Two ex-executives from Minnesota Medical Solutions are being charged for sending $500,000 worth of cannabis oil across state lines, and could be bringing the entire company down with them.

With a limited medical marijuana system already in place, Minnesota has become a dim beacon of hope in a region of the country that has typically turned their nose up at cannabis use in any way, shape, or form. With two recreational bills sitting in front of lawmakers, the state is inching ever closer to a more progressive stance on marijuana.

South Carolina Rep. Eric Bedingfield once shunned all marijuana use, but when his eldest son’s six-year struggle with opioid addiction ended with his overdose a year ago, the conservative Republican co-sponsored medical cannabis legislation.

"My mindset has changed from somebody who looked down on it as a negative substance to saying, 'This has benefits,' " Bedingfield said recently.

The 50-year-old teetotaller believes marijuana may effectively wean addicts from an opioid dependence. Ultimately, the Marine veteran hopes medical marijuana can be an alternative to people being prescribed OxyContin or other opioid painkillers to begin with, helping curb an epidemic he’s seen destroy families of all economic levels.

Publicly traded medical marijuana companies got a bounce Monday after news reports provided clarity on the federal government’s plan for marijuana, suggesting it will be legal for pot smokers in time to celebrate Canada Day next year.

Ottawa plans to introduce marijuana legalization legislation in mid-April, fulfilling the Liberals’ promise to do so this spring. That will be enough time to enact legalization by Canada Day 2018, CBC reported Sunday night.

If you're looking to follow news and advocacy about an anticipated Vermont legislature vote this week on legalizing marijuana, a search for the latest tweets that use the combined terms "Vermont" and "marijuana" will for many Twitter users yield zero results.

Same goes for searches for tweets using the terms "pot," "weed" or "cannabis."

The latest results for "jackass" and "jerk" – words generally printed without censorship by news outlets – also yield a blank page with the message: "Nothing came up for that search, which is a little weird. Maybe check what you searched for and try again."

Colorado is considering an unusual strategy to protect its nascent marijuana industry from a potential federal crackdown, even at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections.

A bill pending in the Legislature would allow cannabis growers and retailers to reclassify their recreational marijuana as medical marijuana if a change in federal law or enforcement occurs.

It’s the boldest attempt yet by a U.S. marijuana state to avoid federal intervention in its cannabis market.

INDIAN police have come up with unlikely culprits for the disappearance of a huge haul of marijuana and booze from one of their lock-ups – rampaging RATS.

A senior officer blamed rodents for the disappearance of a haul of drugs from a warehouse at Nagpur railway station in the western state of Maharashtra

The rodents are said to eaten their way through a huge drugs stash

Getty Images

The drugs disappeared from a secure police warehouse

When Sonoma State University co-hosted a cannabis symposium on March 11, it may have opened the door to a future area of study and research for the school as well as other Northern California higher-education institutions.

The course, “Medical Cannabis: A Clinical Focus,” was believed to be the first medical cannabis course offered by a major U.S. university. Almost 100 people attended the six-hour course, which was primarily targeted to health professionals who wanted to learn more on the still-understudied plant.

“We had a really good, engaged crowd,” said Robert Eyler, dean of SSU’s School of Extended and International Education.

When it comes to high-growth industries, there's very little, if anything, that can top the marijuana industry. In just 21 years' time, more than half of the country has legalized access to medical cannabis, and over the past four-plus years, we've witnessed eight states (along with Washington, D.C.) legalize recreational pot.

Franco Harris is joining to movement for medical marijuana.

While the Steelers legend is in good physical and mental health after a lengthy football career, he openly approves marijuana use for the days he doesn't feel so great and has become a strong advocate for current players to use the plant for medicine.

“Even during my playing days, I really didn’t have to do anything with pain management,” Harris told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I’ve never had any long-term pain. I’ve been pretty lucky all the way back to high school. I’m even more amazed that at 67 I’m not dealing with more issues.

Dana Larsen’s “quiet revolution” envisions more and more Canadians growing pot until the laws prohibiting it are unenforceable.

The Vancouver cannabis activist and author will be in Bedford at the Legion Hall (1772 Bedford Highway) on Monday from 7-9 p.m. to dispense advice, solutions to the crisis of fentanyl and other opioids — and maybe even a few cannabis seeds. Larsen is the founder of the Overgrow Canada campaign and distributed more than 2.3 million cannabis seeds in spring 2016. He’s doing a larger seed giveaway now, which started in January.

“We don’t want to overthrow the government, we want to ‘overgrow’ the the government,” he said in a phone interview from his St. John’s stop on a trans-Canada tour.