Hundreds of families throughout the world have been drawn to Colorado to seek medical marijuana treatment for their children's ailments. These parents and their kids, dubbed “international medical marijuana refugees,” travel thousands of miles in an attempt to procure what they say are lifesaving elements, the Guardian reported Monday.

They climbed to the top of a long list of entrepreneurs in the marijuana industry through acquisition, sweat equity and ruthless pursuit.

Vail’s largest commercial developer. An owner of a car-detail shop. A former nonprofit event planner. A businessman who made a fortune in child car seats. A one-time Subway franchisee bankrupted by real estate losses.

These marijuana business entrepreneurs — Peter Knobel, Joshua Ginsberg, Rhett Jordan, John Lord and John Fritzel — have emerged atop Denver’s pot industry just two years after the first recreational joint was sold. 

In all, they hold 134 marijuana business licenses in Denver — about 13 percent of the total. 

Tristan Forde used to experience as many as 20 seizures a day. The two-year-old has Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, and was forced to constantly wear a helmet – suffering seizures so frequently that his three-year-old brother would automatically go to the freezer and get an ice pack every time Forde had an attack.

Everything changed, however, when Forde began medical cannabis treatment last year. He went months without suffering a single seizure, said Yvonne Cahalane, Forde’s mother. “For the first time, it looked like there was a sparkle in his eyes. It sounds corny, but he just looked so much brighter.”

During the initial period right after legalization, residents of Colorado and Washington came to an unfortunate realization – legal marijuana was expensive. An eighth that would have cost you $50 from your illegal dealer would end up costing you upwards of $70-80 in a retail dispensary during that first year or so. Sadly, this drove many residents to continue to buy marijuana illegally, where it was all around more affordable – the main revenue of those cannabis shops came from out of state residents looking for the “legal weed experience”, as it were.

Hemp oil said to be miracle drug for head injuries

Is the NFL all wrong with regard to its ban on marijuana? A growing number of former and active players, as well as leading researchers at Johns Hopkins, are testing whether a compound found in hemp is a possible miracle cure for concussions and brain injuries.           

The science of weed and hash oil extraction is being perfected inside a Boulder lab.

"We test the product every step of the way," said Vijay Bachus, director of operations for Charlotte’s Web Botanicals. "No one else has the rigorous testing protocols and batch records as we do."

This particular strain of hemp oil is called "Charlotte's Web,” named after the little girl who first started using it, 9-year-old Charlotte Figi.

A bill that would establish a marijuana study institute at Colorado State University-Pueblo was passed by the state House on Friday, but will go to a conference committee to work out language changes.

SB191 passed the state Senate on April 26. On Friday, the House voted 57-7 on the bill, with all four local representatives voting for the bill.

In a (successful) effort to stir up media attention for an Arizona legalization initiative, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol this week put up Mothers Day-themed billboards in Phoenix and Tucson.

The ads turn the typical parental cannabis conversation on its head. “Have you talked to your parents about marijuana?” they ask.

As sticky as the slogan might be, the blast is the latest example of a broader trend. And in this case it’s not the message, it’s the medium.

urban-gro, the product solutions expert for the commercial Cannabis cultivator, has launched nationwide sales of Procidic2^®, a FIFRA 25b product, the firststate-registered organic pesticide labeled specifically for Cannabis crops. urban-gro is the sole U.S. distributor of Procidic2^®.

Procidic2^®, a fungicide and bactericide, is registered with WSDA for Organic Agricultural Use.  Procidic2^® works on contact and systemically with the Cannabis crop. It is rapidly absorbed into the plant and moves towards the apex, allowing new tissues to be free of infection and reducing the risk of future bacterial and fungal growth.

The perfect food-wine pairing has, historically, been key to any fine-dining experience - but for those who prefer fewer calories, no red-stained teeth, and almost zero potential for a hangover, delicately prepared dishes featuring cannabis as a herbal enhancement are the way of the future.

Cannabis cooking is now all grown up, far surpassing the admittedly low bar set by the brownies and Rice Krispie treats of your college days. Chefs are now playing with the science and art of cannabis cooking in unexpected ways, creating dishes that literally shift the diner's perception with every bite.

Here are five chefs broadening the uses of marijuana as a culinary herb. 

A groundbreaking trial funded by Colorado will soon shed light on the use of medical marijuana by veterans suffering from PTSD.

For the first time, the Drug Enforcement Agency has given the green light to a controlled, clinical trial of medical marijuana for veterans suffering from PTSD.

Local veterans have spent years fighting the Colorado Board of Health and Department of Public Health and Environment to include PTSD as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana, but the Board of Health has repeatedly denied the request citing a lack of scientific evidence.

Now, a $2 million research grant awarded by Colorado has the potential to help provide the evidence many states are seeking.