Opponents of marijuana legalization often cite the "skyrocketing" number of people seeking treatment for marijuana addiction in their arguments. Project SAM, the nation's leading anti-legalization group, notes with some alarm that "data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that in 1993, marijuana comprised approximately 8 percent of ALL treatment admissions, but by 2009 that number had increased to 18 percent."

It wafts down the pavement, an unmistakable stench more Haight-Ashbury than New York — the tang of marijuana smoke in the city’s streets. If the smell (and the lightheadedness a passer-by may feel) is anything to judge by, lighting up and strolling around seems increasingly common in pockets of Brooklyn, on side streets in Manhattan and in other public spaces.

Street smokers say they are emboldened by laws that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana in other parts of the country and by the relatively low-key rhetoric of New York’s leaders, including the police commissioner, about the drug.

A Denver-based marijuana company has recalled 27 cartridges of its THC-infused vape pen oil due to potentially dangerous pesticides.

Denver’s Department of Environmental Health found that Advanced Medical Alternatives’ product contained pesticides that are not allowed to be used on cannabis in Colorado, reported The Cannabist, The Denver Post’s cannabis news and culture section.

The recall is the 13th issued by the department in 13 weeks. Advanced Medical Alternatives recalled a cannabis concentrate product that also had high levels of banned pesticides on Dec. 3.

By Ricardo Baca

Amazon and Margaret Cho are getting into the weed business.

Rather, the commerce giant and the stand-up comic are developing a sitcom about the weed business — a show called “Highland,” about a dysfunctional family running a marijuana shop, according to a new report in Variety.

Chocolate and cannabis are so wonderful that even the mention of both in a sentence is enough to make one giggle. Scientific proof is mounting that both chocolate and cannabis contain healing properties. Their dance is well-known to many, who may have fond memories of gorging through a pan of pot brownies. Indeed, these two super foods are magical but as David Wolfe explains below there is plenty of science that answers ‘how’ and ‘why’ they work so well as medicine.

Cannabinoids

Sensation seeking is a personality trait that describes a person's tendency to seek out novel and exciting experiences, and a high level of sensation seeking has been implicated as a risk factor for addiction. According to a report today at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, in Hollywood, Florida, sensation seeking is related to reward sensitivity, which is a trait that characterizes how rewarding a person finds different experiences. Further, reward sensitivity is itself related to cannabis use, and partially explains the relationship between it and sensation seeking.

DETROIT - Some Detroit pastors are on a mission to wipe out weed dispensaries in the city.

They say they have had enough of the smell, the addition crime and what it’s doing to Detroit's youth.

That is why the Detroit Coalition of Concerned Pastors is pushing the city council to shut down the nearly 200 medical marijuana dispensaries that now line city streets.

"We don't need this in our community, period," said Pastor Marvin Winans.

"The state of Michigan didn't authorize any of them to open and neither did the city of Detroit," said Pastor Darell Reed. "And they are popping up all over the place. It's a problem and a nuisance."

Melissa Etheridge is known around the globe as a songwriting musician who’s earned all the badges of celebrity honor. With two Grammys, millions of albums sold and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she’s achieved a type of luminary status that generally comes with a team of PR specialists warning against saying the wrong thing and causing a media frenzy that tarnishes an otherwise solid-gold image – like advocating for cannabis.

Palm Desert has tightened its reins on medical marijuana, adopting an ordinance that strengthens its current ban on dispensaries while adding a moratorium on cultivation and delivery.

Palm Desert has tightened its reins on medical marijuana, adopting an ordinance that strengthens its current ban on dispensaries while adding a moratorium on cultivation and delivery.

The city already has a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in place, but tightened its regulations ahead of California’s Senate Bill 643, the “Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act” of 2015 – or MMRSA – which goes into effect Jan. 1.