Recent wildfires in Northern California have consumed tens of thousands of acres in the past several weeks. In a paradoxical twist, some of the farms set ablaze in the recent conflagrations were marijuana farms, which produce plants that are meant to be burned (though not quite like this).

News reports about the burning pot plants have focused on the effects the ignited plants might have on the state's medical marijuana industry. But what about other side effects caused by the burning plants? Namely, are the burning pot farms going to get anybody high?

Marijuana users on the west coast are running, or walking, away from the popular image of the Jeff Spicoli-like pot smoker.

420 Games is a Marin County, Calif.-based events company whose goal is to de-stigmatize the mainstream opinion that cannabis users are lazy “stoners” like Sean Penn’s character from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” The company holds 4.2-mile runs/walks and other types of sporting events to show that marijuana users are just as active as non-users. “If you smoke cannabis and someone hears about it, you’re called a stoner right away,” says 420 Games founder Jim McAlpine. “No one calls you a drunk if you take a drink here or there.” (The term “420” originated in the 1970s as a code for smoking marijuana.)

A new model has developed in California’s medical marijuana industry: farm-to-table. Long popular among foodies and other environmentally conscious consumers, one Bay Area startup is aiming to take advantage of the trend and embed it into the fast-growing cannabis industry
 

As the drug policy reform debate heats up in the country, Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to discuss decriminalizing the personal possession and use of drugs.

On August 19, the Supreme Court (STF) will begin the debate and aim to rule on whether criminalizing low-level possession and use offenses is unconstitutional, reported Agencia Brasil.

In an ideal world for those in the cannabis industry, as well as for advocates and enthusiasts nationwide, cannabis would be made legal in every state in the country by the 2016 elections, if not sooner.

FRISCO — Ah, the energizing power of a smoothie packed with blueberries, bananas, yogurt and ... cannabis?

A Dallas-based health products company recently announced plans to open its first-ever cannabis-based smoothie shop, the AmeriCanna Cafe, in Frisco, at the corner of Wade Boulevard and Preston Road.

Officials with the business assure that everything about the shop is legal because ingredients will derive from hemp seeds, a part of the cannabis plant that is allowed for consumption across the U.S.

AmeriCanna Cafe’s drinks will take advantage of hemp’s many health and therapeutic benefits, said Steven Rash, CEO of North American Cannabis Holdings, which is starting the cafe.

SEATTLE (AP) - The Washington Traffic Safety Commission says more marijuana-using drivers are getting into fatal crashes.

Data released Tuesday indicate that the number of Washington drivers involved in deadly crashes who tested positive for active marijuana doubled from 2013 to 2014 - the first year of legal marijuana sales in the state.

Commission member Shelly Baldwin says that's alarming - especially considering that the number of alcohol-related fatal crashes has been dropping.

Legalizing medical marijuana would open the door to a host of problems, including abuse by children and deaths from psychotic reactions, a Colorado drug-law enforcer warned Utah lawmakers Wednesday.

Legalizing medical marijuana would open the door to a host of problems, including abuse by children and deaths from psychotic reactions, a Colorado drug-law enforcer warned Utah lawmakers Wednesday.

Jim Gerhardt, vice president of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association, provided the Health and Human Services Interim Committee with a litany of woes Utah's neighboring state has experienced since legalizing medical marijuana.

"Colorado voters made it clear that they do not want adults to be punished for possessing small amounts of marijuana."

A state appeals court has overturned the marijuana conviction of a Colorado woman who was sentenced and convicted for marijuana possession just days after voters approved a measure legalizing recreational marijuana in the state almost three years ago -- retroactively applying the law to her case. 

Government body says vaping can make ‘significant contribution to endgame of tobacco’ and raises concerns about length of licensing process

Vaping is safer than smoking and could lead to the demise of the traditional cigarette, Public Health England (PHE) has said in the first official recognition that e-cigarettes are less damaging to health than smoking tobacco.

The health body concluded that, on “the best estimate so far”, e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes and could one day be dispensed as a licensed medicine in an alternative to anti-smoking products such as patches.