Every time my mom, a campus supervisor at a Southern California public high school, busts underage kids for pot, the students push back with the same protest: Haven’t you seen the news? Weed is totally harmless! Weed is good for you!

It’s true, the benefits of cannabis—from the medical to the sexual—are finally making their way back into mainstream American discourse after decades of vilification. But cannabis is a complicated plant, and its physiological effects on the adolescent brain are still largely unknown—a message teens aren’t receiving.

The marijuana industry has a pesticide problem.

Many commercial cannabis growers use chemicals to control bugs and mold. But because of the plant’s unresolved legal status, Colorado regulators are having a tough time making sure pot buyers don’t ingest those pesticides. The parts of the federal government that regulate agricultural pesticide use want nothing to do with legalized marijuana.

“In the absence of any direction, the subject of pesticide use on the crop has just devolved to just whatever people think is working or whatever they think is appropriate,” says Colorado State University entomologist Whitney Cranshaw.

Less than a year ago, Canary, a mobile marketplace startup, was referred to as the “Uber for marijuana.” The company was founded to cater to medical marijuana patients who were not always in close proximity to a dispensary, or who had trouble getting around due to illness. Canary was also valuable to dispensaries, which benefitted from reaching more customers.

Recent scientific studies have validated the use of marijuana to treat many conditions, including some mental illnesses. Users on Leafly — an app that provides information on the growing number of marijuana varieties — have rated hundreds of cannabis strains as effective in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety. And your partner smokes weed every day. So, is he or she just enjoying themselves, or are they self-medicating a disease with the green?

Science Supports Using Marijuana for Mental Illness

Oregon is exactly five weeks away from officially legalizing recreational marijuana. But as July 1st looms in the near distance, the hard rules are still waiting in the wings. 

The reason being, the state legislature has pulled the focus back to medical marijuana. 

A much-debated piece of medical marijuana legislation has bounced from a joint House-Senate Committee to the Senate’s special committee, and now resides on the Senate floor for a vote. 

The bill in question would require the Oregon Health Authority to track medical marijuana through the supply chain to curb black market sales. 

Supplying marijuana for medicinal use is already a well-established industry in Canada. Now, as recreational use of marijuana becomes legal in more U.S. jurisdictions, major money and marketers are getting behind some of the emerging marijuana brands.

The first thing you need to know when marketing marijuana to mainstream consumers is not to call it marijuana. Corporate brand managers prefer the term cannabis, which sounds more scientific and doesn't carry as much hippie-counterculture baggage. Even worse, of course, are terms like weed and pot.

During the 1980s and 1990s, as the United States battled the scourge of cocaine throughout the hemisphere, Washington did most of the talking. Latin American governments were forced to listen and fall in line. The American government had the most money to throw at the problem, the toughest justice system and the biggest bully pulpit.

CASPER, Wyo. — After more than a year of writing and rewriting, organizers behind a medical marijuana ballot measure believe they’re close to finalizing the proposal.

The initative needs only a few minor changes before the Wyoming Secretary of State staff gives it preliminary approval, said Chris Christian, of the Wyoming chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Approval would allow supporters across across the state to begin gathering more than 25,000 signatures required before Feb. 8, the deadline for it to appear on the November 2016 ballot.

The Wyoming Secretary of State’s staff could not say whether NORML will obtain the preliminary approval, since it has yet to review the latest version.

SEATTLE (AP) - With Washington state overhauling its medical marijuana law, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray says the city is planning to shutter dozens of dispensaries.

Murray on Tuesday announced plans to require a new special business license for marijuana establishments, akin to those required for taxi operators and pawn shops. Under the mayor's plan, the businesses will be required to obtain the licenses by July 2016.

But just as the state's new medical marijuana law gives priority in licensing to dispensaries that were in operation before Jan. 1, 2013, so does Murray's proposal. Seattle officials say that by their tally, 54 of the city's 99 medical marijuana storefronts opened after that date or have been operating without a city business license.

The future of cannabis is progressing by leaps and bounds -- D.C.’s recreational legalization seems to have created a loophole for the black market, Massachusetts is revamping the dispensary licensing process, and Nevada could begin selling medical marijuana as early as next month! Check out this week’s legalization update to catch up on the latest in cannabis legislation from your region:

U.S. Updates

CALIFORNIA