WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware House lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation that would treat simple marijuana possession and personal use by adults like a traffic violation, replacing criminal penalties with civil fines.

The bill passed the House by a 24-14 vote, and now heads to the Senate. Gov. Jack Markell supports decriminalization. No House Republicans voted in favor of the legislation on Tuesday.

Some opponents said decriminalization would embolden drug dealers operating in a black market. Others say it could prevent police from initiating important searches on suspicion of simple marijuana possession.

The National Drug Council accepted a motion Tuesday to allow a drug made from cannabis flowers to relieve pain for people with certain diseases.

Switzerland could allow a drug made from cannabis flowers (cannabis flos) to relieve pain for people with multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS among others.

By 123 votes against 39, the National Council accepted the Tuesday, June 2  motion of Margrit Kessler (PVL / SG) requesting to study the issue.

In Switzerland, people suffering from chronic pain often prefer to obtain cannabis illegally as licensed therapies are expensive and complicated to obtain, stressed the Vert'libérale.

MPs and medical researchers have rejected a bill that proposed the legalisation of dagga for commercial and medicinal use, with some warning of the "hazards" of the drug for families and communities.

MPs, legal experts and clinical specialists from the Medical Research Council yesterday discussed the Medical Innovation Bill, first introduced as a private member's bill by IFP MP Mario Ambrosini. He took his own life after suffering from stage-four lung cancer for more than a year.

ANC MP Nonhlanhla Ndaba was dismissive of the proposed legislation yesterday.

"I believe that dagga cannot cure cancer. The experience I have of people smoking dagga makes me believe there isn't any stage at which I will agree that we can legislate such a bill.

OTTAWA - Health Canada is asking a Vancouver radio station to stop promoting a medical marijuana dispensary.

In a letter to CKNW, the department reminds them that advertising marijuana is illegal and also that fines could be applied.

The letter says a host on the station promoted a Vancouver marijuana dispensary during a segment last month.

Health Canada says the dispensary itself is illegal and advertising marijuana for any purposes runs contrary to the Food and Drugs Act and Narcotics Control regulations.

It says that by advertising the dispensary, CKNW is encouraging listeners to engage in illegal conduct.

No one at the station could immediately be reached for comment.

SEATTLE -- Steve McNalley was in his usual spot last Tuesday, hunched over a stainless steel workbench as he used a pipette to carefully filter particulates such as waxes and plant membranes from pulverized marijuana across a row of test tubes and vials at Analytical 360 labs in Seattle. His samples had already succumbed to microscopic imaging and at least 24 hours of dehydration.

Next, the concentrated marijuana will undergo high-performance liquid chromatography to determine its potency for compounds including THC, the ingredient that causes the sensation of being high.

Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb wants to see a world where services like the NHS are boosted by a 'cannabis tax' instead of drug gangs hoarding the cash

A Lib Dem leadership contender has declared he wants to legalise cannabis and tax it to fund services like the NHS.

Norman Lamb says the war on drugs has 'failed' and it's time to stop pouring billions into the pockets of violent criminal gangs.

His dramatic pledge shows just how much the Lib Dems are distancing themselves after Coalition from the Tories - whose new legal highs bill will ban almost everything.

On Friday, the Lt. Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and other members of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy came to talk with Emerald Triangle growers about marijuana regulation in preparation for possible legalization in 2016 and got an earful about why they should use the word cannabis instead.

The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto a $51.4 billion bill that would fund the Justice and Commerce departments as well as science agencies for fiscal 2016.

“The President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto H.R. 2578 and any other legislation that implements the current Republican budget framework, which blocks the investments needed for our economy to compete in the future,” the White House said.

The measure, according to the veto threat, “drastically underfunds critical investments in research and development.”

Bernie Sanders moved to Vermont in 1968, during a mass "hippie migration" that attracted young people eager for a new life and experimenting with communal living. It's the sort of thing that evokes folk music and drugs, but Sanders wasn't exactly your stereotypical hippie.

In an interview with Yahoo News' Katie Couric, Sanders said he tried marijuana but wasn't a fan.

"Because I coughed a lot, I don't know," he said. "I smoked marijuana twice, didn't quite work for me. ... It's not my thing, but it is the thing of a whole lot of people."

Federal agents near Mission Bay seized a 35-foot yacht returning from Mexico stuffed with nearly 1,200 pounds of marijuana, authorities announced Tuesday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents spotted the yacht while patrolling outside Mission Bay early Friday and took it to a nearby marina for further inspection, according to Jackie Wasiluk, a spokeswoman for the federal agency.

A drug-sniffing dog tipped off U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol agents to 91 packages containing 1,194 pounds of marijuana in hidden compartments throughout the vessel. Wasiluk said the pot was worth an estimated $715,800.