By Henry Fisher

On 1st August I attended my first ever protest outside the houses of Parliament. There was no kettling, shouting, or even any placards. Instead, there were balloons, balloons filled with nitrous oxide – laughing gas. This was the protest against the Psychoactive Substances Bill, organised by The Psychedelic Society to highlight the idiocy of the Bill, both in its principle and in its wording.

I could fill this entire post, and a few more, with criticisms of the Bill itself, from its illiberal premise, to its impact on medical research, to its utter unworkability, but I won’t.

A patient suffering from angina has admitted growing his own cannabis to help with the pain.

Stephen Smith-Chappell was sentenced for producing the class B drug at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The 65-year-old, of Walpole Road, Cambridge, denied growing cannabis and told police he had not smoked it in three years.

But officers had already searched his home and found more than 25 grams (worth between £1,400 and £4,200) of the drug, and the paraphenalia associated with it.
 

Smith-Chappell then said cannabis was "beneficial for his agina" and that it treated the condition quicker than the various medications he was on.

Californians will legalize, tax and regulate cannabis for adult use in the 2016 general election, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told Real Time with Bill Maher Friday.

The statement amounts one of to the most strident predictions — from one of the world’s highest ranking politicians — about the success of such an initiative.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday, Aug. 7, and during a question and answer segment said:

A parliamentary committee is backing a plan by a cross-section of senators to make medical cannabis available to Australians.

The Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee recommended the Greens bill to set up a regulator of medical cannabis be passed.

The regulator would be "responsible for formulating rules for licensing the production, manufacture, supply, use, experimental use and import and export of medicinal cannabis".

The committee unanimously recommended the bill's passage, with amendments to ensure scientific evidence is accessed to determine suitably of treatments.

It also wants amendments to ensure medical cannabis products are made available in Australia in line with international obligations.

Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley alongside Rep. Earl Blumenauer spoke in support of The Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act Tuesday.

They want to change federal law that prohibits banks from doing business with legal marijuana businesses.

"It's essentially updating federal laws so that when states vote to legalize [marijuana] they aren’t penalized for it," Wyden said. "The spectacle of Oregonians running legal businesses with sacks full of cash... that’s just unacceptable.

"We’ll be able to stop this stupidness and help the industry thrive and protect people going forward," Rep. Blumenauer said.

CKNW 980 reporter Shelby Thom was booted from a Conservative Party rally in Richmond on Tuesday evening because she was asking Tory supporters about marijuana, she claimed on Twitter.

The Prime Minister and most local CPC candidates were in attendance at the event, which was held at Pacific Gateway Hotel. It was Stephen Harper’s first appearance in B.C. during the 2015 election campaign.

. @pmharper speech was over. Began interviewing supporters about marijuana. Told my staffer event was over , I continued , approached by…

— Shelby Thom (@ShelbyThom980) August 12, 2015

another staffer to follow him. I walked towards lobby, he directed me to door, I walked outside and he closed door behind me .

P.E.I. RCMP are working with local farmers and seed providers to remove hemp or marijuana from at least three farmers fields in the Travellers Rest area.

Over the last few days, Cannabis sativa, a crop that can be classified as either marijuana or hemp depending on the levels of tetrahydrocannibol (THC) found in it, was found in a number of fields, according to police.

They say the cannabis sativa hemp and marijuana look very similar, so it is necessary to run a lab analysis to determine which type of plant is in the fields. The testing is being done at a Health Canada facility.

RCMP say it could be weeks before the test results identify the plants.

Even if the substance is hemp, a licence is needed to grow it, so the crop must be removed.

Jeff Mizanskey, a 61-year-old Missouri man who was serving life in prison for nonviolent marijuana offenses, will be set free in a matter of days, his attorney confirmed Monday to The Huffington Post.

"We were notified today that he will be granted parole and be released within '10 to 25 days,'" lawyer Dan Viets said about the Missouri Department of Corrections' decision.

Mizanskey had met with the parole board just last Thursday.

If you're going to wage war on drugs, you need to be outfitted like a warrior.

That seems to be the rationale behind hundreds of police department requests for armored trucks submitted to the Pentagon between 2012 and 2014. The requests, unearthed in a FOIA request by Mother Jones magazine, shed light on how the war on drugs has directly contributed to the militarization of local police forces in recent years.

WATCH ABOVE: On Tuesday, Harper announced a 3-step plan to strengthen the government’s anti-drug strategy should the Conservatives be re-elected.

Stephen Harper says a majority of Canadians agree with his opposition to legalizing marijuana, proving he’s not behind the times on the way forward on pot.

But Harper says changing those laws would reverse what he calls a decline in marijuana usage in Canada.