April 20 is World Marijuana Day.

It's just over two years since Jamaica decriminalised small quantities. And Canada was set yesterday to announce what's likely to be a bolder experiment.

So what has changed, and what hasn't?

The big change in Jamaica is for small-scale users. Possession of up to two ounces is no longer a criminal offence. You can grow up to five plants at home. And smoking in public is a minor matter, with a fine equivalent to TT$25.

For perhaps a few hundred-thousand Jamaicans those reforms make a huge difference. They remove the daily risk of arrest, prison, a substantial fine—and a criminal record which blocks some employment or a US visa.

As marijuana legalization looms, municipal governments are scrambling to develop policy to support the federal regulation of the drug.

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA), which says it represent 85 per cent of Albertans in various cities, towns and villages, is one of the organizations that needs more time than the current July 2018 deadline.

Lisa Holmes, the president of the AUMA and the mayor of Morinville, said Thursday she's concerned municipalities won't have enough time to prepare themselves for cannabis legalization.

"Their [the federal government's] timelines are just too fast," Holmes said. "It will take longer than a year. There's no question."

Ty Nero thinks new pot legislation tabled by the federal government will make people feel more comfortable when they're shopping at his business.

Nero owns Treehouse Lifestyle Supplies in Regina, a head shop that provides customers with access to tobacco products such as pipes and bongs — though they are commonly used for marijuana instead.

Nero thinks the legislation might mean more people start taking an interest in marijuana in general. Already, he said he's noticed more and more people walking into the shop who are new to pot.

"The stigma is going away slowly," Nero said of marijuana use. "It's just propaganda in the first place, it's not bad — anything can be abused. As long as you don't abuse it, it's fine."

Let’s be more like Canada, eh?

Canada announced plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by July 2018, proving again they are the U.S.’s cool next-door neighbor.

The move to legalize the recreational use of pot fulfills one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign promises. While medicinal marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001, this would be an unprecedented move for a large, industrialized country. It’s also something the U.S. should consider.

The Liberals on Friday said NDP Leader John Horgan is putting his union friends ahead of public safety.

Speaking to media in Penticton on Thursday, Horgan confirmed his support for selling marijuana in liquor stores saying, “An option to use public liquor stores is a good one.” (Castanet, April 14, 2017). In siding with his union friends, he is rejecting the advice of the federal task force on marijuana legalization, which included his own Vancouver-Fraserview candidate George Chow, said the Liberals.

In all of the U.S. states that have legalized marijuana, there is a ban on selling marijuana and alcohol together.

“The First Time I Got High” is the name of a short story that most of us have written in our heads, but of course the ending is different for just about everyone. In an ideal world, they all have happy endings. Maybe you meet a new crawdad friend, or discover the misunderstood nature of the scorpion, or run around town using dog beds as hats (all of which are true stories according to Leafly reviews).

Canada is on track to become the second country in the world to legalize the consumption and sale of recreational marijuana, after Uruguay made the big leap in 2014.

On Thursday, the Liberal government introduced its Cannabis Act, which allows people aged 18 and over to purchase and consume marijuana.

Much like alcohol, many of the nuts and bolts of legislation will be left to the provinces, who will be able to raise the minimum age if they so wish, and will be required to implement a retail system.

In our Previous Analysis we covered mainstream Marijuana Stocks. Next we move into the OTC Marijuana Stocks section and I cannot overemphasise the risks involved. Regulation is light, fraud more likely and total losses possible, although get one right and the returns can be vast as long as you are nimble and follow the rules of the studies. As they are OTC Marijuana stocks there is no comment on what or how they do their business.

Adults 18 and older will be able to legally buy and cultivate small amounts of marijuana for personal use, while selling the drug to a minor will become a serious new criminal offence under the federal Liberal government’s proposed new legal-pot regime.

A suite of legislation introduced Thursday would, once passed, establish a “strict legal framework” for the production, sale, distribution and possession of pot, and make it against the law to sell cannabis to youth or use a young person to commit a cannabis-related crime.

New penalties would range from a simple police citation to 14 years behind bars.

The Saskatchewan government has some concerns over the proposed 2018 legalization of marijuana across Canada — but some people say they're happy the change is coming.

The federal mandate would allow people to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis, as long as they're over 18.

"I think it's great, I think it's about time that marijuana was legalized," said Ken Sailor, a former member of the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. 

Sailor feels legalization will have several unseen benefits, such as fewer people going through the court system charged with drug possession.

He says he's often surprised that conservative-minded politicians are against, or at least leery, of legalization.