The state House on Thursday approved legislation that would clear the path for medical marijuana use in Louisiana.

The House voted 70-29 for the Senate-passed measures that is now nearing the final hurdle before becoming law. It returns to the Senate for approval of House changes.

One of the amendments was to name the proposed law after the late Alison Neustrom, who testified for the bill last year saying people like her needed help in battling cancer.

Neustrom’s father, Mike, is Lafayette Parish sheriff. The state’s sheriffs association opposed the bill last year. This year they helped tighten the wording to address law enforcement objections.

The Louisiana District Attorneys Association opposes the legislation.

Kingston, Jamaica: In April 2015, a member of Jamaica’s Rastafarian community, Miguel “Steppa” Williams, asked US President Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, whether he would support the legalization of Marijuana. While it had seemed like an awkward question, President Obama appeared to have long anticipated the question, and had probably long choreographed an answer in order to ensure that it does not get his support or outright rejection.

• Editor’s note: The question comes at the 51-minute mark in the video below.

After all, it was Jamaica, the land of reggae and Rastafarian culture. And his advisers would have told him to expect the question anyhow.

Some people are asking if President Obama will reschedule marijuana before he leaves office, and whether the marijuana reform movement should make rescheduling a major priority.

Although rescheduling would be huge politically – the federal government finally admitting marijuana has medical value – rescheduling wouldn’t actually help patients in the short term, and might do more harm than good if it distracts from real reform.

Marijuana is currently in Schedule I, the classification for drugs that are supposedly highly addictive and have no medical value. While marijuana certainly does not belong in this category, simply rescheduling it would not make it available for medical use.

A man now living in the Lower Mainland has been sentenced to a one-year conditional sentence for running a marijuana grow-op near Fraser Lake.

Crown prosecution had been seeking six months in jail for William Coady Daniels, 47, but provincial court Judge Randall Callan agreed with defence lawyer Fred Fatt that a conditional sentence was more appropriate.

Under a conditional sentence, the person serves the time at home while still being able to go to work, but also faces such conditions as a curfew and a prohibition against using alcohol.

Daniels was arrested in November 2011 when police seized 203 marijuana plants from a barn on his farm as well 11 baggies, each containing a half pound of marijuana ready to be sold.

Access to medical marijuana may soon become a reality in the Louisiana.

The State House of Representatives approved the Senate Bill 143 with a 70-29 vote Thursday. The bill will now head to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk. Jindal has said he plans to sign it into law.

The law would allow The Department of Agriculture and Forestry to issue a special license for the production of medical marijuana at one geographic location. Patients with  cancer, glaucoma and severe cerebral palsy are eligible for the prescription.

The debate on the House floor lasted nearly five hours and got a little heated as state Rep. Sherman Mack, R-Livingston, took the stage.

Geneva prosecutor agrees to close investigation into HSBC in return for the financial settlement

HSBC has been ordered to pay a record 40m Swiss francs (£28m) and been given a final warning by the Geneva authorities for “organisational deficiencies” which allowed money laundering to take place in the bank’s Swiss subsidiary.

The settlement means the Swiss will not prosecute HSBC or publish the findings of their investigation into alleged aggravated money laundering. But Geneva’s chief prosecutor, Olivier Jornot, cautioned that the bank was on notice, saying: “This is an excuse which will only apply once.”

Just in case anyone was unclear that the federal government is on the wrong side of the fence concerning cannabis, the Department of National Intelligence recently issued a statement reminding all federal employees that at no time and under no circumstances are they allowed to use cannabis, even if they are residents of states that have legalized recreational cannabis or if they are authorized medical marijuana patients.

The Arizona Supreme Court recently agreed to review an appeals court decision that decided drivers who have medical marijuana cards can be prosecuted for driving under the influence if they’re found to have marijuana in their system.

In two cases, defendants who had medical marijuana cards argued they should be able to use their medical marijuana cards as defense like other prescription drugs are used.  But, the District One appeals court disagreed.

ASPEN, Colorado -- The funk of marijuana hung heavily in the air at Owl Farm, the remote mountainside compound where renegade journalist Hunter S. Thompson spent the last half of his life. Sitting on tree stumps and sprawled in the grass, casually clad folks puffed on well-packed bowls and joints. Nearby, a cover band blazed through Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead songs. Among all the pot paraphernalia, not a single new-fangled vaporizer pen could be seen. On this beautiful afternoon, it almost felt like Owl Farm had traveled decades back to a heady era when getting high was still sexy, illicit and countercultural.

MADISON — Lawmakers and parents told a Wisconsin committee on Wednesday that a bill that would allow residents to legally possess a marijuana derivative to treat seizure disorders would help give people relief while a doctor said it could have potential dangerous repercussions.

The Assembly Committee on Children and Families heard testimony on a bill that would allow parents to legally possess cannabidiol oil known by the acronym CBD, which doesn't produce a high in users. Families with the drug wouldn't be able to produce, purchase or transport the drug in Wisconsin and would still be subject to federal law.