Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadlemann takes aim at the latest CASA report, which cites increases in pot potency, and in abuse of and treatment for marijuana among teens. Says Nadelmann: "These claims of higher potency and newfound dangers are mostly about sustaining support for the three quarter of a million arrests made each year for nothing more than marijuana possession."

 
 Read Nadelmann's rebuttal

Despite new pot potency figures that show a rise in THC content from 7.5% (2006) to 8.1% (2007), Canada (10.3%) still has the U.S. beat in this crucial cannabis category. And anyway, as Mitch Earleywine says, "Stronger cannabis leads to less inhaled smoke." So what's all the fuss about?

THC averages from 1977-2007

The explosion of medipot gardens in California's Mendocino County will be curtailed somewhat by Tuesday's passage of Measure B, which limits plant totals to six rather than 25. The ballot won by a 52% to 48% margin, repealing the eight-year-old Measure G.

 
Update: 10,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted 

Despite proof that pot use has declined in England since it was essentially decriminalized in 2004, the current U.K. government led by Gordon Brown wants to increase penalties for marijuana possession. To which the Liberal Democrats have responded: "We need public education, not public flagellation." Parliament will decide whether or not to enact this new law.

Pic: Reclassification would recriminalize spliff smoking 

Many years of shifting locations and police harassment have caught up with New York's venerable Smoke-in event which has essentially morphed into the Global Marijuana March scheduled for the first Saturday in May. Less than 500 people attended the rallies - at Tompkins Square Park and Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in the shadow of the United Nations - and marched uptown from one to the other. Stoners who came braved cold weather, sound problems and a heavy police presence. Several arrests were made throughout the day (pic by Delaynie Cusick). Meanwhile, around the country and the world...