Troy resident Aimee Shannon has lived with inexplicable pain since she was 7 years old.

Now in her 40s, the social worker who has been placed on disability has been an outspoken supporter of medical marijuana to allow at least one dispensary in her hometown.

Troy City Council will hold a public hearing on whether to allow medical marijuana dispensary in the business highway district in Troy at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. today at City Hall. A public hearing will also be held to ban cultivation and processing of medical marijuana within the city limits.

Two years ago, State Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, spearheaded legislation that led to the legalization of prescription cannabis oil in Tennessee.

Now the legislator, who represents Cocke County and a portion of Greene County, is setting his sites on the legalization of medical marijuana in the state.

To date, 28 states across the U.S. have legalized medical marijuana. Polls show that a majority of Tennesseans support medical marijuana.

Faison, along with State Sen. Steve Dickerson, R-Nashville, has introduced legislation that would legalize the plant for medical purposes. The pair stress that they do not support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

The owner of Washington D.C.'s first medical marijuana dispensary has some advice for Ohioans: Expect the state's medical marijuana program to change. 

Retired Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn said it's taken years for the capital's program to become what it is today, and rules will evolve with scientific research, patient needs and industry changes. 

"No matter how the laws and regulations seem in the beginning, some that look like they will work great won't and some that look like they won't work will," Kahn said. 

An Arizona court ruling upholds a state agency's decision to improve conditions on allowing use of medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disordered.

The Court of Appeals ruling Thursday rejects the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association's challenge to conditions that the Department of Health Services required physicians to include in certifications for patients.

The nurses group sued after the department acted on the group's 2013 request to add PTSD to the list of conditions for which medical marijuana is authorized.

The nurses group contends the department lacks authority to impose conditions and can only approve or deny petitions for expanded use of medical marijuana.

Cannabinoids can help remove dangerous dementia proteins from brain cells, researchers say

Chemicals found in cannabis could be used to help treat dementia, early studies have shown – but further research into the findings is being stymied by restrictive drug laws, scientists say.

Cannabinoids like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can aid the removal of dangerous dementia proteins from brain cells, according to researchers at the Salk Institute, a renowned biomedical research facility in California.

While initial findings published last year raise hopes cannabis compounds could one day form the basis of a new medicine to help treat Alzheimer’s disease, the next steps are proving slow.

Chronic pain sufferers will now be able to get medical marijuana prescribed to them in New York.

After announcing in December it planned to add chronic pain to its list of eligible conditions, the state Health Department on Thursday said medical marijuana for the ailment will be available starting Wednesday.

The Health Department also said physician assistants can now register to prescribe medical marijuana -- the latest group of health-care professionals allowed to prescribe the drug.

Weed was always something Ilene Cohn knew her children did. But until recently she had never thought to partake.

"You know we never thought of it for ourselves – we knew our kids were using it," Cohn said."(Village Concepts) offered this trip to us, and we thought it was very exciting. We've gotten little bits of information, enough to whet our appetite to hear more and see more."

Can a worker be fired or denied a job for using medical marijuana?

At the same time as Massachusetts' highest court is considering the question, state lawmakers will also be debating whether to pass a new law to protect medical marijuana patients at work.

"Those protections are still not there, and our leaders need to recognize it and do something about it," said Nichole Snow, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, which advocates on behalf of medical marijuana patients. "We're still dealing with the stigma of using medical marijuana as a treatment plan for severe illness in the state of Massachusetts."