A Minnesota medical marijuana company has developed a potent new strain it hopes will help patients, and help drive down prices.

Minnesota Medical Solutions announced Wednesday that it has bred a new strain of cannabis that is rich in cannabidiol, or CBD — a nonintoxicating compound used to treat seizures and inflammation. Because CBD is found in lower ratios in most marijuana varieties, the company hopes its new high-CBD strain will make its products easier and cheaper to refine.

“This is potentially a huge cost saver,” said Dr. Kyle Kingsley, CEO of MinnMed and its parent company, Vireo Health.

Cannabis has genuine mental and physical effects that can react with other medications. Although there is an insufficient amount of research on cannabis and drug interactions, it is important to pay attention if you are taking any of the following drugs: Cannabis Drug Reactions

Tobacco and cannabis are two of most widely used drugs in the world, with recent estimates demonstrating 22.5% of adults using tobacco products and 3.5% using cannabis. There is substantial overlap in their use, with approximately 90% of cannabis users also identifying as cigarette smokers. Furthermore, cigarette use increases during cannabis abstinence, and decreases following renewal of cannabis use suggesting direct substitution between the drugs.

Center is biggest recent private investment in medical research, according to minister

Prague, (ČTK) — The International Cannabis and Cannaboids Institute (ICCI) was opened in Prague today with U.S. and Canadian investors contributing half a billion crowns, which Health Minister Svatopluk Němeček said is the biggest private investment in Czech medical research in the past years.

The institute, for which Professor Lumir Hanus, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will also work, wants to contribute to the use of cannabis in the treatment of various diseases based on research evidence and the patients´ experience.

ICCI managing director Pavel Kubů said the research is to contribute to the tailor-made treatment of patients.

Marijuana's main psychoactive compound, THC, may increase random neural activity — or neural noise — in the brain, according to a new study.

It’s a formidable challenge to develop a syllabus for a college-level pharmacology course focused entirely on a drug that’s illegal to possess, use and even research under federal law. That’s the task that Wolfgang Dostmann, PhD, and Karen Lounsbury, PhD, have undertaken as they plan the University of Vermont’s first medical cannabis course in the College of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology, scheduled for the spring 2016 semester. It’s possibly the first academic program of its kind nationwide, but clearly needed as acceptance of marijuana for medical and recreational use continues to gain legal backing in more states and physicians and scientists seek more information about how it acts in the body.

A batch of studies further confirms medical cannabis patients are right to try cannabidiol-rich marijuana products to treat intractable seizure disorders.

Three studies presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 69th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia Dec. 7th found a marijuana-derived extract slashed pediatric seizures in half, and completely stopped seizures in nine percent of cases.

Sixteen clinics in the U.S. — including one in San Francisco — are giving a marijuana extract rich in the molecule cannabidiol (called Epidiolex) to a total of 261 people — mostly children with incurable epilepsy, a sometimes deadly seizure disorder.

D.C. is seen as a fairly progressive city because it allows recreational marijuana use. Advocates say the nation's capital now needs dispensaries.

WASHINGTON — A first-of-its-kind expo being held in D.C. is all about marijuana. The inaugural Cannabis Business Summit kicked off Sunday night with an awards ceremony at the Washington Hilton in Northwest.

Awards were given for innovation, activism and entrepreneurialism in this growing industry. The summit is like an industry trade show. With a list of speakers over two days, there’s an expo featuring the latest and greatest items in the pot business.

Medical marijuana growers would be subject to a $200 annual fee for every patient they grow for under a proposal being considered by the Oregon Health Authority.

Medical marijuana growers in Oregon can grow cannabis for up to four patients. Under current rules, the state charges $50 for every patient a grower takes on, but recent changes that expanded the health authority's oversight of production and processing prompted officials to propose the steeper fees to help cover the agency's expenses.

The fee increase is estimated to boost revenue from $1.3 million to $5.2 million in the 2015-17 budget cycle.

When I arrived at Highline College to sit in on a meeting of the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (PQAC) last Friday, I was fairly certain the puke-yellow puffy Ed Hardy jacket I’d spotted on the bus on the way there would be the most interesting thing I’d see all day. Instead I was treated to a riveting theoretical discussion of the ramifications of changing the scheduling of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This could be huge news.