When it comes to selling cannabis to foreigners, the pendulum of public acceptance in the Netherlands keeps on swinging. Back in 2012, after years of political debate over tourists pouring into Holland to buy and consume cannabis, the Dutch government introduced a so-called weed pass that would effectively ban tourists and allow only locals into the country’s famous cannabis coffeeshops. Now, just four years later, most cities have abandoned the system — only the city of Maastricht and a handful of smaller towns in the country’s southern region still enforce the ban.

0.32 grams.

That's how much marijuana is in the typical American joint, according to a rigorous statistical analysis recently published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence by drug policy researchers Greg Ridgeway of the University of Pennsylvania and Beau Kilmer of the Rand Corp.

The amount of weed in the typical joint is actually an important quantity for researchers and policymakers to know. Marijuana is often sold by the joint in both legal and illegal markets. If you want to know how much weed people are consuming — which is highly important for things such as tax projections and public health studies — you need to know how much weed is in those joints.

More than two dozen former NFL players will take part in a new study of whether whole-plant cannabis is more effective than isolated compounds in treating and managing their pain, The Denver Post reported.

The study, led by Dutch researcher Dr. Arno Hazekamp in conjunction with cannabis-extract producer Constance Therapeutics and the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition, will be conducted in California, where marijuana is legal for medical use and soon could be for recreational purposes, too.

The legal pot business may be in its infancy, but it’s already created the marijuana equivalent of pre-grated cheese and instant noodles. Don’t feel like rolling a joint? Buy a pre-roll. Don’t want to smoke marijuana? Slurp it in a just-add-water soup mix, use a pod to brew it into a cup of coffee, or drop some salts into the bathtub and submerge yourself in it.

With four months to go before the election, an initiative campaign to legalize marijuana for adults in California has a $5.5 million war chest.

Promoters of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, got a $2 million boost in donations this week from two key financial backers.

Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster and was Facebook’s first president, gave an additional $1.25 million, bringing his total contributions to $2.25 million.

The New Approach PAC, which is a legacy of Progressive insurance mogul and legalization activist Peter Lewis, gave an additional $750,000. The PAC has now contributed $1.5 million.

The official name of Amendment 64, the ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado, was the “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol”.

Amendment 64 was passed in 2012 with 55 percent of the vote (66 percent in Boulder County), and legal marijuana became a reality in Colorado on January 1, 2014. But the regulatory regime that has been applied to marijuana is far more severe than anything alcohol has been subjected to.

If there’s any doubt on this point, try this thought experiment: Think what obtaining booze would be like if instead of marijuana being regulated like alcohol, alcohol were regulated like marijuana.

With its “Stay True to You” campaign released today, Oregon’s state health agency has done what few nonprofits and government agencies have ever done: created a youth cannabis prevention campaign that’s not entirely embarrassing. 

The $4 million campaign, funded by state cannabis tax revenue, uses a combination of adult testimonials, facts about teen brain development, and warnings that younger siblings will emulate their older brothers and sisters. You can watch a couple examples here and here. 

“I’ve always been more interested in policy than politics,” says Edmonton lawyer and former Liberal deputy prime minister Anne McLellan. 

That’s handy because late last week McLellan was named chairwoman of federal government’s new Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation. She’s going to need all of her policy-wonk passion — and all her expertise as Canada’s former minister of health, minister of justice and minister of public safety — to succeed.

The Clarkston City Council has voted unanimously to approve the most liberal marijuana ordinance in the state, reducing fine from up to $1,000 to $75 for possessing less than an ounce, and eliminating the possibility of jail time for breaking municipal law.

“We just made history,” whispered Sharon Ravert, a Dahlonega resident and advocate for marijuana legalization, when she saw the council’s seven hands raised in unison on Tuesday.

We found out last week that Anne McLellan will be leading the new federal task forceon marijuana legalization. Ms. McLellan is perfectly suited for this role as a former Minister of Health, Justice and Public Safety, she may be the only person to have held all three of those portfolios.

A few misconceptions have come out of this announcement, including this bizarre article in Now Magazine saying that storefronts have been ruled out. That is not at all the case in fact. Page 21 of the discussion paper clearly states: