Canadian cities looking for ways to jumpstart economic growth should maybe take a lesson from Nanaimo, B.C., which says it is reaping the benefits of a growing medical marijuana plant that opened last year.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The latest hearing on the subject suggests supporters of legislation that would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania have their work cut out in the State House.

Indications are that support for medical marijuana is strong in the state Senate, but members of the House seem less enthusiastic.

After a lengthy hearing Wednesday during which members of law enforcement stressed the need for strict regulatory control if it is legalized, Republican Matt Baker – chairman of the House Health Committee – said he’s still not sold on medical marijuana:

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced on Thursday that his office helped with the closing down of over 500 marijuana shops since the approval of Proposition D. “Many were close to schools, child care centers and other sensitive sites. Others were disrupting the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” he said.

The Texas Young Republicans, a group affiliated with the state GOP, are publicly backing legislative efforts to decriminalize marijuana possession.

More than three-fourths of the group’s membership support decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and removing fines that can be levied, according to a survey the group conducted.

The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee discussed proposals late Wednesday night that would reduce the penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, and one bill that would legalize it altogether.

Chile has started harvesting its first medical marijuana crop Tuesday, while the drug remains prohibited for its recreational consumption.

The 400 plants were sown in October in a heavily guarded field of about 100 square meters in the residential district of La Florida, in the capital Santiago. The non-profit organization Daya Foundation was then granted a permit to extract cannabis oil in a pilot program aimed at treating 200 cancer patients for free.

"This is about the dignity of patients who are dying every day in pain and with very expensive medical bills," said Rodolfo Carter, the mayor of La Florida, at a ceremony marking the harvest.

The cannabis leaves will now be processed in a laboratory, as the final product is expected to be ready by January 2016.

Come Monday, the Duluth City Council could adopt an ordinance designating where medical marijuana growing  operations or dispensaries are allowed to set up shop in the future.Alternatively, city councilors could opt to amend the proposed ordinance, effectively shrinking the zone in which marijuana operations could locate.Although he was absent from Thursday’s agenda session meeting, 5th District Councilor Jay Fosle has proposed the city increase the required setback from residential developments.The Duluth Planning Commission called for a minimum setback of 200 feet in a motion that passed by a 6-1 vote last month.

Overdoses on synthetic marijuana known as 'spice' have spiked in Tuscaloosa County in the last two weeks, leaving one victim dead and two dozen others hospitalized. 

The leaders of the area's public safety and law enforcement agencies held a joint press conference Thursday afternoon to make the public aware of the problem, which Tuscaloosa's Chief of Police Steven Anderson called "a public health crisis and a public safety crisis."

The US government may be starting to officially recognize medicinal benefits of marijuana, as a government-funded research group has released a report claiming that weed can kill cancer cells.

Are the medical benefits of cannabis being over-hyped? The government is looking into this at a conference about the safety and dangers of cannabis use in South Africa.

Dagga may have some medicinal qualities, but are the benefits of legalising it in South Africa worthwhile?

This is up for discussion at a two-day event by the Department of Social Development and the Central Drug Authority (CDA) taking place in Benoni on Thursday.

Bruce Barcott is the author of "Weed the People, the Future of Legal Marijuana in America."

We no longer arrest 12,000 people every year for possessing marijuana in Washington state

In a California courtroom earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller wondered what exactly was at stake in the federal government’s defense of marijuana prohibition. Mueller is hearing a case that challenges the government’s Schedule I classification of pot, a status that ranks it alongside heroin as one of the world’s most dangerous drugs. As the case wrapped up – a decision is expected this month – she put a question to the U.S. attorneys defending the federal ban. “If I were persuaded” that marijuana’s status was unconstitutional, “what would you lose here?”