BJD chief whip in Lok Sabha Tathagata Satpathy recently admitted in a social media chat that he smoked pot (hashish and marijuana) in his younger days. To the pleasantly surprised Net audience, the four-time MP from Dhenkanal in Odisha even showed the way to legally score the stuff in his own state. The comments have since gone viral, earning Satpathy many fans for his candid admission and frank opinion on what he says is an unfairly stigmatized subject. In a conversation with Deeptiman Tiwary, he explains his opposition to the "elitist" ban on cannabis consumption in India and how given an opportunity he would stand up for its repeal in Parliament.

You've admitted that you have smoked pot.Now, that's a rare admission by an MP given that it's a statutory offence to do so.

You can go for a ride with the Pineapple Express - or any other strain of cannabis - while visiting friends in D.C., but you might get fired from work back home in Virginia as a result.

Legalized marijuana is closer than ever, now that adults can smoke, grow and share it in the nation's capital. But some local companies are sticking with tests that screen employees for the drug because it's still illegal in Virginia.

A local employment law expert said businesses must be more cautious about dismissing workers for positive drug tests now that marijuana is legal in some parts of the country - but users with a prescription likely have more protection than those who smoke just because, well, they like getting high.

Just as 13-year-old Branden Petro flops into the passenger seat of his mom's car, his eyes roll back. His face twitches uncontrollably. He curls into a fetal position.

It is his third seizure on a particularly bad day. His mother, Renee Petro, 36, jumps from her seat and runs around the car. She pulls the backpack off her son and grabs his hand.

"Squeeze my hand if you can hear me," she pleads. "Squeeze my hand, Branden. Come on baby, squeeze my hand."

Every seizure terrifies her. Any seizure could cause more brain damage. Any one could be the first sign his condition is getting worse. Other children with his condition have taken a turn for the worse and been dead within a year.

A PETITION urging the legislative delegation of Rota to legalize marijuana for the “economic benefit” of the island has been circulating since last year, Variety learned.

The petition has been signed by more than 300 residents, students and parents since it was launched in June 2014.

The signatories are urging the island’s lawmakers to enact local legislation legalizing the growing, selling and smoking of marijuana (cannabis) for leisure and for medicinal purposes on Rota.

According to the petition, Rota is the most economically depressed island in the commonwealth.

There is “a large number of educated and productive members of the community leaving Rota to seek employment abroad.”

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Sun Grow employee Diego Cambron shows some of the product that is available at the dispensary.(Photo: J. Omar Ornelas/ The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

On a recent Thursday morning, a crowd gathered in the parking lot of a Desert Hot Springs gas station to welcome the latest new business to the struggling city.

Mayor Adam Sanchez stood in front of the shop's refurbished storefront and cut the ribbon with giant scissors — just as he would for a restaurant, tire store or hair salon — before talking about how perfectly Sun Grow would fit into Desert Hot Springs' healthy "spa city" image.

Sun Grow is the first permitted medical marijuana dispensary to open in Riverside County, outside of Palm Springs.

It can be a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to the 226 medical marijuana dispensaries that the state has approved for business.

Case in point? One Southwest Portland medical marijuana dispensary filed a $400,000 lawsuit this month against the owners of another dispensary, claiming the second business lied on a state registration application to "poach" the first business' clientele.

Oregon law allows only one medical marijuana dispensary per every 1,000 feet -- and that's a problem for the Portland Medical Cannabis Club, which is the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

COLUMBIA — Candidates for three seats on the Columbia City Council in the April 7 election responded in writing to 10 Missourian questions about city government issues. Here is the question the Missourian asked about the city's marijuana ordinances. Responses appear in the order the candidates will appear on the ballot.

Do you believe the city of Columbia should amend its ordinances regarding the cultivation and/or possession of marijuana? If so, how?

FIRST WARD CANDIDATES

A number of US states have legalized cannabis, and many more are expected to follow. Therefore, the industry explosive growth, and attract large investors. Berlingske Business Magazine took to speed dating between entrepreneurs and investors in San Francisco.

Brian MacKay looks frantically around the room. Is there an opening at a table?

Speed ​​Dating is stressful, especially when you are not looking for true love, but by an investor who can keep alive one's business.

He's worming its way into at a table and immediately starts to pitch his idea to the five men around the table. They study him with a closer look as to assess whether there sits a coming golden egg in front of them.

Washington and Oregon on Friday joined Colorado in defending its recreational marijuana law against a suit brought by two of its neighboring states.

In a filing, Colorado asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit — filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma — arguing that it makes a “dangerous use” of legal argument that would leave marijuana legalization in place but largely strip the state of its power to regulate the new industry.