An investigation was underway Tuesday in Trinidad and Tobago over allegations that marijuana was found two years ago in the home of the island nation’s prime minister, according to a new report. Five grams of “a ‘plant like material’ resembling that of marijuana” was found in the private residence of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in 2013, according to a police press statement released on a local news outlet’s Facebook page.

A new report finds that 'disproportionally harsh laws and policies' surrounding drug offences are preventing families from living together

Drugs offences that are either decades old or so minor they have incurred little to no prison time are responsible for tearing thousands of US families apart through detention and deportation, according to a report released today.

The report, from the international non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Watch, found that “disproportionally harsh laws and policies” surrounding drug offences can result in deportation for unauthorized immigrants as well as lawful and permanent US residents.

ALBANY, N.Y. --  With time running out in Albany, the Senate and Assembly approved a bill to give quicker access to medical marijuana for patients who need it, even before the Compassionate Care Act is scheduled to go into full effect -- but there is still one more hurdle before advocates start celebrating. 

"This is a huge win. You have a situation where you have bipartisan strong, strong bipartisan agreement," said Gabriel Sayegh, of the Drug Policy Alliance.

"If these kids who are having in some cases dozens of seizures a day have to wait until the system is up and running, optimistically sometime in 2016, that's an awful lot of torture to these children," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan.

Lawmakers in Colombia, one of the world’s biggest drug producers and the backdrop of an often violent illegal drug trade, could debate legalizing marijuana this year, according to Colombia Reports. While legislators are already moving forward with considering legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, Sen. Roy Barreras from the southwestern city of Cali, once known as the most violent place in the country thanks to its warring drug gangs, hopes to get full marijuana legalization on the table.

A group of lawyers have launched the National Cannabis Bar Association to help clients navigate the conflicting maze of local, state and federal laws that govern cannabis businesses.

Opposition Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba says if he was voted in last January, the country would have been harvesting its first medicinal marijuana crop this month worth US$3 billion from the planned 129 farms countrywide.

Mr. Sinkamba says on his social media posting that to date his party would have earned US $ 3 billion , which is half Zambia’s budget for 2015 had he been voted Republican President .

“ With Green Party in government, by now there would have been no deficit, no nkongole ( debt ) , but a thriving economy like it used to be in the 1960’s and 1970s “ he said.

Chile, the country that produces copper six times more than Zambia has just legalized marijuana, and we are still shamefully grappling with realities, he adds

Dianne Feinstein, long one of the Senate’s foremost drug warriors, has shown signs recently of mellowing on the issue of medical marijuana. She’s voted to allow its use by military veterans, pressed for more federal research into the drug and expressed sympathy for marijuana patients.

But when push came to shove in the Senate Appropriations Committee, Feinstein voted no — the only Democrat to do so — on legislation to prevent federal interference with medical marijuana laws in states such as California, whose voters were the nation’s first to legalize pot as medicine 19 years ago. The measure, attached to a spending bill, cleared the committee on a 21-9 vote Thursday and appears likely to become law, extending by a year the restrictions Congress first enacted in December.

Lawmakers in Colombia, one of the world’s biggest drug producers and the backdrop of an often violent illegal drug trade, could debate legalizing marijuana this year, according to Colombia Reports. While legislators are already moving forward with considering legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, Sen. Roy Barreras from the southwestern city of Cali, once known as the most violent place in the country thanks to its warring drug gangs, hopes to get full marijuana legalization on the table.

A sweeping bill to regulate the burgeoning marijuana industry in Oregon is back on track after legislators agreed to make it easier to ban retail pot sales in almost all of the state's eastern counties.

Leaders of the  marijuana committee agreed to give a powerful eastern Oregon lawmaker language that would allow local governments in his region of the state to ban medical and recreational marijuana shops without voter approval.

Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego and co-chair of the House-Senate marijuana committee, said Friday that the compromise "is not my top choice," but she said it was necessary to prevent the entire legislative package from falling apart.