We rarely worry about marijuana. So why is it still a Schedule I drug?

On August 11th, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced its decision to keep marijuana classified as a Schedule I drug. The federal government has historically referred to this category as the “most dangerous” group of substances, including drugs like heroin and bath salts.

As a resident physician specializing in mental health, I can't make much sense of this.

High Society: Pardons for nonviolent marijuana offenders in states where weed is legal are becoming part of the debate as more states consider legalizing cannabis.  

Twenty years ago, Rico Garcia was 21 when he got caught up in a marijuana sting in Colorado with a friend who wanted to buy some weed. The seller turned out to be a police informant, and Garcia and his friend were arrested.

“The police came and arrested us and said we were selling weed,” says Garcia, now a 41-year-old marijuana advocate who runs Cannabis Alliance for Regulation and Education. “My friend said it was his, but … under Colorado law at the time, 8 ounces was possession with intent and I got a felony.”

Arkansas voters may have to choose between two separate ballot measures in the upcoming November election when trying to determine whether The Land of Opportunity should join the ranks of 25 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing medical marijuana.

Companies in Washington and Colorado are seeing green thanks to the legalization of marijuana. Now Canada is on the onset of a marijuana boom. Bloomberg's Michael Bancroft visited one pot producer blending old-fashioned farming techniques with big data to create new strains to treat patients.

Locally owned IPAmediagroup announced the official launch date of www.420fundme.com, a highly anticipated platform facilitating crowdfunding for cannabis related projects. Site launch is set for September 15th and will enable individuals, groups and businesses to fund a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from individuals online.

What started out as a service that delivered monthly packages of skin-, body-, and hair-care samples to beauty product enthusiasts has become a universal business model. Want a shave kit? There’s a box for that. Need vitamins, chia seeds, and yoga gear? There’s a box for that. What about dog treats and toys? There’s a box for that too. Now, the box subscription model has taken a leap forward to join the medical marijuana gold rush in California. A new company called Au Box has introduced a monthly subscription service, available only in San Francisco at the moment, where clients with a medical marijuana license can sign up and receive a special box of cannabis products to their doorstep each month.

New York is considering expanding its 9-month-old medical marijuana program by adding more growers and allowing home delivery.

The state Health Department has issued a report recommending ways the program can be improved. Some of those recommendations include:

San Diego voters will be told this fall that passage of a ballot measure to tax businesses selling recreational marijuana could generate an estimated $22 million for city coffers in the first year, according to documents made available Tuesday.

The estimate is part of a fiscal analysis of Measure N, which will go before voters in November. The City Clerk’s Office released fiscal and legal analyses on the dozen city of San Diego propositions that will be decided in the general election.

Measure N would only take effect if voters statewide approve Proposition 64, which would decriminalize recreational marijuana use. The drug is currently allowed under state law only for medical purposes.

Washington state is moving ahead with its plans to allow scientific research of marijuana, sidestepping federal rules that critics say have hampered study of the drug for decades.

The state has a new marijuana research license that will allow laboratories to grow marijuana for scientific study. State officials expect to start accepting applications for the new license by January.

Supporters hope the state licensing helps provide new evidence of marijuana’s effectiveness as a medical treatment, potentially paving the way for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to ease restrictions on the drug’s possession and use.

Zinc deficiency is addressed by all the usual ganja guru suspects whose cannabis cultivation advice I respect and have learned from in books, magazine articles, live lectures and internet postings. Their observed symptoms of interveinal chlorosis, edge and spot necrosis plus stunted new growth seem to me more the result of near or complete absence of zinc rather than a mere “deficiency”. After reviewing the literature, I’ve come to believe that zinc deficiency in cannabis is a very common yet silent suppressor of optimum yields. In food agriculture, crop yields can be attenuated by over 20% without any symptoms at all of zinc deficiency being visible; this can go on for years and you’d never know it.