WASHINGTON — Early signs indicate that marijuana entrepreneurs may have little to worry about as the 2016 presidential campaign takes shape, with some top-rung hopefuls warming to the idea of letting states decide whether to legalize recreational pot.

On the Republican side, those potential candidates include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, both of whom have admitted to using the drug during their younger years, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has said he was no “choir boy” in college.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she never experimented with marijuana but appears open to the idea of allowing states to legalize it.

A man suffering from anorexia successfully argued that he needs cannabis to stay alive.

Jacob Sullum|Mar. 4, 2015 2:47 pm

Did God give us marijuana for a reason?

It sounds like a stoner question, but a conservative Christian lawmaker in Texas is arguing that since God made cannabis, the government should regulate it like any other plant.

State Representative David Simpson of Longview introduced a bill Monday that would remove any mention of marijuana from Texas law, and set the plant to be regulated like tea or tomatoes. If Simpson’s bill passed, it would place sales and property taxes on buyers and growers, respectively, but it wouldn't be marked up with a so-called sin tax.

“The plant is good. God made it, and it wasn’t a mistake that government needs to fix.”

State Representative David Simpson

By Aaron C. Davis,

A D.C. Council committee is poised to pass legislation Wednesday that would ban employers in the nation’s capital from testing prospective employees for marijuana until after a job offer is made.

Council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At large), who sponsored the bill, said it is his hope that before such pre-employment drug testing is administered, employers in the city will give new employees a grace period to “clean up,” if they will expect them to be drug-free.

LAWRENCE — With laws going into effect last week that legalized recreational marijuana in both Alaska and Washington, D.C., a researcher into the history of cannabis’ acceptance has predicted the next five U.S. states where voters could be inclined to approve marijuana use for relaxation and enjoyment.

Barney Warf, professor of geography at the University of Kansas, is the author of “High Points: An Historical History of Cannabis,” published in the peer-reviewed journal Geographical Review in September 2014.

Warf said legalization can be “hard to predict,” but he made his forecast of states expected to legalize cannabis based on their current laws and voter leanings.

The cannabis extract movement has largely been pioneered by those not in the medical profession. This is mainly due to the Schedule I placement of cannabis, which restricts research and limits the ability of doctors to provide meaningful guidance. Thankfully, some physicians have found a way to directly treat patients and become cannabis specialists.

On February 28 some 75 tribal leaders from across the country met to discuss forming the first “Tribal Cannabis Association” at the Tulalip Resort Casino on the Tulalip Reservation in Washington State.

This followed a packed day on February 27 of “Tribal Marijuana Conference” presentations and panels with speakers as diverse as former U.S. Attorney Troy Eid (current chair of President Barack Obama’s National Indian Law and Order Commission) to the city attorneys of both Seattle and Boulder, Colorado, who gave in-depth overviews of how implementation of state laws legalizing marijuana possession and usage is proceeding in their respective cities.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives will hold a joint satellite hearing of the Health and Judiciary Committees on medical marijuana. The hearing will take place on March 24, 2015 at 10:00AM at the University of PA Health System in the Perelman School of Medicine Zumbrow Auditorium, 800 S. Spruce St. Philadelphia, PA.

Legislation to enact a medical marijuana program in Pennsylvania has been active since 2009 when Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia) first introduced a bill.

When voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical pot. There was only one problem. Scientists still hadn't firmly established marijuana's effectiveness as medicine.

"It'll cost you some money but these studies have not been done before," he told the legislators."My recommendation was, look, establish a center to study this," said Grant, who'd previously looked into whether moderate marijuana use causes long-term brain damage (conclusion: it doesn't).