Frustrated by government attacks on their opium poppy crops, a growing number of farmers in Afghanistan are turning to a lucrative alternative that is just as illegal: cannabis, the source of marijuana and hashish.

NPR: Afghan Farmers Turn to Cannabis as Cash Crop

World Cannabis Week: held in Denver between 17 and 21 April this year, the event includes such activities as a pro-marijuana rally, a weekend concert featuring the bands Slightly Stoopid and Cypress Hill, and a High Times Cannabis Cup, where judges sample and vote for their favourite marijuana strains and products.

BBC: Rise of the tourist-friendly ganjapreneurs

While there may be medical value in some of the individual components of the cannabis plant, the fact remains that smoking marijuana is an inefficient and harmful method for delivering the constituent elements that have or may have medicinal value.

WHITEHOUSE: Strengthen Efforts to Prevent Drug Use in Our Communities

Colorado already has intensive rules aimed at keeping its medical marijuana market in line, including the digital tracking of cannabis, bar codes on every plant, surveillance video and manifests of all legal pot shipments.

NPR: Wash. Vows To Try To Keep Weed In State _ But How?

Those who believe cannabis to be a gateway to opioids and other highly dangerous drugs fail to appreciate that the illegal purchase of marijuana exposes consumers to dealers who push the hard stuff.

CNN: Why marijuana should be legal for adults

There is another more pressing reason to legalize and regulate marijuana, even for the sake of our children: the potential for adulteration of black-market cannabis and the substitution of even more dangerous copycat compounds.

CNN: Why marijuana should be legal for adults