COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Investors have raised at least $36 million to fund ResponsibleOhio's plan to legalize marijuana and purchase the commercial growing sites promised to investor groups.

Investors contributed $4 million to each of nine limited liability corporations tied to ResponsibleOhio last year, according to securities offering filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ResponsibleOhio officials have said they expect to spend more than $20 million to get their constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot and passed by a majority of voters in November.

SALT LAKE CITY — New poll results indicate that a strong majority of Utahns support medical cannabis, with widespread support across every demographic. A Y2 Analytics Poll (see topline results here) shows that 72% of likely voters in Utah believe certain doctors should be able to recommend medical cannabis to their patients with serious conditions—an even higher number of Utahns support Healthy Utah or "Right to Try" legislation that has received near-unanimous support from the legislature.

Additional findings from the poll, jointly sponsored by Drug Policy Project of Utah and Libertas Institute, include:

Colorado has allowed the use of marijuana for medical purposes for almost a decade-and-a-half, but the state only legalized the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes in January 2014. With a relatively well-established industry geared up for the production of medical weed and less stringent guidelines for obtaining the bud, it was thought that Colorado could see market cannibalization as some medical users began to use drugs bought for recreational purposes — but after a full year of sales, the state's data suggests otherwise.

THE State’s first medicinal cannabis trial will begin next year, with the state government revealing dozens of ­organisations have expressed interest in running it.

In the week which key campaigner Dan Haslam passed away, Premier Mike Baird said an expert panel would meet in two weeks to decide which group would run the clinical trials, with the successful ­applicants named in June.

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — A tiny spider mite is all it could take to cripple Seth Bock’s business.

Bock grows marijuana, legally, for a living, and the peril presented by just one small insect illustrates how difficult it can be to establish a thriving dispensary.

For marijuana dispensaries, it’s never as easy as sticking a few seeds in the ground and watching the plants, and the profits, grow. “There are so many moving parts to this business,” Bock said.His is one of three medical marijuana dispensaries in Rhode Island, and his experience provides vital lessons for companies in Massachusetts that have won licenses to grow and sell marijuana. The first is expected to open in April.

Doctors should manage a tightly regulated, compassionate regime for the use of medicinal cannabis in Australia, a leading public health organisation has told an ACT inquiry. 

The Public Health Association has labelled state and territory governments, including the ACT, "out of step with the attitudes and behaviour of much of the general public and professional opinion" on the use of cannabis to treat some illness. 

A position statement incorporated into the organisation's submission to the Legislative Assembly inquiry considering the use of cannabis for medical purposes says the fact the drug is already widely used illegally means a regulated system is unlikely to lead to more illicit drug taking in the community. 

Health regulators are on the defensive about their latest attempt to get the state's medical-marijuana industry up and running, rejecting criticism from a legislative oversight panel while trying to assuage concerns of parents of sick children.

At a hearing Monday, the Florida Department of Health's Office of Compassionate Use Director Patricia Nelson fielded questions from investors and nursery owners eager to become one of five operators authorized to grow, process and dispense non-euphoric cannabis believed to eliminate or dramatically reduce life-threatening seizures in children with rare forms of epilepsy.

For the first time in Florida history, a Broward jury acquitted a marijuana grower after finding he has a medical need for the illegal drug.

Jesse Teplicki hid nothing from the detectives who showed up at his Hollywood home two years ago acting on a tip that he was growing pot on the premises. And he hid nothing from the jury on Thursday when he took the stand at his criminal trial, even admitting that he smoked a marijuana cigarette earlier in the day to treat the nausea and suppressed appetite that had been plaguing him for decades.

Maine’s medical marijuana industry climbed to new heights in 2014, accounting for an estimated $60 million to $75 million in sales and generating as much as $4 million to $5 million in tax revenue for the state.

The legal marijuana industry still represents a small piece of the state’s overall revenue, but state tax collection numbers show a rapid growth in sales as more patients turned to dispensaries or caregivers to buy their medicine during the past four years.

The numbers also highlight the success of a trade that once was limited to an untaxed and unregulated black market.

Maine’s medical marijuana industry climbed to new heights in 2014, accounting for an estimated $60 million to $75 million in sales and generating as much as $4 million to $5 million in tax revenue for the state.

The legal marijuana industry still represents a small piece of the state’s overall revenue, but state tax collection numbers show a rapid growth in sales as more patients turned to dispensaries or caregivers to buy their medicine during the past four years.

The numbers also highlight the success of a trade that once was limited to an untaxed and unregulated black market.