VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – How do you feel about the proliferation of pot dispensaries in Vancouver? The often heated debate over regulating medical marijuana will be front and centre at City Hall this evening. As of a few days ago, more than 60 people had already signed up to speak at the public hearing.

Marijuana activist Dana Larsen will be there and he says regulation in Vancouver would be a big step forward for dispensaries and for Canada. However, he’s hoping to have a few things in the proposal altered.

“The one big thing is they want to limit us from being 300 metres away from schools and community centres and other dispensaries, and you know, liquor stores only have 150 metre limit.”

The process against Dutch coffee shop owner Johan van Laarhoven started in the court in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday. He stands accused of laundering 20 million euros.

Van Laarhoven is the founder of The Grass Company. He has been living in Thailand for several years. He was arrested last year after Justice in the Netherlands tipped off the Thai police, Omroep Brabant reports.

Van Laarhoven’s lawyer, Sidney Smeets, told Omroep Brabant that his client is living in horrid circumstances in the Thai prison. “It’s barbaric. You would not wish it on anyone, but certainly not on a smart entrepreneur who only earned money in the Netherlands with tolerated coffee shops.” According to the lawyer, Thai investigators do not understand the Dutch tolerance policy.

In a new exclusive interview with Truth in Media, medical cannabis oil activist and Crohn's disease survivor Shona Banda, whose story went viral earlier this year when her home was raided by police and her 11-year-old son was seized by the Kansas Department for Children and Families after her son discussed facts about his mother's medical marijuana treatment during a public school anti-drug presentation, speaks out about the five criminal charges that are now being filed against her.

The ResponsibleOhio marijuana legalization initiative has caused quite a bit of controversy in marijuana politics. At first, the ResponsibleOhio initiative provided for just 10 marijuana cultivation sites. After some outcry by many people in the marijuana reform movement, ResponsibleOhio added a provision for home cultivation. But the rules surrounding home cultivation are unclear. I heard someone from the ResponsibleOhio campaign state that the home cultivation provision was copied from Oregon. But that’s clearly not the case because Oregon will not require a license to cultivate up to four plants. How hard will it be to get a home cultivation license? How much will it cost? What will the rules be?

On Sunday, New Jersey governor Chris Christie set out his stall firmly against legalised cannabis on CBS’s Face The Nation, vowing to clamp down using federal law on states such as Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska that have legalised the drug.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Should medical marijuana be legalized in the Philippines?

This was the question that several law students from two universities in the country tried to answer on Tuesday (June 9) during a Law and Policy Debate at the House of Representatives.

Ambassador Manuel Teehankee, a medical and law expert, recognized the need for public discussions on the legalization of marijuana.

He noted that debating on a topic is a healthy method of testing ideas and proposal, and "a good way by which the legislative process can be vetted with various ideas being exchanged."

Etten Leur: Dutch police have arrested six family members accused of exporting large amounts of cannabis to France, police said on Tuesday.

More than 200 officers swooped on 24 addresses in the southern Dutch cities of Etten-Leur and Roosendaal following an intensive 18-month probe by Dutch and French police, a statement said.

Police on Tuesday seized a cannabis plantation and a small amount of cannabis resin, as well as a villa which police said was bought with "criminal proceeds".

They confiscated weapons, money counting machines and an undisclosed amount of cash.

For years, Garden City resident Shona Banda has been self-medicating her Crohn’s disease with cannabis oil and making no secret of it, touting her homemade vaporizer on YouTube and in a self-published book.

Now, Banda could face up to 17 years in prison for doing so, in a case that has medical marijuana advocates enraged and legislators from both parties saying it is past time to re-examine the state’s drug laws.

“We are terrified,” said Lisa Sublett, founder of the medical marijuana advocacy group Bleeding Kansas. “We are outraged. We are heartbroken. Many are planning to move.”

Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican running for president, went to the Baltimore area on Tuesday night for the first time since riots provoked by the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.

The 2016 hopeful appeared at a dinner of suburban Republicans in a banquet hall that arguably looked more like a setting for a mafia wedding than a speech on urban policy.

Non-smokers breathed a collective full-lunged sigh of relief when smoking became illegal in public places across the UK back in 2006-7. Smokers, presumably coughed, spluttered and desperately snatched a half-lunged breath whilst venting their disapproval but soon gave up to pop outside for a crafty fag. Probably. I don't remember it. I was too busy outside, smoking. 

This new, weird world of smoke-free establishments lead to a marked rise in the trade for picnic benches, outdoor heaters, wall-mounted ashtrays. Smoking became more of an activity on a night out. You cant just spark up anywhere. No, mate. You'll have to finish your drink before you go outside. But nobody told me, I've just got a pint in.