New York’s medical marijuana program is due to go online by January, but there are still a number of questions with how it will all work.  In part of the four-part series "The Growing Economy," Capital Tonight's Nick Reisman traveled to Minnesota to understand how that state’s medical marijuana program works for both doctors and patients. 

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Patrick McClellan was running out of hope. 

"I needed an option, other than something that could potentially kill me, to try and fight these massive attacks and that's how I discovered cannabis," he said.

Marijuana users may face future risks of developing prediabetes — elevated levels of blood sugar that can be a precursor to full type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

Current users and those who have used marijuana earlier in life are more likely to have or develop prediabetes than people who have never used it, the researchers say.

Workers tend the cannabis crop at Minnesota Medical Solutions manufacturing facility in May. (Star Tribune photo by Glen Stubbe.)

Minnesota’s fledgling medical marijuana program is one of the least-used in the nation, after two months in business.

As of Friday, 460 patients were registered with the Health Department’s Office of Medical Cannabis and could legally buy marijuana in Minnesota. Those numbers have been inching steadily upward and Michelle Larson, head of the OMC, expects the expansion to continue.

Local hospitals are wrestling with one of the murkier aspects of Minnesota’s new medical cannabis law: how to appropriately handle the drug when it’s used by hospitalized patients.

WILLMAR, Minn. — Local hospitals are wrestling with one of the murkier aspects of Minnesota’s new medical cannabis law: how to appropriately handle the drug when it’s used by hospitalized patients.

An amendment to the law, approved this year, provided some clarity by allowing health care facilities to dispense and manage the drug for patients who are certified to use it.

But it has been left up to individual hospitals to decide whether they want to participate in the state’s medical cannabis program and, if so, how they will handle it.

There are a lot of lucrative opportunities in the marijuana industry. In a lot of areas cannabis entrepreneurs are doing very well in virtually all sectors of the industry. But there is a growing trend in some states where the opposite is happening, which is something that I have talked about a lot on this blog. As predicted, things are not going so well in ultra-strict medical marijuana states.

When 18-month-old Amelia Weaver caught the flu, her mother took her to see the doctor. Amelia had her first seizure in the pediatrician’s office.

“Watching my baby have a seizure was the scariest experience of my life,” mother Angie recalls. At first, it seemed a one-time episode. A year passed. Three-year-old Amelia was walking, talking, learning her letters, and counting up to 20.

Late one morning, the Weavers woke up to silence from their daughter’s room. It was strange. Amelia would usually be their alarm clock. They found her in her crib, in the throes of another seizure. Four more would follow in quick succession as the Weavers rushed Amelia to the hospital.

1. Ohio - Ohio voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to legalize marijuana with a constitutional amendment to institute a revolutionary proposal that backers say will create a billion-dollar industry in the next four years.

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday the private investor group ResponsibleOhio had collected 320,267 signatures of registered Ohio voters, 14,676 more than necessary to qualify for the general-election ballot. ResponsibleOhio spent more than $2 million since March on the petition drive to put its proposed Marijuana Legalization Amendment before voters.

NEW ULM — A man who was charged with three felonies for growing marijuana for his own medical use pleaded guilty to one count of possession of marijuana and will face no jail time and the conviction will be removed from his record when he completes probation.

Jon Hansen II, 33, was charged in February of 2014 after New Ulm Police, based on a tip, searched his home and found three ounces of marijuana and several plants being grown for Hansen’s personal use to treat his depression and anxiety.

One of Hansen's attorneys, Calvin P. Johnson of Mankato, said in a press release that Hansen is lobbying state lawmakers to remove marijuana as a Schedule I substance.