I see that Vic has become the first Austalian state to make medical marijuana legal: http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/medicinal-marijuana-has-been-l... Although I don't partake, I always appreciate it when our international friends help end the War on Drugs Without Major Corporate Sponsorship (WoDWMCS). Today's news is that selected patients will be able to receive cannabis by prescription after the state first does a cultivation trial, and then arranges a controlled supply pipeline from industrial suppliers. Legalising recreational use is not contemplated. WoDWMCS has been spearheaded and advocated to other countries mostly by the USA. I recommend some good, thoughtful background reading about that history, here: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11325750/nixon-war-on-drugs Here in California, voters made one effort to _fully_ opt out of criminalising marijuana in 2010 with Proposition 19, which would have made possession, cultivation, and use of small amounts for almost any purpose lawful by persons age 21 and over. Surprisingly, it enjoyed major support by state law enforcement, and failed by a slender 54% to 46% margin. (As noted below, California voters are predicted to pass an even more thorough legalisation initiative, later this year.) However, medical marijuana has been fully legal in California since Proposition 215 passed by a nearly identical margin in 1996 -- sending shockwaves through the antidrugs establishment, because residents can get a 'medical cannabis card' for essentially any reason after an interview with a physician and paying about US $100-200. Said establishment then spent the next 20 years frantically attempting to convince other US states and other countries to flee in horror from the 'California model' of effective decriminalistion -- apparently with little effect, as I've just noticed that 30 out of the 50 uS states now have either legalised or decriminalised (at least) medical use.[1] More recently, two US states completely legalised recreational use: Colorado and Washington (both in 2012). Joining them, Vermont and California (once again) voters will decide on total legalisation via the November 8th, 2016 ballot, and both initiatives are expected to pass. The US Federal government still (ridiculously) classes use, possession, sale, cultivation, and transportation as felony offence and cannabis as a Schedule I substance under the Nixon-era Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (high abuse potential and no medical use), _but_ the Feds under President Obama have been reluctant to enforce Federal law in states with local drugs legalisation, even though established law (US Constitution Supremacy Clause) states that Federal law can and does pre-empt state law. On April 19, the United Nations will be hosting the first major international conference on national drugs policies in almost 20 years, the UN General Assembly Session (UNGASS) on Drugs -- which should be interesting, as the former Nixon-era 'War on Drugs' consensus is totally gone. (Not that legalisation has become predominant, just that the former international consensus is utterly dead.) Meanwhile, watch for the state of California giving Nevada, Oregon, and possibly the entire western world a contact high after the upcoming November 8, 2016 general election. Air quality may suffer for a while. [1] They might better decry the extremely successful _Portuguese_ model: That country in 2001 decriminalised all drugs, improving the lives of everyone. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/05/why-hardly-anyone-die...