While a successful, albeit brief spell in the new media spotlight courtesy of the Ice Bucket Challenge craze in 2014 raised the profile of ALS somewhat, the neurogenerative disorder remains a heart-wrenching and debilitating incurable disease.

With a short life expectancy upon diagnosis and incapacitating symptoms, treatment for ALS is invaluable. A 2014 study by the American Academy of Neurology suggested that Medical Marijuana could be the most effective treatment for the endless list of symptoms associated with the disease.
The study surveyed ALS patients who reported current or prior use of medical marijuana to treat their symptoms. The returned results indicated the following:

Del Rey Oaks >> Next week’s opening of Monterey County’s only medical marijuana dispensary doesn’t seem to worry local marijuana delivery services.

A few of them say the private and convenient nature of their services assures them they will stay in business, despite new competition from the dispensary slated to open April 1 in Del Rey Oaks.

“I don’t see it affecting us because we deliver quality and convenience to your door,” says Luis Solis, part owner of Compassionate Bay Delivery, a 6-month-old company serving the Salinas area.

In fact, more than one delivery business owner welcomed the arrival of the dispensary.

TRENTON — Post-traumatic stress disorder would be added to the list of illnesses that would qualify a person for New Jersey's medical marijuana program, and growers would be permitted to share excess cannabis with their competitors under legislation the state Assembly passed Thursday.

The Assembly also started a process to challenge rules the Christie administration created that dispensary owners say discourage people from participating in the medical marijuana program. Sponsors said the rules were not included in the law that was signed by former Gov. Jon Corzine just before Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010.

Like any working mom, Denise Pollicella is busy.

The Howell-area attorney, a mother of two, balances her legal cases with other duties, such as taking her daughter to dance class.

Yet for the past several years, she’s also joined efforts to draft model legislation that would revise laws governing the growth, sale and distribution of medical marijuana in Michigan.

It’s legislation she believes is long overdue.

“Seven years ago, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved the legalization of medical marijuana, and yet the Legislature hasn’t acted,” she said.

Marijuana use is legal in Michigan for patients with a doctor’s prescription and a state certified ID card. Patients can also designate a caregiver, who also must be certified by the state.

Smoking cannabis dramatically reduces the number of molecules ensuring the fine-tuning of brain functions and can significantly interfere in the two-way communication between neurons, according to the result of research spanning several years carried out by the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (KOKI), published in the world’s most highly acclaimed neuroscience journal, Nature Neuroscience.

A statement issued by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences reminds that a study arriving at the same conclusion, authored by Hungarian neuroscientists István Katona and Tamás Freund, deputy chairman of the Academy (MTA) and head of the Institute of Experimental Medicine), had already been published in the U. S. Journal of Neuroscience in 1999.

We now live in a time where marijuana can actually be advertised on broadcast television. Here is a review of some of the most clever and funny marijuana commercials we've come across over the past year. Enjoy!

As is almost always the best case scenario for a product that people might be uncomfortable thinking about, the company MarijuanaDoctors.com uses an admittedly silly analogy to get their point across. Sure, you can get weed from a mustachioed guy in a back alley if that’s your thing, but know that there’s also a legitimate place to find it where the consumer/patient has a say in the matter.

CEN Biotech, a company that soared to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars last year on claims that it was being licensed to build the world’s largest medical marijuana facility in Canada, is under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission.

The regulator said Wednesday it is looking into the company and its parent firm, but did not provide further details, such as how long the investigation has been going on or if regulators in the United States are involved.

“The OSC has an active investigation into this matter,” Carolyn Shaw-Rimmington, spokeswoman for the OSC, said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail.

In the blink of an eye, global debates about cannabis regulation have shifted from “whether” to “how.” In 2014, Uruguay became the first nation to explicitly regulate cannabis from seed to sale. Its preferred strategy? State-regulated production, cannabis clubs, and personal growing. Meanwhile, four U.S. states and the District of Columbia have moved ahead with legal regulation, Colorado and Washington being the first, and the federal government seems unlikely to intervene. More states, possibly even California, look set to follow. Likewise, in the rest of the world, there are a number of gray-area regulatory systems, including in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain. All offer insights into how the United States—and other countries—might tackle the “how.”

THE AMERICAN MODEL

A Louisiana lawmaker wants voters to decide whether the personal use of marijuana should be legal in their state, and he thinks their collective response could be a resounding yes. Rep. Dalton Honore, a Democrat representing Baton Rouge, filed a bill in the House last week that would legalize recreational pot use in Louisiana for adults 21 or older, according to KATC TV-3. It would also set up a system for cannabis to be grown, dispensed and taxed. The measure would go on the ballot next year.

"If I can get it to the people, it will pass with flying colors,” Honore told the Times-Picayune.