A new study published in the journal Psychological Medicine suggests that marijuana may protect from metabolic syndrome, a health condition that is linked to heart disease and diabetes. Metabolic syndrome describes several health risk factors that are associated with heightened risks for heart disease and diabetes along with other health problems.

One thing that won't be on the ballot in Texas next week, is whether to legalize marijuana. However, a growing number of states are considering it and supporters say it gives them more momentum here in our area.

Right now, recreational marijuana is legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Washington D.C. It's on the ballot in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada.

"It's been a part of my life since I was a child, family members growing up in Katy farming community believe it or not,” said Cara Bonin, Exectuive Director for Houston NORML. "This is a natural plant that god put on this earth."

She's paying close attention this election to how marijuana does on ballots across the country.

In an apparent effort to mislead voters about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's marijuana policy, supporters of Republican nominee Donald Trump started spreading fake memes under the hashtag #StopThePot over the weekend.

The memes — designed to mimic images shared by the Clinton campaign on social media — suggest that the candidate opposes legalization and supports harsh criminal penalties for marijuana users.

Content marketing is how we think about marketing. Back in the day it was hit them over the head over and over until they buy from you. It’s different today. The cannabis industry is new and it’s getting smarter.

Content has to have value, period. It has to provide engaging and entertaining information, which is totally different than the hit them over the head strategy.

A fish is not aware of the water. This is how content must be… like air. You just have to be there, surrounding who wants to engage.

As Arizona voters prepare to vote on legalization, an anti-drug group paints a bleak picture of life in a neighboring state.

Lawmakers in Colorado on Monday asked an anti-marijuana campaign in Arizona to stop airing ads that they say contain false information about their state and could mislead voters who will be deciding on recreational legalization of the drug next week. 

State Sen. Pat Steadman (D) and Democratic state Reps. Millie Hamner and Johnathan Singer wrote an email to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy leaders to call out ads the group has run. They say the TV spots contain “inaccurate and misleading statements” about the use of legal marijuana tax revenue in Colorado as well as rates of teen drug use.

Another company that was denied a license to grow medical marijuana in Maryland has filed a lawsuit against state cannabis regulators, this time alleging that they didn’t follow a law calling for racial diversity in the potentially lucrative industry. 

The suit filed Monday by Alternative Medicine Maryland asks a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge to halt the burgeoning medical marijuana program until the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission takes action to ensure racial and ethnic diversity among licensed growers.

Although the state’s medical marijuana legalization law calls for regulators to “actively seek to achieve” racial and ethnic diversity in awarding growing licenses, the commission did not consider the race of applicants.

Jake Heimark never really smoked pot.

Even now, as Heimark launches the second product from his marijuana edibles company, Plus, he indulges only when testing his own product— a kind of medicated gum.

Despite his lack of firsthand experience, he is well prepared to enter the budding marijuana marketplace. A two-year stint on Facebook's risk management team taught Heimark how to build a great product and how to cultivate a company culture that values "moving fast" (though maybe not "breaking things," as the social giant's mantra goes).

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports on the impact of marijuana legalization on a community in Colorado. He visits the largest recreational cultivation facility in the country —36 acres of plants that are each tagged and tracked, from seed to sale. 

It’s quite a difference from the first time 60 Minutes showed viewers marijuana harvesting.

It was 1970, and correspondent Mike Wallace took viewers to Kansas, “quite literally Middle America,” he says in the clip above. There, he found 63,000 acres of the plant, growing like a weed, appropriately enough.

Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know about everything marijuana can do.

More and more studies on the abilities of THC are being released recently, and the results are astonishing. Though many have suspected that the drug works wonders on the brain and central nervous system, studies on these theories have been few and far between because of marijuana’s legal status and a lack of funding for illegal drugs.

That’s slowly starting to change as more states embrace the drug both medicinally and recreationally. As a result, more studies have been conducted to determine what the effects of THC on the body are and the findings are miraculous.

The difficulty of testing for marijuana intoxication and the complexity of Maine’s drug-testing laws are creating uncertainty among state officials and employers about the workplace impacts of a legal marijuana market.

“It’s uncharted territory to a great extent,” said Julie Rabinowitz, director of policy, operations and communications for the Maine Department of Labor.