The Great Pot Monopoly Mystery

Some very powerful people are trying to corner the market on legal weed and turn their company into the Monsanto of marijuana. Who are they? And can they be stopped?

The search for the hidden forces that might soon control the marijuana industry began, as many wild journeys do, in Las Vegas. It was last November, and I was party-hopping at the biggest weed-business gathering of the year, a week of overlapping conferences and decadent soirees. I was a few blocks off the Strip, celebrating a new line of bongs and pipes in a penthouse with chandeliers and dark-wood furniture, when I happened to meet a faunlike 40-something man named after a character from The Jungle Book: Mowgli Holmes.

White House anti-drug office asks Mass. for medical marijuana data

An arm of the White House’s antidrug office has asked Massachusetts and several other states where medical marijuana is legal to turn over information about registered patients, triggering a debate over privacy rights and whether state officials should cooperate with a federal administration that appears hostile to the drug.

Medical marijuana bill on its way to Indiana legislature — and a Republican is behind it

A Republican lawmaker plans to introduce a bill during the upcoming legislative session that would legalize medical marijuana.

First medical marijuana dispensary opening in Hawaii

This undated photo provided by Maui Grown Therapies shows medicinal cannabis grown in the dispensary's production centers in Upcountry Maui, Hawaii. Dispensary sales of medical marijuana in Hawaii are beginning after patients waited 17 years for a legal way to purchase the drug. Maui Grown Therapies was the first dispensary in the state to sell medical marijuana to patients. (Maui Grown Therapies via AP)

Maui Grown Therapies received approval from the Department of Health to begin selling medical cannabis Tuesday.

The Biology of Cannabis vs. Opioids for Pain Relief

(GeorgeManga/iStock)

Cannabis and opioids are both known for their analgesic, pain-relieving effects. However, opioids are highly addictive—between 1999 and 2014, sales of prescription opioids in the United States quadrupled, with staggering increases in overdoses. In the healthcare system, 49% of patients seeking treatment for pain leave with a prescription. Because the risk of addiction and overdose associated with opioids is so great, finding a drug substitute with less abuse potential is critical.