If voters across Ohio next month approve a proposal to ease criminal sanctions on marijuana, the law’s changes would fall short of a recently enacted and legally challenged Toledo ordinance.

The amendment to the Ohio Constitution would allow a resident of at least 21 years old to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational use and grow up to 8 ounces of the drug if licensed by the state. Retail sale of recreational marijuana also would begin.

On Sept. 15, Toledo voters supported reducing penalties in the Toledo Municipal Code to no fines or jail time for marijuana-related offenses. The law went into effect a week ago.

Nearly 20 years ago, California led the nation in legalizing cannabis for medical use with the enactment of the Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215). However, the Act offered little guidance on how patients should obtain medical cannabis or how the industry should be monitored. This uncertainty has created a hodgepodge of local rules and ordinances and some very disturbing environmental and safety issues, but that’s all about to change.

DENVER -- The Shark Tank for Ganjapreneurs is rolling in Denver this weekend, giving contestants a chance to pitch cannabis ideas to accredited investors for a chance to win more than $10 million in investment capital.

“What a chance this is for anyone with an idea to take non-THC cannabis products to the next level,” said Wendy Robbins one of the co-inventor of the show. We have contestants who have come from all over the world to try out… one is only 10 years old!”

Then there is the man from Key West, Florida who has taken Henry Ford’s idea for a hemp car that runs on plant material and made the Renewal Sports Car.

“This car will improve our carbon footprint for sure,” said Bruce Dietzen, who drove his car to Mile High from Margaritaville. Renewsportcars.com

A legislative package signed into law Friday by the governor establishes a regulatory framework for the statewide cultivation, transportation and sale of medical marijuana, providing exemptions and sanctions that Riverside County officials were busy analyzing to determine their impact.

“The Office of County Counsel has all the content, and we’re waiting to hear back from them on what this could mean,” Supervisor Kevin Jeffries told City News Service. “I have felt for a number of years that the state Legislature failed to address significant issues concerning medical marijuana across California. It might be a good thing to establish a framework that all counties can work within.”

I’m black, so obviously I support this concept that my life matters too. I also grew up in the suburbs of South Jersey, in a two-parent middle class home, believing that I was equal to my suburban white counterparts. I never thought I’d go to prison, especially not for marijuana.

I officially entered the marijuana legalization movement on November 24, 1997. On that morning I was arrested in Bellmawr, NJ, by the Camden County drug task force for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute when a 40-pound package was delivered by Fed-Ex. Many activists start their activism in handcuffs; I was no different — my activism started in earnest after I was arrested. That cold steel around your wrists for marijuana makes people want to change sh*t.

California has implemented a series of regulations aimed at one of the state's booming agricultural products—medical marijuana—and far from balking at government interference, producers seem pleased that lawmakers are ready to treat them as a real industry.

The Los Angeles Times reports that three bills, creating a system of oversight for the production of marijuana for medical purposes, were signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday:

You may have heard that 15 McDonald’s franchise locations in Colorado are getting into the full spirit of marijuana legalization by converting their McDonald’s Play Place areas into marijuana-friendly smoking areas.

The rumors are swirling around online and seem to be traced back to a site called Now8News.com, which claimed that each McDonald’s “facility will consist of 15 smoking pods in which customers can smoke a joint, bong, or pipe without being harassed or bothered by people who are offended by it.”

Too good to be true?

Yes. If your spidey sense is tingling, it’s because this story is made up.

MONTPELIER — New administrative rules approved by lawmakers Thursday will allow medical marijuana dispensaries to provide therapeutic hemp products and deliver medicinal hemp and marijuana products to the 2,200 people on the state’s registry.

The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules unanimously approved the new rules after settling on language to exempt farmers from the requirements that the state’s four medical marijuana dispensaries are subject to for hemp production. Some hemp advocates raised concerns at LCAR’s September meeting that the proposed rules could impact the agricultural production of hemp.

The committee has the authority to approve such rules rather than sending them to the full Legislature.

Oregon has clear advantages that make it the perfect test state for the recreational marijuana movement. However, that still doesn't guarantee that marijuana businesses will succeed.

Lately it seems as if the marijuana movement reaches a new milestone just about every week. Last week it was Oregon officially becoming the third state in the country to allow adults ages 21 and up to purchase marijuana for recreational use. Alaska also legalized recreational marijuana sales in the November 2014 election, but it hasn't given legal shops the OK to begin selling the drug as of yet.

A key Senate leader has included several pieces of good news for marijuana law reform advocates in a package of spending bills intended to keep the government operational for the next fiscal year.

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, filed the bills on Tuesday, and they have just been uploaded to Congress’s website.

Here’s what the bills’ language will do, if enacted:

* Prevent the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration from spending money to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws. Similar language was enacted last year and is current law.