Members of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), KOPAC and Dioscorides Global Holdings (DGH) were joined by the Minister of Health for the Czech Republic recently to announce the establishment of a new research center, the International Cannabis and Cannabinoid Institute (ICCI) – intended to foster evidence-based exploration with a modern scientific approach to refine the therapeutic applicability of cannabis-based medicines in the Czech Republic. ICCI will identify, coordinate and support global research priorities for the advancement of cannabis and cannabinoid treatments through a multidisciplinary evidence based approach that incorporates innovative tools and approaches.

Mexican lawmakers this week launched a national debate on a topic that officials around the world have been struggling to address: marijuana legalization.

Over the next three weeks, the Mexican Congress is holding a series of public hearings (link in Spanish) on whether and how to regulate marijuana. The discussions will range from nitty-gritty—how should marijuana’s potency be classified?—to broad issues such as the effects of marijuana prohibition on public safety.

Mexico launched its first national forum on the question of marijuana legalization Tuesday in the Caribbean city of Cancun, the first of five historic debates that could change the future of marijuana prohibition in the country.

“This is an issue that has directly or indirectly affected the lives of millions of Mexicans,” Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said at the forum, which was broadcast online in the name of broadening participation. “Such a delicate issue cannot be left to improvisation.”

The event touched on issues of public health and potential addiction with recreational marijuana use. The other four debates will tackle other themes related to personal pot consumption.

While much of the focus on legalizing marijuana is on the United State there are countries making real progress South of the border.

The Supreme Court in Mexico handed down a landmark ruling in November that declared overall prohibition unconstitutional. The case was brought by four individual citizens. The arguments were not some long list of regulatory details but instead a more fundamental question of basic human rights.

Members of Congress called Monday for changing Mexico's punitive marijuana laws at hearings on the use of the plant, whose cultivation and use were approved by the Supreme Court for four citizens last year.

"We have the challenge of proposing an alternative to the problem of the illegal market for marijuana and its negative consequences. Or remain as we are, running the risk of compromising the health, security and dignity of people," the speaker of the lower house of Congress, Jesus Zambrano, said at the start of the session.

Anti-drug policy around the world has been based on punishment, Zambrano, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, said.

BERKELEY, CA - MARCH 25: One-ounce bags of medicinal marijuana are displayed at the Berkeley Patients Group March 25, 2010 in Berkeley, California. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified a ballot initiative late Wednesday to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana in the State of California after proponents of the measure submitted over 690,000 signatures. The measure will appear on the November 2 general election ballot. (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Mexican lawmakers are proposing a bill to legalize medical marijuana for patients in the country.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – Police have incinerated 75.5 tonnes of marijuana in western Mexico after discovering several fields of cannabis in the state of Nayarit, authorities said Friday.

Federal police found 11 fields totaling more than 22,000 square metres (5.4 acres) of land near the town of Los Mesquites, the National Security Commission said in a statement.

More than 158,000 plants were pulled out of the ground and incinerated, while 22 samples were kept for the investigation, the commission said, adding that nobody was arrested in the operation.

The seizure comes as Mexico debates whether to changes its marijuana laws after the Supreme Court authorized four individuals to grow and smoke pot for recreational purposes.

Mexico will hold its first national forum debating the legal use of marijuana on Jan. 26 in Cancun, an Interior Ministry official said this week.

President Enrique Peña Nieto ordered the discussion, with four more forums to follow throughout the winter and into the spring, The Yucatan Times reports.

Many top companies cashing in on legal cannabis are considering a bet on Mexico after a Supreme Court decision raised hopes for a legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in a country reeling from years of gruesome drug violence.

From medical marijuana growers to pot private equity firms, many weed entrepreneurs see Mexico as a tempting new business opportunity even though cannabis is still illegal and the market is currently controlled by ruthless drug cartels.

"Me personally, I'm not afraid to go to Mexico," said Daniel Sparks, head of government affairs at BioTrackTHC, a U.S.-based provider of marijuana supply-chain software.

• Border agents discovered more than a ton of marijuana stuffed into fake carrots at the U.S.- Mexico border on Sunday
• The street value of the drugs is estimated at $499,000
• Police say that nearly 3,000 packages were mixed in with real carrots

Border agents say they discovered more than a ton of marijuana stuffed into fake carrots mixed in with shipment of fresh carrots at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday.

Texas officials say they found 2,493 pounds of alleged marijuana after an imaging system flagged the truck transporting the produce for a secondary examination while it was crossing the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge along the Texas-Mexico border near the Gulf of Mexico.