The LSU AgCenter is continuing with plans to grow medical marijuana and hope to have seeds in the ground early next year. AgCenter President Dr. Bill Richardson says they should have a business plan in place this month and they are working closely with law enforcement to ensure they are comfortable with every aspect.

“We’re meeting, have a series of meetings with the Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry, who is writing the rules for the project, the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Medical Examiners, making sure we do this exactly right.”

Richardson says they hope to get started in 2017 at an off campus location in East Baton Rouge Parish. He says legislation passed this year helped them move forward with the process and gave them exclusive rights to produce the drug.

Don't look now, but the November elections are just over five weeks away. In addition to choosing the 45th president of the United States, voters in nine states will decide the fate of marijuana, which has become a front-and-center issue this year.

The expansion of the marijuana industry is impressive in two respects. First, its growth rate is practically unmatched. According to cannabis research firm ArcView, legal marijuana sales could grow at a 30% annual clip between now and 2020, all on account of organic sales growth and legalization by more individual states.

 Life under Ohio's fledgling medical marijuana law remains hazy. With every action, a new question seems to arise.

The state Medical Board has advised doctors not to recommend marijuana to patients while Ohio's program is being crafted, which could take up to two years. But an author of the law questions that advice.

Connecticut is encouraging its hospitals, universities and licensed marijuana producers to embark on research that could improve understanding of marijuana's medicinal qualities, something officials hope will also boost the state's biotech industry.

While there's some research already underway in Connecticut and elsewhere, officials here hope the state's initiative, which began Oct. 1, will lead to much greater exploration of medical cannabis. The proposals will be vetted by an institutional review board, approved by the Department of Consumer Protection commissioner and theoretically protected under the legal umbrella of the state's 4-year-old medical marijuana law.

As many as a third of the UK's 600,000 epilepsy sufferers are drug resistant with some suffering as many as several dozen seizures a day. Experts believe the drug derived from cannabis, with the addictive element removed, may help

Medics are trialling a drug derived from cannabis that could revolutionise the treatment of epilepsy .

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital are trialing the revolutionary 'cannabis' drug that could transform the lives of thousands of people with epilepsy.

At present as many as a third of the UK's 600,000 epilepsy sufferers are drug resistant with some suffering as many as several dozen seizures a day. Now experts believe a drug derived from cannabis, with the addictive element removed, may help.

There are several constitutional amendments on the November ballot. One of them, Amendment 2 — Use of Marijuana for Debilitating Medical Conditions — is a retread from the 2014 election.

Two years ago, the slightly different version of the amendment received 58 percent of the vote, falling just short of the 60 percent needed to pass. It appeared on the ballot as Amendment 2 then, too.

What happened?

A British Columbia man says Health Canada has handed out so many medical marijuana licences, it's cutting into his profit.

"This is how I make my living," said the man we're calling "Jack." "I grow it and sell it. Money is good — well, not as good as it used to be" 

Jack is not his real name. He asked that we conceal his identity so that he could speak candidly about the medical marijuana black market, which he says is saturated with patients producing more than they need and selling off the rest.

"So many people do it now," Jack said. "I can go down a street in the neighbourhood and pick out probably 20-30 houses ... out of 50."

As Florida voters weigh their decision to create a state-regulated medical marijuana industry, an obvious question emerges: Where do doctors stand on pot?

The answer is complicated. The medical establishment dismisses weed as scientifically untested, but some individual doctors are breaking ranks to back Amendment 2, the ballot question that will be decided Nov. 8.

A new initiative petition seeking to reform Idaho’s stringent marijuana laws has hit the streets. 

Earlier this month, the Idaho Secretary of State's Office approved a petition that, if passed into law, would create a medical marijuana program in the Gem State. Current Idaho law takes a particularly harsh approach to marijuana compared to neighboring states, which allow some sort of medical use of the drug or have outright legalized it like Washington and Oregon. In Idaho, possession of cannabis is a misdemeanor offense and the state doesn’t sanction the medical use of the drug.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has never reported a single overdose caused by marijuana use, but Chelsea Clinton was apparently unaware of that fact when she recently told an audience in Ohio that people have “died” after using marijuana during a speaking engagement. A spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s daughter said the presidential candidate’s only child “misspoke” on the marijuana facts, according to The Washington Post.