A local lawyer who told people they could legally grow marijuana despite a federal law saying the opposite now faces a lawsuit accusing him of profiting off crimes.

Ian Christensen’s law firm told couples like the Yandells that if they medically needed marijuana, he could get them a doctor’s certificate that would protect them from arrest, according to Scott and Marsha Yandell’s lawsuit.

With recreational marijuana on the ballot, some worry that big business will transform the way pot is grown, distributed and sold.

More than 20 years later, Hezekiah Allen remembers the Blackhawk helicopters hovering over his childhood home, the armed soldiers barricading the road to the family’s northern California pot farm, the neighbor who hang-glided to escape from the Feds. More than once, Allen came home from a friend’s house to find his mother and stepfather had been arrested again. 

"Fact #1: Legalizing marijuana is bad for the workplace."

That's the stark warning from the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace, a nonprofit that works to combat drug use among American employees.

"The impact of employee marijuana use is seen in the workplace in lower productivity, increased workplace accidents and injuries, increased absenteeism, and lower morale," the institute writes. "This can and does seriously impact the bottom line."

Does it really, though?

When you buy a bottle of ibuprofen to treat your headache, you know there is a safety standard in place behind what you’re taking. You know exactly the amount of medication you’re ingesting and exactly what the side effects of the medication could be. This is true for all pharmaceutical medications, but not so much for cannabis. Some cannabis professionals are seeking to change this in the near future, however, to help encourage wider acceptance of using the medication and remove some of the age-old stigmas. 

Gov. Tom Wolf says Pennsylvania needs to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession in systematic fashion, and remains guarded about the kind of recreational legalization in place in several western states.

Wolf said Monday some municipalities have stopped arresting people for possessing small amounts. But he says the state should act because too many people are still going to prison for marijuana possession and that’s clogging prisons and hurting families.

Wolf spoke on WITF-FM’s Smart Talk program.

A CANCER sufferer convicted of growing thousands of dollars worth of drugs that he claimed were for pain relief may become one of the first in the state to serve a prison term at home.

Darryl Colin Horne, 56, was found with several marijuana plants and dried cannabis worth up to $30,000 in his Salisbury house, in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, in April 2013.

While prosecutors accused him of preparing the almost 6kg of drugs for sale, the father of one insisted during his District Court trial that it was instead used for “medicinal” purposes.

With passage of the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA), my firm’s California cannabis lawyers have been representing a steady onslaught of investors looking to get into California’s MMJ industry in some way, shape, or form. And with the vote on Proposition 64 coming up in November, excitement about the Golden State is palpable.

But it’s not all roses when it comes to current California MMJ laws and investing.

Health Canada allows nurses to administer medical marijuana, but health facilities may have other policies.

A Toronto mother whose son suffers from chronic seizures due to a rare genetic condition is frustrated that some nurses in Toronto hospitals have refused to administer cannabis oil, which she says brings him relief.

Maria Niembro, mother of 11-year-old Francesco, told CBC's Metro Morning on Monday that she has to administer the cannabis oil herself to her son, who suffers from CFC, or Cardio-facio-cutaneous, syndrome.

It looks much less likely a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana in Oklahoma will appear on the ballot this fall.

On Thursday Attorney General Scott Pruitt submitted a revised ballot title for State Question 788. The ballot title explains what’s at stake to voters, and the group Oklahomans for Health argues Pruitt’s language is misleading and political, The Tulsa World’s Barbara Hoebrock reports:

Like wine growers, Mendocino area farmers want Emerald Triangle recognised for its superior product.

Mendocino marijuana farmers are taking a leaf out of France's book and plotting to arrange a "champagne of weed" and other appellations for cannabis from the Emerald Triangle of northern California.

Pot grown in the region is a unique product and appeals to the discerning stoner palate, some farmers suggest. Marijuana grower Justino Calvino and supporters hope to market to consumers using a special, legally defined and protected geographical identification system, similar to that of the wine industry.