The idea was intoxicating to lawmakers in more than a dozen states where medical marijuana was a political nonstarter: Give patients with certain severe medical problems access to a type of pot that might provide relief without producing the "high" usually associated with the plant.

First of Two Parts

But two years after 17 Midwestern and Southern states began passing a series of what are known as "CBD-only" medical marijuana laws, many people they were intended to help are rising up in protest. The laws, they say, help few patients, exclude others who could benefit and force residents to commit criminal acts in order to get relief for themselves or their loved ones.

The Utah Democratic Party's nominee for governor stunned the state party convention by revealing that his wife is facing a criminal investigation for marijuana use.

"In the last 72 hours, we learned that my wonderful wife of 20 years, Donna, is under investigation for possession of marijuana," Mike Weinholtz told the crowd.

Weinholtz said his wife has been using marijuana to treat arthritis and chronic pain.

"She has only used cannabis for medical reasons to relieve her chronic pain," he said to cheers from the audience, adding: "The issue of medical cannabis touches everyone."

In an interview with FOX 13 on Saturday, Mike and Donna Weinholtz said they learned Wednesday she was facing an investigation by law enforcement and have been cooperative.

If one is suffering from a chronic illness in Tasmania, specialist doctors from the island state will have the authority to prescribe medical marijuana from 2017. This has been made possible by a plan announced by Health Minister Michael Ferguson and Premier Will Hodgman.

The plan will allow broader application of medicinal cannabis in Tasmania under Tasmania’s Controlled Access Scheme than that proposed by Victoria, which has limited medicinal cannabis use to a single class of patient. Thus, patients will be allowed the “healing touch” without changes in the law.

Many or, perhaps, most people utilize the benefits of marijuana for recreational purposes perhaps because it can be fun and perhaps because many governments classified the drug as having no medical benefit. Today, we’re starting to learn that’s not true. If you’re not sure how or why medical marijuana offers serious benefits, let me share my story with you.

This post is the first in Lifehacker’s Green Week, a series where we’ll be discussing medical marijuana, its benefits, drawbacks, and everything you need to know. Keep in mind, we’re not doctors, so you should check with yours before trying it, and similarly, obey the laws and regulations in your area regarding the procurement and use of medical marijuana.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has given its blessing to a study on the effect of medical marijuana on post-traumatic stress disorder, the first randomized, controlled research in the U.S. for PTSD that will use the actual plant instead of oils or synthesized cannabis.

According to the research's nonprofit sponsor, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, the DEA's approval gives researchers the go-ahead to buy the marijuana for the study from the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Once the marijuana has been secured, the group will begin recruiting and enrolling participants, perhaps as early as June, MAPS spokesman Brad Burge said.

A lawyer is asking a Federal Court judge to expand a ruling that found patients in Canada have the right to grow their own medical marijuana.

John Conroy represented the plaintiffs in the constitutional challenge and he will be in court Friday with a motion to reconsider and vary the judge’s order.

Justice Michael Phelan struck down legislation in February that banned patients from growing their own cannabis and required them to buy pot from licensed producers.

The legislation brought in by the previous Conservative government replaced a 2001 law that allowed patients to obtain licences from Health Canada to grow their own marijuana or find designated growers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted GW Pharmaceuticals Plc's experimental cannabis-derived epilepsy drug "orphan" status for a third group of patients affected by a rare form of the disease.

GW said on Thursday that its drug, Epidiolex, had been granted the status for the treatment of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a rare genetic disorder that causes epilepsy in about 80 percent to 90 percent of the patients afflicted with it.

TSC is the third orphan indication that GW is targeting within its Epidiolex clinical development program.

Orphan status is granted to drugs aimed at treating rare diseases, giving the developer incentives such as a seven-year marketing exclusivity in the United States.

The group met at a Waldo's convenience store in Mexico City early one Sunday morning, following the instructions given over encrypted messages weeks before. When they were picked up by a vehicle, as arranged, they had no idea where they were going next.

Eventually they arrived at house in the southern barrio of Xochimilco furnished with little more than white plastic chairs and a projector. In the kitchen they found a blender, a whisk, pots, gloves, towels, paper napkins, peroxide, and oils.

This was what they had come for — to learn how to make marijuana-based treatments for cancer and epilepsy.

Canada’s provinces should each get leeway on the way they sell, tax and control marijuana once the drug is legalized by the federal government, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute.

The framework suggested by economist Anindya Sen would create a patchwork of rules across Canada, with different laws governing everything from the stores that can carry the drug to the penalties for selling to underage users.

In this “joint venture,” the federal government would monitor the safe production of marijuana for recreational use, while the provinces would oversee distribution, with an eye to meeting public-health goals.

In ninety per cent of diabetes worldwide, the underlying cause is related to the body's resistance to the effect of insulin, which normally acts to maintain steady blood-sugar levels.

A five-year study reported in 2013, wherein some 5,000 participants were observed, the users of ganja had 17 per cent lower levels of resistance to insulin, as well as 16 per cent had lower levels of insulin circulating in the blood.

Further, the study found that users of ganja had significantly lower levels of blood sugar compared to non-users.

This study, reported in the American Journal of Medicine, supports the finding that by reducing the resistance to insulin, ganja use could, indeed, prevent the development of diabetes.