Authorities made more than 110,000 drug arrests in the 2013-14 financial year and seized 27 tonnes of illicit substances

More drugs have been seized than at any other time in Australia and authorities make a narcotics-related arrest an average of once every five minutes, a new report by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has said.

The illicit drug report pulls together data from state and territory police units, as well as the Australian federal police (AFP) and the Customs and Border Protection Service.

It finds authorities made more than 110,000 drug arrests in the 2013-14 financial year and seized a record 27 tonnes of illicit substances.

Because of Wichita’s approval of a city ordinance in April and House action last week, Kansas no longer seems like the last place you’d expect to weaken marijuana laws.

The Kansas Supreme Court’s order Wednesday in response to Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s challenge of Wichita’s new marijuana ordinance was welcome news. The September oral arguments and resulting ruling should clarify the future of the ordinance, which is caught up in legal confusion.

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he's open to legalizing marijuana in Utah for medical use.

"I'm open to the idea of medical marijuana and the discussion of how it can be used as a medicine based on science, and making sure we have good, collaborative efforts so we can answer the questions that are out there," the governor said.

Herbert said during the taping of his monthly news conference on KUED Ch. 7 that the state has "a history of looking at opportunities, for medical purposes, to bring substances on board that maybe historically have not been traditional medicine."

He cited cannabis oil, approved by lawmakers a year ago, as "helping people who have had seizures, and seems to be demonstrating scientifically there is some benefit."

A study by the University of Oxford claimed to reveal last year that smoking marijuana makes you paranoid. But is that just what the government wants you to think?! Are the government claiming cannabis causes paranoia just to make us paranoid?!

Professor Daniel Freeman who led the study was tasked with finding the link between paranoia and THC, the psychoactive element of marijuana.

'The study very convincingly shows that cannabis can cause short-term paranoia in some people,' says Professor Freeman. 'But more importantly it shines a light on the way our mind encourages paranoia. Paranoia is likely to occur when we are worried, think negatively about ourselves, and experience unsettling changes in our perceptions.'

A proposal to reduce marijuana penalties for those convicted multiple times of possessing pot cleared the House floor Wednesday (May 13) in the Louisiana Legislature.

Current law allows for someone to be sentenced up to 20 years in prison for getting convicted three or more times with as little as one joint. Among the changes proposed in the legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, is a reduction of the maximum penalty from 20 years to eight. 

"It starts chipping away at Louisiana being the incarceration capital of the world," Badon said from the House floor, after his bill passed. 

The legislation now heads to the Senate after the House voted 53-36 to advance it.

A bill that would legalize some forms of medical marijuana in Nebraska passed its first hurdle Tuesday after state senators voted to advance the proposal. The bill, which was first debated last week, gained support among skeptics after senators adopted an amendment that would prohibit marijuana smoking and exclude “chronic pain” from the list of qualifying medical conditions, according to local station KSNB.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada senators want to increase the number of medical marijuana licenses allocated throughout the state.

Democratic Sen. Tick Segerblom and Republican Sen. Patricia Farley presented SB276 to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.

The bill would raise the cap on medical marijuana dispensary licenses within the state, most of which are in Las Vegas and Reno. The measure would allow for 20 more licenses in Clark County, five more in Washoe County and an additional license in all other counties.

Proponents said it will give access to patients in underserved areas.

Opponents said Nevada should wait until dispensaries are up and running to see whether there's enough demand for more.

Atty Gen. Loretta Lynch reached into the ranks of top FBI administrators Tuesday for new leadership at the troubled Drug Enforcement Administration.

Chuck Rosenberg, currently chief of staff to FBI Director James B. Comey, is expected to shake up DEA management practices and focus less on marijuana enforcement and more on heroin and other major drugs, a senior administration official said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A bill to legalize the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania has cleared the state Senate and now heads to the state House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 1182 would allow people with certain conditions to use medical marijuana who have a recommendation from their doctor.

This list includes people with cancer, epilepsy, post traumatic stress disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, severe fibromyalgia, cachexia (wasting syndrome), Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and post-concussion syndrome.

You may recall last year that we voters here in Oregon passed statewide marijuana legalization. We're one of the 26 states with some form of citizen lawmaking ability, so we crafted a marijuana legalization initiative, got it on the ballot, and passed it with a 56 percent majority.

The initiative legalized personal marijuana possession and growing and established a system for commercial production, processing, and sales. Much of what was in the initiative was copied-and-pasted from our state's liquor laws, including two key provisions: only a vote of the people in a city or county could ban commercial marijuana licenses and only the state can tax marijuana.