Medical marijuana advocates are hoping Congress will move to loosen restrictions on the drug and approve reclassifying it from schedule I to schedule II, but legislation to do that, and to loosen research restrictions, has not gained much traction on Capitol Hill.

Patients, dispensary owners, advocates, and several members of the US House of Representatives staged a rally on the Capitol grounds March 22, calling for a congressional vote on the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act (S. 683). That bill was introduced in the Senate in March 2015 by Cory Booker (D-NJ). A companion bill was introduced in the House shortly thereafter by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn).

Cannabis' analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects have been known for literally thousands of years - but more recently, the drug has been making waves in medical circles for its potential efficacy in treating epilepsy and other seizure disorders. And, contrary to what detractors of medical marijuana would expect, the evidence isn't coming solely from the pro-cannabis lobby.

A medical marijuana company with ties to New York is calling on Google after they say the search engine giant denied them the opportunity to market their products. Time Warner Cable News reporter Michael Howard has the details on why Google says they did so, and how a local lawyer says it has yet to be dealt with on a national level.

The CEO of Vireo Health of New York Ari Hoffnung says he is frustrated with Google after the company denied Vireo the opportunity to market its products on the worlds largest search engine. 

 A series of new bills would make significant changes to New York's medical marijuana program as the state faces criticism for various barriers to patient access.

The legislation introduced this week by Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, would allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to certify patients that can use the drug, while adding Alzheimer's and a handful of other conditions to the list of those eligible for treatment.

If approved, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries would be doubled, from 20 to 40. Another bill would create a 15-member advisory committee to help decide appeals from marijuana-seeking patients who have been denied.

How to make pot seem as all-American as an ice-cold beer.

GAYLORD — Maureen Suggitt travels nearly 120 miles from Sault Ste. Marie to obtain her medical marijuana and Sunday she traveled that same distance to protest a recent sting that has blocked her from purchasing her medicine.

Suggitt joined a group of more than 100 in Gaylord Sunday for a march that began around 3 p.m. to protest raids of every medical marijuana dispensary in Otsego County by numerous law enforcement agencies Thursday.

With the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act in place, Suggitt said she was confused as to why the raids were warranted.

It’s one of the main questions voters ask when they consider a cannabis measure: Will legalization — whether medical or adult use — encourage more kids to get high? 

With some form of legalization expected on at least a half-dozen state ballots this November, data showing increased or decreased use by minors will likely be a powerful weapon in the battle for votes.  

Compassionate doctors play a very, very big role in a medical marijuana program. States can create all of the lists of qualifying conditions that they want, but if there aren’t doctors that are willing to sign patients’ forms, a state medical marijuana program will never go anywhere. That’s why states need to refrain from putting added barriers in the way of a doctor helping a sick patient. If states put in additional hoops for a doctor to jump through, they are going to be even less inclined to help medical marijuana patients.

According to a new study released on March 7, more than 1 million people participate in medical marijuana programs in the United States.

The new study, conducted at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, found that “while 14 of the nation’s 24 medical marijuana programs were essentially non-medical in practice, they enrolled more than 99 percent of overall participants. Fewer than one percent were enrolled in ‘medicalized’ programs that adhere to accepted professional standards in medicine.”

Anti-drug activists think that a few puffs on a joint will turn you into a red-eyed, unemployed psychopath – probably for life.

But is marijuana actually that bad for you?

With several American states having decriminalised the herb for personal use, scientists have suddenly had the chance to see what cannabis actually does on a mass scale.

And guess what? Cannabis actually has some VERY surprising health benefits. Here’s a few.

1) Smoking weed makes you thinner – or at least less likely to be obese