agency and a 46-year-old man from Ballymoney was detained and then bailed while enquiries continue.

Some believe cannabis could be useful in treating a range of medical and psychological problems

Yesterday, Baroness Molly Meacher asked a question about cannabis in the House of Lords. The question was whether cannabis could be re-scheduled out of schedule one - which determines that it has no medicinal value - to schedule two or three, which would allow doctors to prescribe it and researchers to use it more easily in studies and clinical trials.

The government behaved exactly as expected.  The most generous interpretation is that its spokesman, Lord Bates, was misinformed. His first response to Lady Meacher's question was to parrot the Home Office's usual line on cannabis about it being a harmful drug etc etc.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of hastily scribbled signatures fill boxes in the basement of Ian James’ 7,800-square-foot restored Victorian home in the historic Franklin Park neighborhood. James needs these names to win a place on Ohio’s November ballot for a measure to legalize medical and recreational marijuana.

But the political consultant isn’t just gathering the signatures. He came up with the idea for the measure. And he recruited a lawyer to draft a constitutional amendment that would put Ohio’s future marijuana market in the hands of only 10 growers — an arrangement that critics are calling a monopoly.

Meanwhile, he plans to pay his own firm nearly $6 million to run the campaign.