California lawmakers on Friday finally approved legislation to regulate the state’s medical cannabis industry, 19 years after the Golden State became the first in the nation to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

In the days leading up to Friday’s midnight deadline for the 2015 legislative session, word spread that top lawmakers from both chambers and the governor’s office had reached a deal on a package of bills, but the actual language of the proposals was kept under wraps until the very last minute.

A new study is linking lifelong and recent marijuana use that is over 100 times by early adulthood to poor control of blood sugar, increasing the risk of developing prediabetes.

According to Medical News Today, a study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shares that the researchers have seen a noticeable difference in the blood sugar control of marijuana users and non-users. The researchers are still trying to find out if it will develop further to type 2 diabetes, although the result is another evidence to the many adverse effects of marijuana use.

Yeast has been engineered to produce the main psychoactive compound in marijuana - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Responsible for the majority of marijuana's psychological effects - including the high - THC can also be use to treat symptoms of HIV infection and chemotherapy and researchers are hoping their yeast will be able to pump it out more efficiently than producing synthetic versions.

Some of us are still processing this whole marijuana legalization deal. For many people, it’s kind of hard to believe legalization is actually really happening — it’s no longer simply a topic of discussion marijuana smokers debate over, it’s right here and right now. Imagine going back in time and telling yourself 10 or 15 years ago that in 2015, recreational pot would be legal in four states — and even Washington D.C.

WALNUT CREEK (KPIX) — Across from the championship lawn bowling greens at an upscale, gated community in Walnut Creek, inside a clean, well-lighted clubhouse, there’s a meeting going on.

Welcome to the Rossmoor Medical Marijuana Education and Support Club. About a hundred members are in attendance on this evening but they’re not here to get high.

“Not at all! At my age? I’m going to be 88 and at my age if I got high what difference would it make? But I don’t, I just don’t,” insisted club member Beverly Kivel.

These seniors are looking for an alternative solution to their medical problems.

It took nearly two decades and the threat of a more sweeping initiative, but California lawmakers are finally ready to regulate medical marijuana.

The last-minute, bipartisan deal was announced late Thursday night in Sacramento, after years of disagreements between key stakeholders over details of a regulatory structure — and weeks of squabbling between the Senate and Assembly over who would take credit for the final legislation.

California lawmakers quietly passed Friday the state’s most significant medical-marijuana legislation in almost two decades, but some leaders in the space worry that the law’s good intentions could get lost in the weeds. Paving the way for what supporters say is a much-needed regulatory framework for the state’s multibillion-dollar medical-cannabis industry, the California Senate and Assembly voted to approve the historic Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which will require licenses for cannabis dispensaries and create a new state agency to oversee the industry.

More than a thousand of California’s elite cannabis growers and aficionados gather in rural Northern California this weekend for the second annual Golden Tarp Awards — celebrating one likely future for the plant’s farming.

September 11, 2015 – U.S. Cannabis Spot Index up fractionally to $2,133.  The national price may be at—or close to—its seasonal high.