Standing desks. Flex hours. Unlimited vacation policies. Working from home. In 2016, employers are more open than ever to to new approaches for a happier, healthier, more productive workplaces. So, what about the new wave of employers allowing - and even encouraging - employees to consume cannabis on the clock?

Little precedent has been set on medical cannabis use in the workplace. Over the last two weeks we looked at two Canadian cases, Wilson vs. Transparent Glazing Systems and French vs. Selkin Logging. Both cases begin to inform employees and employers about boundaries on cannabis use at work. 

One of the main messages is that employers in Canada have a broad duty to accommodate medical cannabis as a treatment, assuming the employee has a valid prescription from a doctor. 

The Internet can be a treacherous place.

So treacherous, that in order to meet the mounting cybersecurity challenges posed by hackers, Congress has tasked the FBI with hiring some 2,000 new recruits to fight computer-related crimes.

But the hiring process has hit an unforeseen snag: the FBI’s drug testing policies are making it nearly impossible for them to hire hackers with enough skills to best the cyber-criminals the feds are trying to take down.

“I am absolutely dead set against using marijuana,” FBI director James Comey told those in attendance at a senate hearing on the bureau’s oversight, “I don’t want young people to use marijuana. It’s against the law. We have a three-year ban on marijuana.”

Put it in perspective.

In a recent International Business Times article, the author poses the question: “Are Journalists Too Soft On Pot?” Let me clear this up for you right now. No.

If you want evidence of this, search the word “marijuana” in Google News. What you will likely find is a study that says weed is doing something good for people, an article or two about states that are considering legalizing and then a slew of stories about how organized crime is connected to marijuana.

Chuck Lorre is ready to add another show to his already impressive résumé.

The creator of The Big Bang Theory, Mom, Mike & Molly and Two and a Half Men is shopping a pot comedy, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Co-written by Lorre and David Javerbaum (The Daily Show) the spec script has been sent out to broadcast networks and is set at a legal marijuana dispensary in Colorado. The ensemble revolves around a group of potheads.

In November 2015, voters in Pueblo, Colorado approved an additional excise tax on marijuana sales with 60-percent approval. The excise tax will begin in 2017, and will gradually increase until it reaches 5-percent in 2020. Of that increased tax, 50-percent will be set aside for scholarships.

The city of Pueblo accounts for 3-percent of the state’s total recreational marijuana sales. It also accounts for 20-percent of the states total production of marijuana. Leaders in the marijuana cultivation industry agree that the tax is a smart initiative.

Here’s something that might have gotten lost in the usual end-of-the-year scramble: Employers are a lot tougher on employees in states where marijuana is completely legal.

We know this because the Society of Human Resource Management — the trade group for more than 260,000 HR professionals — surveyed more than 600 HR managers in states where marijuana is legal, and they focused on the drug policies of the organizations they work for. 

Bec Koop, a 30-year-old florist living in Denver, Colorado, has been smoking weed for years. She has endometriosis and severe back pain, and has come to rely on marijuana for pain relief and relaxation. She never thought about combining her love for Mary Jane with her passion for other flowers — until one day, she had an epiphany.

Deschutes County is taking applications for its Marijuana Advisory Committee, which will make recommendations to the county commissioners on land use regulations for both medical and recreational marijuana.Commissioners voted to temporarily ban marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas of Deschutes County in December. The board wanted more time to look at the impact of proposed regulations.The committee will develop and recommend regulations looking at the sights, sounds and smells associated with marijuana land use. County commissioners will consider those recommendations if they or voters decide to overturn the temporary opt-out ordinance, according to a news release from the county.Commissioners will appoint as many as 12 members to the marijuana panel in early February.

If someone told you that you could take a college course that maps out exactly how cannabis works, would you take that class?

I know I would.

The University of Vermont is going to be making that possibility a reality as they are the first to open a course dedicated to medical marijuana science. There are other universities that cover marijuana related topics – mostly law topics – but this will be the first class entirely dedicated to the science behind medical marijuana.

The class is intended to uncover the “secrets” of marijuana. With the plant being listed as one of the “most dangerous” drugs there is very little solid research around it. Ten – heck even five years ago, this class would not have been possible.