The Kansas House passed a bill Thursday that would decrease penalties for marijuana possession, allow the limited production and sale of hemp oil and study uses for industrial hemp.

The House also passed a compromise on green energy policy, and lawmakers considered new tax proposals as they seek ways to fill a budget gap of about $422 million before the close of the session.

The chamber's 81-36 vote Thursday sends the marijuana bill to the Senate for consideration. First- and second-time marijuana offenders without serious prior convictions would avoid jail time under the measure. That would decrease the population in the state's overcrowded prisons and save more than $1.7 million over the next two fiscal years, according to state estimates.

The Roswell plant used to process milk may now be used to process marijuana plants, but not everyone is on board. For decades, Nature's Dairy on South Main Street in Roswell produced local milk.

It closed its' doors last year.

Now, the building might become a medical marijuana production facility.

Next week, county officials will consider rezoning the property.

It has a lot of people in Roswell talking.  

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday (May 8) said he has no objections to a medical marijuana bill moving through the state legislature, the first time he's commented on the specifics of the legislation.

Although Jindal, as he's done in the past, expressed support for some form of legislation allowing chronically ill patients to use marijuana therapeutically, he's warned the legislation must meet certain regulatory standards. A bill introduced by Sen. Fred Mills, R-New Iberia, appears to do that without any "glaring problems," Jindal said, though he said he wants "to reserve the right" to examine the bill in more detail.

Marijuana legalization is likely far off in New Mexico, but you wouldn’t know it from the way some businesses are acting.

Recent news of a Canadian company’s encroachment into Santa Fe spawned backlash from those critical of an out-of-state, out-of-country company attempting to get a piece of New Mexicos’ medical marijuana industry.

Last month, Toronto-based Nutritional High announced that it would be acquiring 51 percent of shares from and assuming management operations of Sacred Garden, a Santa Fe nonprofit medical marijuana producer that’s been operating for nearly five years.

The plan drew immediate backlash from patient advocates and others in the industry.

Family First NZ says that medicinal marijuana should not be legalised, but is calling for further research into the components of the marijuana plant for delivery via non-smoked forms.

“NZ’ers need to be aware of the smoke-screen of ‘medicinal marijuana’. The strategy of groups who want dope legalised is to promote medicinal marijuana which simply manipulates society’s compassion for people with serious pain and health concerns. But marijuana will then be diverted from medical programs to ‘recreational’ purposes,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

New Hampshire has a reputation as a place where liberties are prized yet it’s the only New England state where possessing even a small amount of marijuana remains a crime that can land people in jail. A bill before the state’s GOP-controlled legislature would change that, but first it needs to win the backing of Governor Hassan.

If you were an advocate of looser marijuana laws, freewheeling New Hampshire, where seat belts are optional and the state puts liquor stores at highway rest stops, might seem fertile ground. But pot is an issue that defies the state’s live free or die image.

“Well, first and foremost it’s illegal under federal law.”

A huge spike in hospitalizations last month caused by a class of drugs often called “synthetic marijuana” illustrates the potency and dangers of the chemicals used to make them and the shifty tactics authorities believe manufacturers are using to evade regulation.

Poison control centers around the US reported 359 cases in January of illnesses from synthetic cannabinoids, which mimic the effects of the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana but can be far more potent. There were 273 in February and 269 in March. But the number skyrocketed to just over 1,500 in April, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

New research from a pair of neurologists at the University of Dublin claims cannabis could be the key to fighting disorders of the aging brain.

As the brain gets older, it becomes more susceptible to degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Although different areas of the brain are affected, what underlies both conditions is the progressive death of brain cells.

Today, in part two, we’ll go over a remarkable study that clearly demonstrates the potent effects of pot smoking on cluster headaches. We’ll also start our review on the possible mechanisms that underlie the cerebrovascular events that result in cluster or migraine headache, and how they are intimately involved with CB receptors.

Thankfully, cluster HA is fairly rare yet that fact fails to placate those who suffer from it. That’s because cluster headache is horrifically painful: a former patient of mine, a medieval history professor, once quipped that he would prefer the strappado rather than endure another debilitating series of cluster attacks. Really? If that’s the case it has to hurt.

The state Legislature has passed a bill that would allow for as many as 16 medical marijuana dispensary sites across the state.

The Senate’s unanimous vote and the House’s  36-13 vote on Thursday comes 15 years after state leaders authorized the prescription and use of medical marijuana but fell short of establishing a dispensary system to provide raccess to the drug.

The measure, House Bill 321, now goes Gov. David Ige’s desk.  Ige representatives have said he’s open to signing a dispensary bill into law, and members of his cabinet have worked with legislators in crafting the measure.