Cannabis News Network reports on the sudden launch of a crackdown on Barcelona Cannabis Social Clubs, initiated by the mayor of the Catalan capital Xavier Trias, seems to have backfired on him.

It had been a bad day for Tuan Anh Nguyen when, bruised and bleeding, he picked up his phone and dialed 911.

Little did he realize his day was about to get much worse.

Nguyen, 46, had a small marijuana grow operation in the basement of his McKay Avenue home. Police found it when they responded to his 911 call.

The man quickly went from being considered the victim of a violent crime, to being a criminal himself.

Massachusetts health authorities moved Friday to dramatically overhaul the process for granting licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries, aiming to streamline the process and remove politics.

Regulators from the administration of Governor Charlie Baker said the revamped licensing strips away the subjectivity and secrecy that had tainted the system under former governor Deval Patrick’s tenure. Controversy surrounding the previous system sparked more than two dozen lawsuits, leaving patients without any dispensaries 2½ years after voters approved marijuana for medical use.

As a US attorney, the new acting head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration enthusiastically enforced drug sentencing laws that contributed to racial disparities in the criminal justice system and the war on drugs.

AN academic who specialises in new psychoactive substances (NPS), also known as legal highs, has warned the Scottish Government and Police Scotland that their campaign may actually encourage drug use.

Campaigner and researcher Kieran Hamilton says that the evidence points to the new campaign neither stopping people who are already taking legal highs, or dissuading those who may be inclined to try. Hamilton also claimed that the initiative would have no positive impact but would “give the illusion that the police are doing something about the problem”.

Who is to be the new drugs minister?

No word yet from David Cameron. I have been calling the Home Office every day since the election and the answer is always the same – ‘no appointment has been made, it is expected within the coming days’.

Munich will continue to participate in the discussion of the so-called "Initiative of German cities" concerning the establishment of cannabis clubs. However, there will initially be no pilot project for the partial release of cannabis.

A pilot project currently lacked the legal requirements, the information from the Department of Health and Environment (RGU). A partial release is only possible if it is in the public or scientific interest. But because the boundaries are narrow, the city lacked the opportunity, the RGU.

DOUGLASSVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) --

Police in Berks County have charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a marijuana grow operation inside a Douglassville home.

On Wednesday emergency crews responded to a home on Lehman Street for the report of a fire.

Officers arrived at the scene and spoke to the 9-1-1 caller, who told them that they knocked on the door of the house that was on fire to warn the occupant of the blaze. However, they say the man that answered the door quickly closed the door.

A short time later officers observed smoke emanating from the roof of the residence. It was at this point that officers and firefighters forcibly entered the home.

Marijuana legalization has already led to many benefits in the United States, ranging from increased tax revenues to decreasing usage by minors to lowering incarceration rates for non-violent marijuana offenders. But marijuana legalization is also putting a substantial dent into what the Department of Justice calls the “greatest organized crime threat to the United States,” the Mexican drug cartels. And that’s a good thing.