Prince died of an opioid overdose, specifically fentanyl, according to test results released Thursday.

The iconic musician was found dead in his Minnesota home on the morning of April 21.

As saddened fans and proponents of natural, life-saving medicine, we have to take a look at the causes of their untimely passing and wonder if there was something more that could have been done, and look at the link between the growing number of patients claiming that marijuana treatment for addiction helped them drop their dependency to prescribed pharmaceuticals and illegal narcotics.

Accusations made by a former employee that a Minnesota-based medical marijuana company illegally transported cannabis oil out of state prompted an investigation and audit by local authorities.

The employee said that at least $500,000 worth of cannabis oil (or about 370 grams) was sent from Minnesota Medical Solutions's Otsego growing facility to their parent company's New York location in order to meet that state's production deadline, according to a search warrant filed on May 26 in Hennepin County.

"We are confident the claims relied upon by regulatory authorities to begin the investigation will be found to be false," according to a statement released by Vireo, the parent company.

According to the search warrant:

On April 17, Pennsylvania became the latest state to pass medical marijuana legislation, which will take effect this month. And recently Ohio’s House of Representatives has passed a plan to permit medical marijuana in the state.

On April 17, Pennsylvania became the latest state to pass medical marijuana legislation, which will take effect this month. And recently Ohio’s House of Representatives has passed a plan to permit medical marijuana in the state.

Medical-marijuana startup LeafLine Labs has begun an effort to raise $21 million, according to a regulatory filing.

The company, along with rival Minnesota Medical Solutions, grows and harvests oil from marijuana plants to use in state-approved medical therapies. Neither company has struggled much to raise capital: Eagan-based LeafLine previously raked in more than $14 million.

Robert Reich Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary made political waves by endorsing Bernie Sanders last week, despite deep ties with the Clinton family, which even includes a date with the future Democratic front-runner during college.

There’s little doubt that your farm can grow marijuana, or cannabis as it is commonly called now. You’ve got road ditches and fence rows to prove that.

The harder part is turning it into a medicine. That’s the only legal way it can be sold under the state laws enacted over the last couple of years in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and 20 other states, mostly on the coasts. 

Kyle Kingsley, one of the early growers in Minnesota, believes there is more than a little magic in the crop. Most of it happens not in growing the plants, but after harvest. 

“How we process it and package it and make it conform to medical standards is what we are still learning. That’s where the big breakthroughs will come in medical cannabis,” he predicts.

The leader of one of the companies that grows Minnesota’s medical marijuana is resigning less than a year after accepting the post.

LeafLine Labs announced that Manny Munson-Regala is stepping down, the Associated Press reports, after leaving his Health Department job to take over LeafLine in June.

LeafLine is one of two companies authorized by the state’s Office of Medical Cannabis to provide marijuana to patients with certain medical conditions whose doctors have recommended the drug.

The head of one of Minnesota’s two medical marijuana companies has resigned.

LeafLine Labs announced Friday that CEO Manny Munson-Regala has stepped down less than a year after he took the job. Munson-Regala, a former assistant state health commissioner, helped set up the state’s medical cannabis program, then left last June to take a job running one of the newly created companies.

In a statement late Friday, LeafLine announced that Dr. Andrew Bachman, an emergency physician and one of the company’s founders, has been appointed as interim CEO by the company board.

Medical marijuana venture Vireo Health is seeking $31.5 million in equity financing as it prepares to expand into more states. According to CEO Dr. Kyle Kingsley, the Minneapolis-based parent company of Minnesota Medical Solutions (MinnMed) is close to reeling in $6 million of that amount.

As of today, Vireo’s staff has a headcount of nearly 50 employees but expects its staff to expand ten-fold in the upcoming years. Vireo is largely targeting individual investors as opposed to institutional funds, an approach it used to bankroll its original launch in Minnesota and New York.