Wichita police are investigating how a 17-month-old child had access to a marijuana pill that the child swallowed.

Police were called to Wesley Medical Center at 9 a.m. Saturday to check on the welfare of a child.

The child’s mother told officers she had left the child while she was at work in the care of a 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman. When she went to pick up the child, she noticed it was lethargic and unresponsive, said Sgt. Bob Gulliver, spokesman for the Wichita Police Department.

The mother took the child to the hospital. It was later determined the child had ingested a marijuana pill while at the babysitter’s house, police said.

For more than a year, Sheila Gerstenzang has carried the card in her wallet: "Medical Marijuana Patient."

But she's yet to purchase a single bit of marijuana.

After a year of frustration and more than $200 out of her pocket, she gave up and let her card expire in May.

Months of delays in opening the first legal Las Vegas-area dispensary have cost investors money and frustrated advocates. But the effect on patients has been the most cruel.

There are more than 9,300 active marijuana cardholders in Nevada, including almost 6,700 in Clark County. There also are an untold number like Gerstenzang who have given up, at least for now.

Chronic pain agonizes the lives of about 100 million adults, more than the combined total of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. This isn’t including other sets of the chronic pain-afflicted, such as those in nursing homes, war veterans with long-term injuries, or children.

Unfortunately, chronic pain is also one of the least researched and understood health issues. Doctors aren’t quite prepared to address it, due to the fact that medical schools only spend an average of nine hours on the issue during a four-year course of study. That’s not to mention the federal government’s gross under-spending on chronic pain research – only about four dollars a year.

Cambridge biomedical innovator, GW Pharmaceuticals, has won fast track designation from the US FDA for a potential treatment for babies deprived of oxygen during childbirth – a problem that can lead to brain damage and death.

NASDAQ-quoted GW has received FDA support for a proprietary intravenous form of cannabidiol (CBD) to treat Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, or NHIE.

The European Medicines Agency has granted orphan designation for the same product to treat perinatal asphyxia, an alternate term that describes the same condition as NHIE, for which GW has already received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA.

There are currently no approved medicines in Europe or the US specifically indicated for NHIE or perinatal asphyxia.

Cannabis oil is a resin-based substance that is produced from dehydrated female cannabis flowers. It has been used for medical purposes since the 1970s, but only recently has the medical community seen the benefits of cannabis oil in the treatment of autism and cancer.

Autism spectrum disorder, commonly abbreviated as ASD, is a disorder that affects the way a child communicates. Symptoms include a lack of eye contact, fixations, trouble making conversation, and social isolation. These symptoms can lead to trouble making friends and learning in school.

Five weeks into Minnesota's medical marijuana program, there are still more doctors than patients enrolled in the program -- but that could soon change.

As of Friday, 528 patients have been certified to legally treat their illnesses with cannabis pills or liquids, and 278 were fully enrolled in the program. The state has estimated that there are as many as 5,000 patients eligible and able to use the program, but many have struggled to find doctors willing to help them enroll.

To date, 345 doctors, nurses and other health care practitioners have registered with the state to enroll patients to participate in the program. Minnesota legalized medical marijuana on July 1 for certain patients, with certain medical conditions.

One of the common arguments against the legalization of marijuana is that it can be a “gateway” drug, leading to the abuse of “harder” drugs such as heroin, cocaine, crack, and methamphetamines. This theory persists despite evidence that poverty is a much stronger prediction of hard drug use and the fact that evidence from the National Institutes of Health and many others shows that the vast majority of marijuana users don’t go on to use harder drugs.   A recent study in BMC Public Health took the issue in a different direction: What if marijuana could be beneficial for people currently using crack cocaine?

Instate cultivation is still illegal, and that poses a big dilemma for patients

Daniel Macris stands in the sunshine of the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California, dangling a fresh marijuana plant from his latex-gloved fingers. It’s a brilliant day in May. With tiny scissors, he snips off the leaves, keeping just the flowers—gnarled little mats of purple and gray-green filament coated in tiny white orbs, which contain all of the chemical compounds that we associate with the plant. Typically that’s tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psycho-active substance that produces a high. 

Scientists in Israel continue to establish their work as the leading source of information on medical marijuana. In a combined research study conducted primarily by scientists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, Cannabidiol (CBD) was discovered to enhance fracture healing and promote Lysyl Hydroxylase (an extremely plentiful enzyme associated with bone healing) activity in osteoblasts (bone structure cells).