MANILA, Philippines - The committee on health of the House of Representatives is considering the legalization of cannabis or marijuana for medical purposes.

In the course of a hearing yesterday on Bill 4477, titled “The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act,” committee chairman La Union Rep. Eufranio Eriguel said a technical working group (TWG) would be created to draft the panel’s version of the measure.

“The TWG will consider and consolidate all inputs from the authors, resource persons from the medical profession and government agencies and concerned non-government organizations,” he said.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, principal author of Bill 4477, welcomed the committee’s decision.

To make medical and recreational marijuana legal or to keep it illegal? That is the multi-billion dollar question.

We should know by the end of the week if voters will get a say.

Proponents are already spending big money on ads, but outspent opposition held its first town hall meeting Tuesday in Bay Village.

Drug counselors led the way discounting the medical argument for legal marijuana, saying there's just not enough data.

But ultimately it looks more and more like it will be up to voters to decide in November.

A 20-million dollar advertising campaign by the group Responsible Ohio is supposed to convince you pot should be legal.

Cannabis is a kind of flowering plant which is commonly known as Marijuana. The American economy is certainly not what it was a decade ago. The global economic meltdown of 2008 coupled with numerous other factors in the global economic arena, for instance, the real estate crisis has led to a slump in the economy. So this struggling economy of the United States of America can definitely use a boost. Quite surprisingly, this much-needed boost could come in the form of legalizing Cannabis.

In a highly charged meeting Tuesday, Pitkin County commissioners told the owners of High Valley Farms, a marijuana grow facility that debuted last year, that its license is in serious peril because of its chronic stench.

The meeting was the latest in a series of county commissioner work sessions over the smell wafting from High Valley Farms, located in the Basalt area. And each time, Jordan Lewis, co-owner of the greenhouses, has assured commissioners and neighbors the stench will be eradicated. The neighbors also have been making repeated claims that the odor hasn’t gone away, continually and negatively impacting their lifestyle.

I WAS stoked when he smoked his first joint.

It’s not what you expect to hear a protective mum say about her responsible young son.

But I was. So was his dad, who has served in the NSW police for 35 years.

Those suffering from chronic or terminal illnesses who use cannabis aren’t your usual criminals. They’re desperate. Other treatments have failed in easing their agonising pain like medicinal marijuana does. But the law sees them as no better than a dealer or thief.

In February, I lost my son Dan, 25, to bowel cancer. In the year leading up to his death, he asked me to help him show Australia the truth about medicinal cannabis. I agreed of course. On reflection I had no idea of where that promise would take me.

The group setting up Alaska’s rules for commercial marijuana is on pace to finish regulations by a November 24th deadline. But just barely.

The Marijuana Control Board is running out of time and money as it builds the framework for legal sales.

The board’s five members spent two full days discussing line after line of new marijuana rules with state regulators, lawyers, and members of the public. It is not glamorous work developing what could be described as the nitty-gritty particulars of industry regulation. The second day–all eight hours–was dedicated to just one topic area.

A Federal Bill to establish a body to regulate medicinal cannabis should be passed after changes are made, according to a committee that's spent six months working through health, legislative and legal concerns.

The Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill was introduced by Greens leader Richard Di Natale last year with cross-party support.

The Bill follows an extensive campaign from Tamworth's Lucy Haslam, whose son Daniel used medicinal cannabis to overcome the vomiting and nausea he experienced following chemotherapy treatment for bowel cancer.

It seeks to establish a new Commonwealth body, the Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis, with responsibility for regulating the production, transport, storage and usage of cannabis products for medicinal purposes.

COLUMBUS (Chris Vanocur) -- It now looks like marijuana will be on Ohio's ballot in November. ResponsibleOhio now says it's within 5,000 signatures of qualifying for the ballot.

The pro-pot group's first effort to get on the ballot fell 30,000 signatures short. But they now say they've collected an additional 96,000 signatures.

An official announcement is expected from the Secretary of State’s office by the end of the week.

With the curtain about to rise on the climactic second act of the Mike Duffy trial, Justin Trudeau promised Tuesday to clean up the scandal-tainted Senate, while Stephen Harper set his sights on neighbourhood drug labs.

That mess, of course, is the Senate, and in particular Duffy’s trial, which was scheduled to enter its most explosive phase Wednesday with none other than Nigel Wright, Harper’s former chief of staff, as the first witness.

ALOR STAR, Aug 11 — The Bukit Aman Narcotics Department busted a major drug trafficking syndicate and seized 172kg of ganja after raiding three separate locations in Kedah and Penang over the past two days.

The department’s deputy director DCP Datuk Pahlawan Mohd Dzuraidi Ibrahim said during the raids carried out on Sunday and Monday, eight suspects, including a foreign woman, were detained.

Mohd Dzuraidi said apart from the 172kg ganja which was the biggest drug bust in the country this year (for ganja), 159 Ecstasy pills were also seized.

“The drugs seized are worth RM522,000 thousand,” he told reporters at the Kedah police headquarters, here today.