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The vast majority of federal sentences for marijuana crimes went to Hispanics last year, according to new data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Hispanics were widely overrepresented with 77 percent of federal marijuana sentences, despite making up less than 20 percent of the U.S. population. Non-Hispanic whites were dramatically underrepresented, with 11.9 percent of pot sentences, and African-Americans were also underrepresented with 8.3 percent.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli government voted on Sunday in favor of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, joining some U.S. states and European countries who have adopted a similar approach. "On the one hand we are opening ourselves up to the future. On the other hand, we understand the dangers and will try to balance the two," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in broadcast remarks. According to the new policy, which must still be ratified by parliament, people caught smoking marijuana would be fined rather than arrested and prosecuted. Criminal procedures would be launched only against those caught repeatedly...

Israel’s Cabinet voted to decriminalize recreational use of marijuana. The cabinet voted on the policy at its regular meeting on Sunday. An inter-ministerial committee will now create legislation in order to implement the new policy, which still must be ratified by the Knesset. Thecommittee will present its recommendations to the government by May 7. The proposal was submitted by Minister for Public Security Gilad Erdan of the Likud Party and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked of the Jewish Home Party. “The government’s approval is an important step on the way to implement the new policy, which will emphasize public information...

The significant 18.4 percent increase in intercepted marijuana packages comes after two years of declines that appeared to dash expectations of doom among pot legalization opponents. Non-marijuana drug mail, by contrast, increased 11.6 percent last year. The latest annual numbers come at a sensitive time for the cannabis industry. Federal law continues to ban almost all pot possession, and recent comments from White House spokesman Sean Spicer and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have aroused fear that the Trump administration may abandon the Obama-era approach of empowering states to pursue their own policies.

While Trump may claim he’s for states rights, Attorney General Jeff Sessions just pissed on the opinions of about 71% of Americans who do not believe the federal government should attempt to ram federal laws down the throats of states where voters have legalized marijuana. After Press Secretary Sean Spicer essentially warned everyone last week that the Trump administration plans to crack down on states with recreational marijuana laws, AG Sessions backed that up on Monday with some bizarre statements that prove the guy actually believes Reefer Madness was a documentary. Via Politico: “Most of you probably know I don’t...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — Country singer Willie Nelson, the children of the late reggae icon Bob Marley and comedian Whoopi Goldberg are just a few of the growing number of celebrities publicly jumping into the marijuana industry and eyeing the California pot market, which is expected to explode after voters legalized the recreational use of weed. Regulators are still scrambling to get California’s recreational pot market launched and are racing to issue licenses to growers and sellers by early 2018. Still to be decided is who will receive the first licenses to grow, distribute and sell recreational marijuana. Growers already...

To understand what inspires Jim McAlpine, a fit and exuberant 46-year-old, you must conjure an image of the American stoner. Are you picturing someone heavy-lidded, couch-bound, and struggling to make an animated GIF of that Big Lebowski scene without knocking his bong off the coffee table? That stereotype drives McAlpine crazy, and he’s made it his mission to change it. This spring, the surfer, skier, and weed lover will open the world’s first cannabis fitness center in San Francisco. Power Plant Fitness will be a premier gym, McAlpine says, not just a hangout for potheads. Though, to be clear, there...

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s administration said on Thursday for the first time that it will crack down on marijuana sales in states that have approved recreational pot use. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the Department of Justice will pursue enforcement of federal law against recreational use, but not medical use. The statement marked a major break with the Obama administration’s hands-off approach to the growing marijuana legalization movement. “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement,” Spicer told reporters at his daily briefing. “Because again there’s a big difference between the medical use … that’s very different than...

Houston and Harris County are poised to decriminalize low-level possession of marijuana in a sweeping move that puts the area at the forefront of efforts in Texas to halt minor drug arrests that clog jails and courts. District Attorney Kim Ogg is set to announce the new policy Thursday with Mayor Sylvester Turner, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. The new policy, set to begin March 1, means that misdemeanor offenders with less than four ounces of marijuana will not be arrested, ticketed or required to appear in court if they agree to take a...

If the American people are worried about freshly confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ approach to enforcing federal marijuana laws, he says they should get Congress to change them. “It’s not so much the attorney general’s job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our jobs and enforce laws effectively as we’re able,” Sessions said during his hearing. “The U.S. Congress made the possession of marijuana in every state — and the distribution — an illegal act. If that’s something that’s not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change the rule.”

US Customs and Border Protection officers seized nearly two tons of marijuana packed in phony limes near the Texas-Mexico border last week, according to authorities. The 3,947 pounds of weed came through a commercial shipment of key limes in Pharr, Texas, on Jan. 30, officials said. The truck hauling the "produce" crossed the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge along the Texas-Mexico border near the Gulf of Mexico. Over 34,000 of the fake fruit packages were discovered by an imaging inspection system and narcotics K-9 team.

They are the city’s new pot-smoking professionals — ganja-puffing teachers... ...A Brooklyn teacher told The Post that it’s a good thing city education officials don’t randomly test school workers for the drug. “If they did . . . they’d probably have to fire about 85 percent of their staff,” she said. Today’s pot puffers say they’re no head cases...

DENVER -- The man accused of fatally shooting his wife while investigators said he was high on marijuana edibles pleaded guilty to second-degree murder .. Richard Kirk, 50, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, citing marijuana intoxication, in September to a first-degree murder charge in the death of his wife Kristine. Under terms of the plea, Kirk, who had been charged with first-degree murder, will be sentenced to 25 to 30 years in prison and fined $5,000 to $1 million. He will also give up parental rights to the couples' three children to Kristine Kirk's parents ... The...

As the artist held his orb up to the sky, you might sooner guess that we were touring Saruman’s tower in Middle Earth than an extraction facility in Seattle. But this globe is no crystal ball or palantir – it’s 3,000 grams of pure cannabis extract measuring up to a staggering 99% THC. Its creators at X-tracted Labs call them Dragon Balls (like in the popular manga, and I can only imagine that collecting seven of these would get you high enough to think you’ve summoned Shenron), and beholding them in-person is somewhat of a religious experience for any connoisseurs...

High-profile inmates serving life sentence for marijuana crimes were not given clemency by President Barack Obama on Thursday, leaving their families devastated after long public campaigns urging their freedom. John Knock, whose sister Beth Curtis has lobbied for the release of nonviolent marijuana convicts, learned Wednesday that his application had been denied. Knock was arrested in 1996 and convicted in 2000 of participating in an international pot-smuggling operation. “It’s an incredibly painful disappointment that my brother – a wonderful person who is totally nonviolent – is going to die in prison,” Curtis says, holding back tears.

How North Korea became a magnet for pot-seeking tourists January 15, 2017 NORTH Korea has been getting some pretty high praise lately from the stoner world. Marijuana news outlets including High Times, Merry Jane and Green Rush — along with British tabloids, which always love a good yarn — are hailing North Korea as a pothead paradise and maybe even the next Amsterdam of pot tourism. They’ve reported North Korean marijuana to be legal, abundant and mind-blowingly cheap, sold openly to Chinese and Russian tourists at a major market on the North’s border for about $3 a pound (or $AU4...

WEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Two U.S. postal workers were among nine people indicted as part of a widespread marijuana distribution ring running out of West Philadelphia. Forty-two-year-old postal carrier Steven Williams and another carrier are facing several charges. Federal authorities say they used their positions at the West Market Post Office to funnel more than 100 kilos of marijuana to three separate drug organizations.

A Framingham middle school student was hospitalized Monday after he and another student ate a marijuana edible on the school bus, according to a letter released by Fuller Middle School. School officials are trying to find out who brought the edibles on the bus and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Stacy Velasquez says her 12-year-old son was riding the bus to school Monday morning when he found a container of gummy bears that got him very sick.

Convicted Sterling Hall bomber Karl Armstrong was arrested last week in Chicago after state troopers found more than $800,000 cash in heat-sealed bags stashed inside of a motor home that Armstrong was driving, according to a document filed Monday in court. That arrest Thursday led to a search on Saturday by the state Division of Criminal Investigation of a town of Madison trailer home where Armstrong lives for evidence of marijuana trafficking, according to a search warrant filed in Dane County Circuit Court. Neither Wisconsin nor Illinois authorities found marijuana in Armstrong's trailer or motor home.

Patients will technically be able to receive medication as of Jan. 3, but the state still has months to go before full legalization and implementation of the medical marijuana law. Patients in Florida suffering from a variety of ailments will technically be eligible to use legal medical marijuana as a form of treatment on Tuesday. However, the state still has months to go before dispensary rules and regulations must be officially implemented, which could potentially leave patients without access to medical cannabis for quite some time. On Election Day, 71 percent of voters approved Florida’s Amendment 2, a measure legalizing...