The results of a published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal: smoking pot can make some of the pain go away, without the patient getting high. The finding comes from what researchers in Montreal believe to be the first outpatient clinical trial of smoked cannabis, involving 21 people with chronic neuropathic pain.

Social news website Reddit has defied its owner Condé Nast about running advertisements for a marijuana legalization campaign in California.

Michele Leonhart's nomination to head the Drug Enforcement Administration has been complicated by a ponzi scheme that has ensnared DEA agents and officials. "Given Leonhart's raids against medical marijuana dispensaries and her alleged role in covering up the House of Death scandal, it would be funny if what sinks her nomination is some retirement Ponzi scheme," said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Calgary's Motive Industries announced it would introduce an electric car whose bio-composite body is made from hemp. The prototype of the four-passenger, zero-emission vehicle, known as the Kestrel, is to be unveiled at an electric mobility trade show in Vancouver in September and would be the first of its kind in Canada.

Phenomenally rich due to drug prohibition, Mexican drug gangs, which used to focus exclusively on ferrying narcotics such as cocaine to the United States, have diversified into other lucrative criminal activities such as human smuggling and extortion.

Darrell Dawsey reflects on the logic of the Oakland County Sheriff's Department raiding a medical marijuana dispensary mere days after the City Council of Ferndale, Mich., lifted a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses in the Detroit suburb. Their actions are in defiance of the will of the City Council and the majority of voters in the state. It seems especially odd given the U.S. Department of Justice said it won't prosecute marijuana dispensaries that abide by state laws.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declared his support for Mexican President Felipe Calderon's call for a discussion on drug legalization. "We are entering an era of the narco-trafficking business where one must have these type of reflections," he said. Santos announced that he will seek to form a united stance with Mexico and Peru on the legalization issue if California votes to legalize marijuana at the ballot in November.