Smoking cannabis has been known to treat certain forms of cancer, but a recent study has found a link between use of the controversial herb and a heart-weakening condition.

Stress cardiomyopathy, popularly known as broken heart syndrome, shows symptoms eerily similar to a heart attack, including chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness and fainting.

The effects of the rare illness, which is often caused by the heart’s inability to pump blood, are usually short-lived but could indicate a more serious condition, according to a report by The Telegraph.

The LSU AgCenter is continuing with plans to grow medical marijuana and hope to have seeds in the ground early next year. AgCenter President Dr. Bill Richardson says they should have a business plan in place this month and they are working closely with law enforcement to ensure they are comfortable with every aspect.

“We’re meeting, have a series of meetings with the Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry, who is writing the rules for the project, the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Medical Examiners, making sure we do this exactly right.”

Richardson says they hope to get started in 2017 at an off campus location in East Baton Rouge Parish. He says legislation passed this year helped them move forward with the process and gave them exclusive rights to produce the drug.

The Department of Agriculture and Forestry gave the necessary opportunity for Louisiana State University and Southern University first right of withholding and both institutions have expressed their interest in moving forward.

After their Friday meeting, Dr. Adell Brown, Southern's Interim Chancellor, stated that the institution has come up to a decision to submit a letter stating they will accept becoming the cultivator of Louisiana state, The Times reported.

Starting Wednesday (June 22), simple possession of marijuana in New Orleans will carry far fewer consequences for repeat offenders. Police have been able since 2010 to issue a court summons to someone caught for the first time with weed. Now that option will extend to subsequent offenses.

The City Council approved an ordinance in March that gives New Orleans police greater latitude on pot possession. They are attempting to help police spend less time on minor crimes and keep low-level offenders out of the city's jail.

Growing up on a cotton farm in Missouri in the 1950s, Bill Richardson didn’t know a thing about marijuana. Nobody talked about it, he never saw it and he certainly never smoked it.

“I didn’t inhale,” Richardson, LSU’s 71-year-old vice president for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture, said with a smile in a recent interview.

Richardson has become the unlikely leader of an effort to get LSU into the pot business.

I received the following alert out of Louisiana:

I am sorry to report that the Louisiana Legislature continues to repeat its mistakes. For nearly 40 years, flawed legislative drafting has prevented the establishment of a workable medical marijuana program. Yesterday, the House took another step forward by passing S.B. 180, but it failed to fix a key omission.

Louisiana could earn as much as $128 million in annual revenue if it were to legalize and tax marijuana, according to a Washington, D.C., think tank's new report.

The Tax Foundation, a nonprofit research organization most often described as conservative and pro-business, based its calculations on current demand for pot in Colorado and Washington, states that have authorized recreational use along with Oregon and Alaska. Ten more states have proposed ballot measures to legalize pot commerce, and Vermont's legislature is considering one.