Will Donald Trump turn over a new leaf for the cannabis industry?

Arguably the oddest election of our times is now in the books. The voters have spoken, and the 45th president of the United States will be Donald Trump. This election was bound to be historic no matter who won, but it'll now be remembered as the point in history where Trump becomes the first person without any prior political or military background to ascend to the Oval Office.

Medical marijuana advocates saw big returns Tuesday night and Wednesday morning for ballot initiative 182, which would greatly expand the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday morning that the measure would pass. 

As of 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, voters favored the measure 238,602-183,923, with 422,525 ballots counted. The initiative was passing 56-43 percent at that time. 

The initiative got a boost from larger counties that reported partial results early. Missoula, Gallatin and Lewis and Clark counties showed strong leads for the initiative. 

Issue 6, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, has been passed by Arkansas voters.

Family Council President Jerry Cox released the following statement after amendment passed:

This fight is not over. The battle now shifts to the Arkansas Legislature.

Medical marijuana activists just won a surprise victory in North Dakota - that northwestern hotbed for progressive politics. State voters just approved the medical marijuana legalization initiative (Measure 5) by a wide margin, according to Politico. As of 11 pm ET, the yes vote led by nearly a two-to-one margin.

That means patients with HIV, Crohn's, PTSD, cancer or other qualifying conditions will soon be able to legally access medical marijuana.

Florida voters easily passed a constitutional amendment to approve the use of medical marijuana Tuesday. A number of Southern states, including Florida, have in recent years passed limited, CBD-only medical marijuana laws, but passage of Amendment 2 means the South has its first full-blown medical marijuana law.

With returns 90% complete at 8 p.m. on election night, Amendment 2 was winning with 71% of the vote. Under Florida law, constitutional amendments not need a simple majority but 60% of the vote.

Today cannabis can be purchased at retail stores and medical dispensaries, but not pharmacies.

With California voting on Prop 64 (the Adult Use of Marijuana Act) next week, it sometimes seems that full-blown legalization has eclipsed the conversation around medicinal cannabis. But even if California—and eventually the entire country—were to legalize cannabis for recreational use, it’s all but guaranteed that cannabis would still play a major role in the healthcare industry.

I’m a venture capitalist and a medical cannabis user.

The first time I tried medical cannabis, I had just tried to trigger a chronic condition that causes severe intestinal pain when I eat.

I was trying to force my doctor to prescribe painkillers for me. That night, I’d eaten an entire pizza to induce enough pain to get me on drugs. I wound up trying medical marijuana instead and it changed my perspective on the drug.

Growing up, I never imagined I would be here.

Despite influx of new enrollees, Minnesota's medical cannabis firms continue to struggle. 

When Minnesota’s medical marijuana program opened its doors to pain patients this summer, the hope was that people in pain, and a program struggling with growing pains, might be able to help each other.

That was three months ago. Since then, pain patients have rushed to a program that has battled sluggish enrollment and high prices since its launch last year. Half the people currently enrolled are pain patients, and while it’s too soon to know if that’s enough to save Minnesota’s cannabis program, many patients say the program has already saved them.

The results of today's marijuana legalization ballot initiatives will set the stage for the next four years of American drug policy. If California and a number of other states legalize the recreational use of the drug, many observers, including President Obama, say that a strict federal pot prohibition could soon become untenable.

Cannabis Science, a company specialized in the development of cannabis-based therapeutics, recently announced the development of two new medications for pain relief in people with fibromyalgia and diabetic neuropathy nerve pain.

The two new pharmaceutical pain relievers will be marketed as transdermal adhesive patches that deliver a certain dose of medication into the bloodstream by absorption through the patient’s skin.