Opposition Spokesperson on Tourism and Cruise Shipping, Shahine Robinson has called on Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeil to pull together a working group to exploit the new provisions of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act as it relates to the use and cultivation of ganja. 

“I am calling on the Minister to establish a small and efficient working group, inclusive of the Health Ministry, Customs and other critical stakeholders to review and assess the amendments and put in a place of programme of work ultimately aimed at enhancing the benefits to Jamaica,” said Robinson in a release.

Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Sat Maharaj, is calling on Government and the relevant authorities to begin discussion and seek public referendum on the pros and cons of decriminalising marijuana.

The outspoken Maharaj said members of local law enforcement spend a lot of time carrying out marijuana eradication exercises and searches of persons for small amounts of the narcotic who are prosecuted and sent to jail.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is to examine the possible decriminalisation of cannabis in his new role as Minister of State with Responsibility for the Drug Strategy.

The Labour TD’s new position was confirmed in the Dáil on Thursday by Tanaiste Joan Burton.

He said his first task will be to examine the National Drugs Strategy which expires next year.

Mr Ó Ríordáin said he is willing to examine to the potential relaxation of the laws.

He said: “I believe someone who has an addiction issue should be dealt with through the health system and not the criminal justice system.

Marshall Ramsey-Creators Syndicate

How the times have changed. Just say no problem!

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Submit a link to your favourite cannabis cartoon in the comments below, and send us any news tips to feature on the next newsletter.

Have a great weekend!

A potential Florida medical marijuana grower is getting every opportunity to make its case in court.

Baywood Nurseries of Apopka insists the proposed rule to enact the 2014 Charlotte’s Web law by the Florida Department of Health is unfair to smaller nurseries, blocking them from applying for one of the five licenses available to grow marijuana.

The DOH response: Baywood has no case.

“We shouldn’t be here for a hearing and another delay,” protested DOH lawyerEduardo Lombard.

The City of Vancouver's plan to regulate retail marijuana stores has raised the ire of Ottawa.

In a letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson, federal health minister, Rona Ambrose, says she is "deeply concerned" at the city's plan to discuss a proposal to regulate the growing crop of pot shops.

The letter, sent Thursday, says that "legitimizing and normalizing the use and sale of marijuana can have only one effect: increasing marijuana use and addiction."

A majority of states now allow residents to use compounds from low-THC cannabis as medicine, but growing the plants remains a federal crime and in some states parents of epileptic children risk losing them by using the non-intoxicating treatment.

Republican members of Congress, inspired by stories from desperate parents who say use of low-THC, high-cannabidiol (CBD) cannabis saved their children, are taking the fight for legalization from statehouses to the U.S. Capitol.

Despite the hype, marijuana cultivation's contribution to the state's water crisis is negligible.

California has been in a drought for the past four years. Most of the state has received under 10 inches of rain, meeting the criteria to be labeled a desert. This conundrum has made California a testing ground for a battle over water rights, where cannabis growers are being unjustly scapegoated as the culprits behind the worst drought the state has seen in over a millennium.

What is the role of race in marijuana dealing? Studies show that black men are more likely to go to prison. Now, white men are planning to get rich doing precisely the same thing. Watch this video, which is part of CNN's orginal series entitled High Profits.

Peter Reynolds - the leader of Cannabis Law Reform in the UK

The protests, public smoking, stereotypical ‘drop-out’ behaviour, cause DAMAGE to the cannabis campaign.

I don’t give a damn how people dress, or what they smoke or do, as long as they’re peaceful. In the ’70s, I lived in Vondel Park, Amsterdam, for two years and later I hitch-hiked around Europe and North Africa with a guitar on my back. I’m still a hippy at heart.

When you want to persuade people, when you need to win hearts and minds, when you want to achieve reform, it doesn’t matter what you think, what your ‘rights’ are, or what is ‘just’ or ‘fair’.