Congress Won’t Let Veterans Access Medical Marijuana After All

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Congressional leadership removed language from a spending bill that would have allowed Veterans Administration doctors to recommend medical marijuana to patients.

An effort to allow veterans to access medical marijuana in states where it’s legal died Wednesday night when Congress passed a spending bill without the provision included.

Medical Marijuana Replaces More Dangerous Drugs

A new study adds to the evidence that letting patients use cannabis saves lives by reducing consumption of pharmaceuticals.

Insys Therapeutics, the Arizona-based pharmaceutical company that recently became the biggest financial supporter of the campaign against marijuana legalization in that state, makes an oral spray that delivers the opioid painkiller fentanyl and plans to market another one that contains dronabinol, a synthetic version of THC. Insys says it gave $500,000 to the main group opposing Arizona's legalization initiative because the measure "fails to protect the safety of Arizona's citizens, and particularly its children." But one needn't be terribly cynical to surmise that Insys also worries about the impact that legalization might have on its bottom line, since marijuana could compete with its products.

Some Surprising Health Benefits of Hemp Seeds

Even people who don’t have a life altering condition can benefit from cannabis use – however the benefits of the marijuana plant’s twin, hemp, have been much less discussed until recently.

Medical Cannabis 2016: New Benefits Of Medicinal Marijuana: VIDEO

The National Institute on Drug Abuse describes medical marijuana as “using the whole unprocessed marijuana plant or its basic extracts to treat a disease or symptom.”
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the U.S. resulting in at least 584,881 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recent animal studies show that marijuana extracts can help kill certain cancer cells and even reduce the size of some of them. But, marijuana is still illegal in several states. The number of people who’ve died due to an overdose of marijuana? None.

Drug companies fight medical marijuana

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Disclosure about financing of the anti-medical marijuana campaign in Arkansas is so far lacking, but it's no secret what's happened in other states — pharmaceutical companies have worked to defeat medical marijuana laws because they create (safer) competition.

Del. Dan Morhaim faces ethics probe inquiry over dual medical marijuana roles

State Del. Dan K. Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat, stands near flags at Stevenson University's Owings Mills campus. (Steve Ruark/Baltimore Sun Media Group)

Maryland Del. Dan K. Morhaim helped shape the rules on medical marijuana and had direct access to its regulators even while he was involved with a company seeking licenses to grow, process and sell the drug, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.

Medical Marijuana Seems To Reduce Deaths From Pharmaceuticals

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I cover the war on drugs from a conscientious objector's perspective.
Jacob Sullum,   CONTRIBUTOR

Insys Therapeutics, the Arizona-based pharmaceutical company that recently became the biggest financial supporter of the campaign against marijuana legalization in that state, makes an oral spray that delivers the opioid painkiller fentanyl and plans to market another one that contains dronabinol, a synthetic version of THC. Insys says it gave $500,000 to the main group opposing Arizona’s legalization initiative because the measure “fails to protect the safety of Arizona’s citizens, and particularly its children.” But one needn’t be terribly cynical to surmise that Insys also worries about the impact that legalization might have on its bottom line, since marijuana could compete with its products.

U.S. Attorney General Says Cannabis Is Not a Gateway Drug

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch acknowledged that the consumption of cannabis does not lead a person to use harder drugs. Lynch’s public statement may be the clearest repudiation yet of the mythical “gateway theory” originally fabricated by drug czar Harry Anslinger in the 1950s.

Seniors told medical marijuana 'isn't just smoking a joint'

From left, Virginia Stahl of Oswego, Anita Zapata of Aurora and Mary Ann Soszynski of Oswego attend a medical marijuana session at the Oswego Senior Center Tuesday. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News)

Seniors filled the Oswego Senior Center community room Tuesday to learn more about medical marijuana, a treatment option defenders say often gets a bad rap.

Underground Medical Marijuana Delivery in Boston: VIDEO

He’s a combat veteran who completed dozens of missions in Iraq. His newest mission is delivering medical marijuana in Boston, and he let 7News come along.

Cannabis & the Constitution: A Brief History of Cannabis in the U.S.

The Constitution of the United States is arguably the most important document in the history of this country, aside from possibly the Declaration of Independence. It forms the backbone of America’s most basic rights, liberties, and laws upon which democracy is founded.

Marijuana Could Be the Answer to Curing Alzheimer's Disease, Study Shows

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The statistics associated with Alzheimer's disease are downright depressing.

The disease, which typically affects the elderly and is characterized by a progressive decline in cognitive function, currently afflicts 5.4 million Americans, and the Alzheimer's Association expects the direct and indirect costs of treatment to reach $236 billion in 2016. Some one in nine people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's disease, and within the U.S., it's the sixth-leading cause of death.

Opioid use decreases in US states that legalize medical marijuana - study

New research shows a decline in the use of opioid painkillers in US states that allow people to treat pain with medical marijuana, affirming the fears of Big Pharma who have been vigorously seeking to frustrate efforts to legalize the herb.

Advocates Worry Massachusetts Won’t Say ‘Yes on 4’

Election day is approaching and there are ten state ballot initiatives concerning marijuana reform, but only one state is in the running to become an East Coast trailblazer of legal adult-use cannabis laws. A majority vote in favor of question 4 on the 2016 state ballot would approve the legalization, taxation, and regulation of the plant for adults. That means Massachusetts voters are charged with the possibility of making the Bay State the bellwether for East Coast recreational cannabis.

Gov. Chris Christie signs bill approving marijuana for PTSD treatment

New Jersey medical marijuana is also approved to treat multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer and muscular dystrophy, among other medical diseases. Pictured: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responds after being asked about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's emotionally charged feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed by a suicide bomber, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. (Mel Evans, The Associated Press)

Veterans and others in New Jersey can now legally treat their post-traumatic stress disorder with marijuana.

Does access to medical marijuana reduce opioid deaths?

In the United States, 25 states have legalized medical marijuana, including 19 that let patients with a prescription buy pot from dispensaries. Proponents argue that expanding the availability of medical marijuana reduces opioid abuse and overdose deaths because it gives people an alternative for pain relief.

The 25 States Where Medical Marijuana Is Legal

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It is presumed that states where medical marijuana is legal will be the most likely to have laws that provide for recreational use. The number of medical marijuana states numbers 25 at this point.

Opioid Companies Lobby Against Medical Marijuana

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Our next several blogs will catalogue the various ways drug companies have ruthlessly promoted our nation’s deadly opioid epidemic. This first installment on just the latest outrage- political lobbying to block the legalization of medical marijuana. Future blogs will each tell other aspects of this sordid story.

Legal Marijuana Prices Are Plunging in Colorado, but Not for the Reason You'd Expect

Cannabis' competitive landscape is going up in smoke.

As a whole, the marijuana industry has come a long way in a short amount of time.

Marijuana's Promise of Profit Remains Elusive (for Now)

SOURCE: GW PHARMACEUTICALS

It will still be a while before GW Pharmaceuticals' intriguing medical marijuana pipeline has a chance to reward investors.

Excitement surrounding medical marijuana led to a significant run-up in GW Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ:GWPH) share price earlier this year, but based on the company's recently announced quarterly and fiscal full-year earnings results, the promise of marijuana profit remains far off in the distance.

The Future of Clinical Cannabis: Part 3

Political Implications for the 2016 Presidential Election

The top-grossing pharmaceutical research and manufacturing companies dominate the drug market. Their research and development (R&D) money buys the attention of the leading physicians and politicians in America. The trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), is most commonly referred to as ‘Big Pharma’ and they recover more money on their drugs than any university or government agency involved in the approval process. In turn, some of that money is spent on political campaign donations.

The Future of Clinical Cannabis: Part 2

In this stage of research and development (R&D), studying cannabis is most difficult because Big Pharma isn’t funding any of the research and scientists are facing barriers for federal approval of their studies.

The Future of Clinical Cannabis: Part 1

In a new trend for the federally prohibited plant, drug research and development companies like Insys Therapeutics, GW Pharmaceuticals, and Kalytera Therapeutics are researching and developing cannabis into pharmaceutical drugs. But it’s the U.S. headquartered firms who historically lead the way in producing innovative molecules that become drugs, according to the MIT principles and practice of drug development.

Guns Marijuana: Medical Pot Users Can't 'Bear Arms,' Court Rules

Guns and marijuana users don't go together, said a federal appeals court in upholding a ruling that medical pot users cannot buy weapons and affirming that "the Second Amendment does not protect the rights of unlawful drug users to bear arms."

Medical marijuana just became more accessible to US scientists: AUDIO

A dried cannabis bud - also known as marijuana.  Credit: Evan-Amos/Wikimedia Commons

Medical marijuana is legal in 25 states and Washington, DC, but scientists studying the drug still face tough government regulations limiting its growth and distribution.

Medical Marijuana Comes To The Land Down Under

The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will formally legalize medical marijuana in November, The Canberra Times reported Thursday.

Why Did Cannabis Consumption Rise 3%, While Abuse Fell 30%?

New research published this week in The Lancet Psychiatry found that American cannabis consumption rose from 10.4 percent to 13.3 percent from 2002 to 2014. Which isn’t all that much, considering how much social attitudes and legal restrictions changed during that time.

Pot Use Up as Perceived Risk Falls

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NIDA deputy director says shift tied to 'changes in the legal environment'

More people in the U.S. are using marijuana, as fewer perceive the drug to be harmful, researchers found.

Cannabis and Multiple Sclerosis Treatment

The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation estimates that every week in the U.S., 200 people will learn they have multiple sclerosis (or as it’s more commonly called, MS). People like Jabe Couch, a father and husband from the Pacific Northwest. Few conditions are as long-lasting and progressively debilitating as MS, which causes damage to the brain, spinal cord, and affects the body’s immune system. A diagnosis can be devastating.

The State of Marijuana: A Unique Conference in the Cannabis Industry

As cannabis becomes more mainstream, we as cannabis users have a responsibility to represent the growing cannabis community in a positive way. While there are so many who are working hard to show that there is a classy side, a business side, a responsible side to the cannabis industry there are still many who are putting the majority of us in a negative light by carrying on old stereotypes. While it’s all fun and games to go party out in the desert with a free dab bar and an expert budtender, it doesn’t do much for trying to legitimize the industry and deplete the fears of those who have never been a part of it.