Employers are getting sued for not accommodating their employees' use of legal medical marijuana. Here's how to deal with this delicate issue.

With medical marijuana legal in 23 states and Washington, D.C, there are now millions of card-carrying cannabis users working at companies across the U.S. But pot is still illegal under federal law, and many business owners still subscribe to the plant'sReefer Madness stigma and don't want to allow people to smoke on the job. For some of those owners, that can mean getting sued for failing to accommodate an employee who has a medical condition.

WASILLA -- The “Smoothie Lady” can celebrate: Some of Alaska’s strictest municipal regulations on marijuana got rolled back Monday night in light of concerns that they could violate state law.

The Wasilla City Council voted 4-2 to remove a local prohibition on cooking marijuana edibles -- which includes everything from cannabis butter to brownies to smoothies -- in a home kitchen within city limits.

The council also removed a 2-ounce limit on the amount of pot that can legally be carried in one vehicle, a prohibition more rigorous than the 1-ounce per person, six-plant limit in state law.

Medical cannabis faces a double standard for safety and efficacy compared to prescription pharmaceuticals.

The most recent illustration of that fact is a story from the Wall Street Journal, which reported this week that at least a third of children with previously untreatable epilepsy got better on extracts of cannabis - a non-toxic botanical.

Of 75 children who took cannabidiol (CBD), the second most common active molecule in cannabis, “33% of them had their seizures drop by half,” the Journal reported.

In this article, Mike Zappy transcribes the contents of a talk on cannabis and how it's going to change 'life as we know it' that he had intended to deliver at a Tedx event in Boca Raton. The text was approved by the organizers and Zappy was scheduled into the event but a few days later he received an email from the same organizers cancelling his talk. They said that 'Boca Raton was not ready for a talk about cannabis'. 

Zappy wants to take a stand against what he believes is the hypocrisy of Tedx, an event that is supposed to break barriers, and is publishing his talk in full here.

Tom Burns, director of marijuana programs for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, was fired Thursday.

Burns, who oversaw the implementation of the state's medical marijuana dispensary program and has been instrumental in launching efforts to establish a recreational market, confirmed his termination in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday afternoon.

He declined to comment further, referring questions to Steven Marks, the OLCC's executive director. Marks could not be reached immediately for comment. The liquor control commission's chairman, Rob Patridge, declined to comment on Burns' firing, calling it a "personnel matter."

Will Higlin, the agency's director of licensing, will assume the job's duties until a permanent replacement is named.

Beginning in April, we are pleased to present a regular series of complimentary programs to brief you on the trends and hot topics brewing in the developing legal world of medical cannabis.

Our first program in the series will be a webinar titled "Medical Marijuana, Employees, and You" on April 29, 2015 at 12:00 pm CT.

In Illinois and the other 23 states including D.C. that have enacted medical cannabis laws, facilities are being built and bought, vendor relationships established, and employees hired. Cannabis industry employers are operating in an unprecedented hiring environment, and will confront many novel legal issues as they build their teams.

The District is about to witness a massive, public drug deal on Thursday — and for those involved, it will be quite a bargain.

Over 800 people have confirmed attendance at a giveaway of marijuana seeds Thursday night at an Adams Morgan restaurant. The event appears unprecedented and likely to scatter the makings of more than 16,000 marijuana plants across the nation’s capital.

D.C. police plan to stay clear of the spectacle — except to direct traffic, if needed.

New regulations in Canada designed to improve access to higher quality medical cannabis have shaken up the market.

The rules have left some patients with few options to purchase and consume their medication, leading to several lawsuits. Meanwhile, the licensed cultivators and sellers who are now responsible for supplying safe, tested cannabis are laying down expansion plans amid optimistic growth forecasts.

Canada legalized medical marijuana on a federal level 15 years ago, and last year put in place new regulations that have smoothed the road for marijuana entrepreneurs. The path, however, has been a bumpy one, and further uncertainty looms on the horizon.

New Regulations Gives Boost to Licensed Operators

All scientific evidence leads to the conclusion that cannabis is safer than tobacco.

By Paul Armentano

The federal government announced Monday that it is prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars on marijuana research through the University of Mississippi, which houses the only federally legal cannabis garden in the United States.

The new contract, worth a maximum of $68.7 million over five years, was awarded by the National Institutes of Health Monday and posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website. The award is a renewal of a contract with the university that the federal government has held for more than 40 years.