Mike Decker and Brienna Decker tickle their 3-year-old son, Garrett, as they play in his room in Cedar Falls. The Legislature's failure to expand Iowa's medical marijuana law has some parents of sick children looking to Minnesota.(Photo: Tiffany Rushing/Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

CEDAR FALLS, Ia. – The Legislature’s failure to expand Iowa’s medical marijuana law has some parents of sick children looking to Minnesota.

Northeast Iowa lawmakers who worked to pass the proposed legislation suggested some Iowans may relocate to nearby states to access medicinal marijuana. Medical marijuana will be legal in limited form in Minnesota beginning July 1.

Florida officially opens up to the legal marijuana cultivation industry this week, but it will be for the low-potency drug and it won’t be cheap for anyone wanting to get into the business.

Following an administrative law judge’s ruling June 1 that dismissed a challenge to Florida’s “Charlotte’s Web” law, the path has been cleared to allow limited low-THC marijuana growing operations in Florida. The original state law was drafted by state Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, and signed by Gov. Rick Scott about a year ago.

For Bradley, the elimination of the legal challenges is a relief. He says he simply wanted the low-potency pot to help people, mainly children, suffering from epilepsy and cancer and the side effects of treatment.

MANKATO — MaryAnn Nelson said she has tried almost every seizure medication for her 13-year-old daughter, Rachael, who has Rett syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder.

But many have caused serious side effects, such as extended sleepiness and trouble breathing.

Nelson, of Mankato, has pinned her hopes on medical marijuana, which will become legal in Minnesota on July 1. She said she hopes to enroll Rachael in a clinic trial through her provider, during which she will receive medical marijuana in a closely monitored setting.

"We're out of tools in the tool box," Nelson said. " ... This is kind of a no-brainer for me."

VANCOUVER - Marijuana-medicated brownies, teas and oils are now on the menu for patients who prefer ingesting their treatment, yet commercially licensed pot producers say a high court ruling doesn't set out clear directions for them.

Lawyers at the cannabis industry's national association are hashing out the impact of a Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Thursday that struck down limits on what constitutes legally allowable forms of medicinal pot.

"It's certainly confusing," said Eric Paul, a director on the board of the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association.

"Does this mean the legislation we're governed by ... gives us the right to provide oral products or edibles or some other form?

"The answer is that it's not clear at the moment."

Since the media took up the story of “Charlotte’s Web”, a CBD high strain that was designed to help a young girl with her persistent seizures, the merits of the cannabinoid CBD have been widely publicized. This has led to a wide array of high CBD products entering the market, and to many patients wondering if CBD is right for them.

While high CBD strains can be very helpful, there are few unhelpful myths out there that are steering patients in the wrong direction.

1)  CBD products always give pain relief, without altering your mental state.

The group Maritimers Unite for Medical Marijuana was one of the highlights at the 50+expo in Halifax.

Group spokesperson Debbie Stultz-Giffin said almost everyone who came to the group's booth was positive and wanted to learn more about how cannabis can help people's health.

"It shows that times are changing and the conversations about cannabis is coming more and more into the open and the benefits of it being used as medicine," she said.

Stultz-Giffin says her group will be heading to P.E.I. for another event next weekend and plans to be part of the Nova Scotia Multicultural Festival in Halifax in two weeks.

DENVER (AP) -

Researchers are gathering in Denver to discuss their research about marijuana as a medical therapy.          

The symposium at National Jewish Health will include presentations on Saturday by researchers funded by the state of Colorado to study the safety and effectiveness of marijuana as a treatment for medical conditions. Those conditions range from pain to epilepsy, post-traumatic stress syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome and insomnia.           

The symposium will include details on research challenges, and presentations from patients on their perspectives.           

Previously, I had suggested that people try topical cannabis for herpes simplex infection which seems to work quite nicely. Will wonders never cease?

Along with cannabis’ laundry list of laudable applications let’s add one more: the treatment of psoriasis with topical marijuana preparations. There’s plenty here so I put it into two parts. In the second part of this series we will explore further dermatologic uses.

PSORIASIS

What is psoriasis? From the Mayo Clinic’s definition:

Psoriasis is a common skin condition that changes the life cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis causes cells to build up rapidly on the surface of the skin. The extra skin cells form thick, silvery scales and itchy, dry, red patches that are sometimes painful.

The Supreme Court of Canada has opened Pandora's cookie jar by blessing pot-infused ginger snaps and cannabis derivatives, causing a fuming federal health minister to insist that patients must smoke their bud.

In a unanimous decision, stinging in its brevity and common sense, the country's highest court said Thursday medical marijuana patients should not be restricted to just the dried plant.

The seven justices said the national medical pot program was flawed, impinged patients' rights, and was not saved by the section of the constitution that allows reasonable infringements for worthy societal goals.

Lawyers involved in the case said it also had broader implications because the right to use comes with an implicit right of access to a supply.

Anyone with a brain knows that marijuana plants have medicinal properties that can help sick people.

It's been covered extensively in National Geographic.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has produced three documentaries on it.

These are hardly the most radical voices in the land.

Here in B.C., Dr. Ian Mitchell, a Kamloops emergency-room physician, wants to research the impact of an extract called cannabidiol on posttraumatic stress disorder.