Ireland officials recently met about their concerns over Ireland’s national drug abuse problem. They appear to be leaning to the idea that all drugs should be decriminalized.

Years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs and applied a public health approach to illegal drug use because of increasing drug overdose deaths and HIV/AIDS. Years later, Portugal has the second lowest number of drug-related deaths in all of Europe.

Ireland is leaning towards the approach of treating drug abuse as a public health issue rather than criminal justice issue.

Independent lawmaker Velizar Enchev has announced he is to put forward in September a bill that would allow for cannabis to be used for medical purposes.

He has warned that "thousands of people suffering in Bulgaria" could find a means to alleviate their pain if they are able to use a mouth spray and has underlined that legalizing smoking has never crossed his mind.

In a Monday interview with private bTV station, citing the experience of several EU countries and a number of US states which have approved medical cannabis, he asserted that "everybody opposing this is also opposing their practices."

As a delegate, Steve Schuh opposed making medical marijuana available in Maryland. As county executive, he now has to figure out how Anne Arundel County will deal with a law that will soon allow just that.

To consider what to do, Schuh last week convened a roundtable of local officials.

Applications for licenses to grow, process and dispense medical marijuana will become available from the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission starting in September.

But the new state measure gives local jurisdictions a say on regulating such businesses through their planning and zoning laws. That leaves county officials mulling the impact on residents and on local government.

WILLOW CREEK

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife helicopter circled over steep timberland in Humboldt County’s coastal mountains, prowling for potential water diversions and environmental damage caused by what is arguably the state’s most lucrative agricultural product: marijuana.

The problems weren’t hard to find.

The pot farms below sprawled out with factory-like orderliness. From the air, the rows of budding plants resembled citrus orchards. Leveled terraces supported plastic-lined greenhouses capable of producing multiple marijuana yields. Giant water tanks stood nearby.

Lt. DeWayne Little, a veteran game warden with a muscular build and a shaved head, snapped photos of the clearings. The view unsettled him.

A PARAPLEGIC man who is calling for the right to be able to take cannabis for medicinal purposes says he is considering selling his home to move to a place where the drug is legal.

Daniel Clark, who has been paralysed from the waist down since a motorbike accident ten years ago, said that his quality of life is worsening by the day because, he claim's the ‘man-made drugs’ he is prescribed do not work.

The 28-year-old said he used to be able to go to the gym to keep fit and socialise, but he is in so much pain now that he can no longer do so. He added that last year he took an overdose of his prescription drugs because he could no longer handle the pain.

‘My quality of life is going down,’ he said. ‘My pain is getting worse and I am depressed.’

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- One of the major investors backing a ballot issue to legalize marijuana assured future entrepreneurs there would be thousands of business opportunities available to them despite the plan's controversial limits on commercial growing.

T-shirts with marijuana slogans, cannabis-infused beverages, packaging for marijuana products are among the endless possibilities Ohioans can come up with, according to Alan Mooney, a Columbus-area investor in ResponsibleOhio's legalization campaign.

Province had sought court order to force child to go back on prescription drugs

The Alberta government has abruptly dropped its legal attempt to stop an Edmonton-area mother from treating her young daughter's epileptic seizures with marijuana.

"I didn't think they had the proper evidence to fight something that was working," Lita Pawliw told reporters while holding her daughter Natalya, 4, outside the courthouse in Leduc, a bedroom community south of Edmonton.

As first reported by CBC News early Friday, Alberta's Child and Family Services applied to a court for a supervision order that would have essentially taken control of the child's medical treatment.

Patients with autism and Parkinson’s disease could use medical marijuana under a new effort to overhaul the system in Michigan.

The Michigan Responsibility Council (MRC) announced this week it will push lawmakers to make the state’s medical marijuana system safer and more accessible to qualified patients.

It announced it will include the specific illnesses in its efforts in the wake of a senior state official’s decision on Thursday to reject autism as a qualifying condition.

Marijuana usage is roughly the same across all races. But predicting who gets caught is black and white.

In North Carolina, black people are 3.4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people.

And according to a 2013 report from the American Civil Liberties Union, the rate was worse for Orange County and nearby Durham and Chatham counties, where the disproportionate arrest rate exceeded the national average of 3.73.

I am appalled ResponsibleOhio would use such a mascot to promote marijuana (“Meet Buddie: Marijuana mascot” Aug. 28).

We all know marijuana is a gateway drug. You are encouraging this illegal substance by using this mascot.

We don’t need our young ones high and going around like zombies and ruining their lives

You know it is geared to our young children. You mention that in the article by sending Buddie to college campuses. This is disgusting, not creative and exciting as stated.