A Republican Minot senator raised concerns about the price of medical marijuana at a town hall meeting over the weekend -- making note that he asked for a fee of only $25 to get an authorization card instead of the $200 fee proposed so far in the Senate bill.

Medical marijuana would be expensive in North Dakota under a legislative bill that passed 40-6 in Senate and now is before the House, he said.

Sen. Oley Larsen, R-Minot, cited costs that could run from $300 to $700 a month for those who smoke medical marijuana to $1,200 to $1,700 a month for those who use the oil.

New Frontier Data, the authority in business intelligence for the cannabis industry, has been following the Administration’s recent positioning on marijuana policy in the U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session’s echoed White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s recent comments that the administration may crack down on adult use markets. Our analysts found a number of interesting insights that may be of use in this policy discussion going forward.

It won't get you high, but cannabidoil, a compound found in marijuana, is tripping up Alaska's cannabis industry.

Cannabidiol — commonly referred to as CBD — is a chemical compound often used in pain management. CBD is non-intoxicating, unlike its psychoactive counterpart THC, and it has shown promise in treating a wide range of illnesses, from anxiety to epilepsy.

When someone thinks about the cannabis industry, they typically think of a dispensary or a grow facility.

Although these concepts might seem be some of the sexiest and most lucrative, are they as attractive on paper and are they the best long-term investment?

The answer to questions like these differs from person-to-person and has a lot to do with personal preference and aspirations. Retail dispensaries and grow facilities have proven to be profitable but many fail and the causes can be even more wide ranging.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says many peculiar things. Regarding marijuana, he recently said, “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement.” He also distinguished between recreational and medical marijuana before making a bullshit comparison with opioid addiction.

We’ll have to wait and see what this means, exactly, but a shift in the executive branch’s marijuana policy creates many complex issues. The most important one? Federal legislators could and should loosen marijuana laws soon.

("Alliance Growers" or the "Company") announces that the Company has executed on the term sheet for a financing commitment offered by a U.S. based private equity firm for a $5 Million equity facility in a series of private placements with an option to go to $10 million. This arrangement was previously referenced in a news release on February 14, 2017.

The purpose of the Equity Facility is to provide the Company with financial flexibility and control over the financial requirements for its many exciting and integrated projects, providing access to capital as deemed necessary by the Company.

U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. was one of 11 U.S. senators to co-sign a letter Thursday asking the Department of Justice to uphold the guidance on state marijuana laws that has been in place since 2013.

The letter is addressed to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who stated this week that he is "definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana." He added that states can pass laws but consuming and distributing marijuana remained a federal violation.

Only one Republican senator signed the follow-up letter, which is signed by lawmakers from all eight states that have so far legalized recreational marijuana, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The District of Columbia also has legalized weed.

With a growing number of countries liberalizing the use of cannabis, new ways to make the drug safer for users are urgently needed, experts warn.

A report, ‘Can cannabis be made safer?’ published in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal, claims that the amount of people in the UK seeking specialist treatment for cannabis side effects has increased by 50 percent in the last eight years.

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While old-style herbal cannabis is unlikely to cause mental health issues, the reports warns that the majority of cannabis being sold on the streets is an extremely potent form of the drug, known as ‘sinsemilla’ (which in Spanish means ‘without seed’) or ‘skunk’, which could increase the risk of developing psychosis.

The Trump administration is causing serious paranoia among marijuana advocates with its hints of a federal crackdown on recreational use. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions has privately reassured some Republican senators that he won't deviate from an Obama-era policy of allowing states to implement their own marijuana laws.

Sessions has rattled both libertarians and liberals in ordering a review of the hands-off pot policy under President Barack Obama. But Sessions provided some private assurances to senators before he was confirmed that he was not considering a major shift in enforcement, despite his opposition to the use of marijuana.