Bitter hatred and animosity aren’t stopping Shiite Lebanese farmers from selling weed to their sworn enemies — Sunni Islamic State militants — because, well, that’s business.

The Daily Beast spoke with farmers in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, supporters of the embattled Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, who are selling marijuana to Islamic State militants.

Lebanese Shiites typically support Syria’s Assad as a longtime regional ally, and the Islamic State, controlling territory in Syria and Iraq, are staunch enemies of the regime. Additionally, in Iraq, the Islamic State is fighting Iran-backed Shiite militias.

Perry asked me not to use his last name. It wasn’t because of the plants in his basement — they’re perfectly legal now — but more out of garden-variety stoner’s paranoia. He worried some enemy might see his name in the news and come looking for him.

Whatever — his identity isn’t important. It’s not like he was leaking potentially false information about weapons of mass destruction. I was just there to talk to him about his experience and his opinions. He has red hair, thinning on top, but growing vigorously in a bushy beard beneath. He’s wearing rectangular framed glasses, a Grant Farm concert T-shirt, and shorts.

Paul stood apart from the second annual 420 Rally held in Brantford's Victoria Park on Monday.

The diminutive man didn't stand with the crowd of a few hundred, chant about being high, wear a Canadian cannabis flag on his back or protest the laws against the plant's use, but he supports many of the ideas behind the movement.

"I'm happy there are events like this," he said. "I want to see it legalized, especially for medical use."

Paul admitted to using marijuana recreationally "once in a while."

THE Liberal Democrats unveiled radical plans to decriminalise possession of drugs as they launched their Scottish manifesto.

The party said that, as a first step towards this, it will push for new laws to stop people being jailed over possession for personal use.

Many of the 80,000 Scots left with a criminal record for possession often have mental health issues and this can harm their employment prospects, the Lib Dems said.Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie also accused Prime Minister David Cameron of “playing up division” over his attacks on the SNP in recent weeks and the Tories’ “unreasonable” plans to deliver English votes for English laws.

Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart is to resign her post, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday, after a government investigation revealed several DEA agents had engaged in sex parties with Colombian prostitutes on the tab of drug cartels.

“Michele Leonhart, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, informed me today of her decision to retire. She will depart the agency in mid-May,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

“I want to express my appreciation to Michele, not only for her leadership of the DEA since 2007, but also for her 35 years of extraordinary service to the DEA, to the Department of Justice and to the American people.”

Vulnerable people are missing out on medical treatment due to governmental refusal to treat cannabis the same way as alcohol, a newcomer to election campaigning has claimed.

The Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol party (Cista) is calling for a Royal Commission to review current UK drug laws.

Its goal is to achieve the decriminalisation of cannabis and the establishment of a regulated industry for its supply.

The party, which was founded earlier this year by Paul Birch, the co-founder of social networking site Bebo, launched its Northern Ireland manifesto in Belfast tonight.

It is fielding 32 candidates in the UK.

The medical use of marijuana by the public healthcare system of Costa Rica, known as La Caja, could generate $9 million in revenue, a figure that would be equivalent to 0.2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Such is a legislative proposal that was presented last year by lawmaker Marvin Atencio, who represents the ruling Citizens’ Action political party (Spanish initials: PAC).

It is on trend these days to support the growing marijuana business model. There are two parts of the discussion – medical marijuana that is now legalized in twenty-three states and the District of Columbia; as well as the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in four states. On CNN’s Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution hosted by Sanjay Gupta M.D., President Obama reiterated that, “I’m on record as saying not only do I think carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology.”

Just a little bipartisan repartee on Capitol Hill.

During a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on “telehealth” advancements Tuesday, the panel’s chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) wondered aloud where he could go see cherry blossoms since he missed peak bloom here in Washington.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) perked up, thanking Wicker for the opportunity to boast about Newark’s cherry blossom collection — the country’s largest. Booker was so elated — “sir, you have just earned so much love from me” — he suggested he now had a “bromance” with Wicker. (Rand Paul will be so sad.)