Bryan-College Station Judge John Delaney reported that probation officers in Brazos County had told him that passage of the bill, with its removal of incarceration and therefore of probation, would devastate their offices. Why? Because almost half of the county’s misdemeanor probationers have been convicted of possession of less than two ounces of marijuana. “We live off our under-two-ounce misdemeanor guys. They pay the rent.”

As the pungent scent of marijuana wafts over communities across Canada to mark 420 Day on Saturday, Bob Erb will be smiling. Erb — yes, that's his real name — is the B.C. man who won a $25-million Lotto Max …

In the past 11 years, the NYPD spent more than one million hours making more than 400,000 arrests for low-level marijuana possession, a new report has found. The report raises questions about the use of police resources, which could likely be better spent addressing serious crimes in the high-crime neighborhoods where many marijuana arrests occur.

California Entrepreneur Matt Davies, who set up above-board, taxpaying marijuana cultivation and distribution businesses that employed over 60 people is being prosecuted by the Justice department. The businesses were completely legal under California law, and Davies's lawyers, accountant, and other employees quoted in the article confirm this.

New legislation in Washington state went into effect this week that legalizes for the first time in ages the possession of marijuana. Federal law still says otherwise, though, setting up the Justice Department to make some serious determinations. Even as smoking up became protected by state law in Washington starting Thursday, coast-to-coast prohibition as provided by a long-standing federal ruling remains on the books. For marijuana advocates in the Pacific Northwest, the lifting of the ban is a pretty big victory.