In ninety per cent of diabetes worldwide, the underlying cause is related to the body's resistance to the effect of insulin, which normally acts to maintain steady blood-sugar levels.

A five-year study reported in 2013, wherein some 5,000 participants were observed, the users of ganja had 17 per cent lower levels of resistance to insulin, as well as 16 per cent had lower levels of insulin circulating in the blood.

Further, the study found that users of ganja had significantly lower levels of blood sugar compared to non-users.

This study, reported in the American Journal of Medicine, supports the finding that by reducing the resistance to insulin, ganja use could, indeed, prevent the development of diabetes.

Oregon raked in $3.48 million from January recreational pot sales — the first month of the state's 25 percent tax — far outpacing the $3 million projected for the entire year.

Collecting those taxes is no simple task. More than half of Oregon's recreational pot dealers paying their taxes that month did so in cash, a symptom of the industry's yearslong struggle for banking access that's also a big security risk.

On the face of it, marijuana would seem an odd candidate for a museum exhibit. It’s illegal in most of the country, its past is controversial and its future is uncertain. Yet one museum has mounted a comprehensive exhibit about weed. Altered State: Marijuana in California, which opened last weekend at the Oakland Museum of California, is as thought-provoking as it is titillating and often funny.

Billed as the “first-ever museum exhibition to focus on the topic,” it examines cannabis from 10 different perspectives. A lot of the questions – of economics, politics, law, medicine, recreation, environment, influence on children and more – have no clear answers.

THE MARIJUANA ANALYTICS company Steep Hill doesn’t smell dank, or skunky, or “loud”—unless you happen to arrive when a client is dropping off a sample. No seven-pointed-leaf logos ornament the walls; no Tibetan prayer flags flutter from the doorframe. Inside, a half-dozen young scientists work in a glass-walled lab to the sounds of whirring ventilation and soft jazz. The effect is one of professionalism and scientific objectivity.

While supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have lost track of how many times they’ve heard his oft-touted figure of $27 — the average donation to Sanders’ campaign — the marijuana-minded vote is looking to alter that average, if only for one day.

With cannabis holiday 420 quickly approaching, some Sanders supporters have started an online campaign, encouraging others to donate $4.20 (or $42 or $420) to Sanders’ war chest on April 20 to “send a message to the establishment that alone, we’re harmless bees, but together, we’re a ferocious swarm that will not be silenced.”

Think of it as the consumer buying guide of the future.

On Wednesday, Phylos Bioscience, an Oregon biotechnology start-up, will begin offering an online interactive guide that visually portrays the genetic relationships of almost 1,000 types of cannabis, otherwise known as marijuana.

The resulting visualization will offer anyone the ability to easily travel in cyberspace through a three-dimensional projection of the genetic information drawn from sequencing samples of the plant, which is increasingly being legalized for medical and recreational use in states throughout the country.

Tracking pot from seed to sale.

The state of Oregon is starting to train marijuana growers, processors and store on new technology to make sure marijuana stays legally in our borders. This uses the same kind of chip that pets get from the humane society.

It's the software that will put Oregon's pot market on the same level as any corporation-organized inventory, tracked delivery and point of sale records.

It's from a company called Metrc. Colorado uses it as well. Washington uses something similar.

A blue barcode starts in the soil. Inside the tag is a chip with a serial number that is read by an RFID scanner.

Fortune takes a look at the influencers on 4/20. 

America’s marijuana industry has bloomed in recent years with voters in more and more states voting to legalize pot in some form as public opinion on the drug seems to evolve with each generation.

Heavy snow in Colorado this past weekend put a damper on the celebrations leading up to 4/20, the annual April 20 celebration of all things marijuana-related that occurs on Wednesday this year. On Saturday, organizers scrapped a major cannabis rally in downtown Denver at the last minute, and hundreds of flight cancellations at Denver International Airport frustrated the plans of travelers aiming to spend the week sampling the state’s legal cannabis market in honor of the cannabis high holiday. But that didn’t mean folks weren’t still ready to pre-party.

I have no idea whether the clerical staff at the United Nations chose to schedule this year's General Assembly Special Session on Narcotic Drugs (UNGASS) during 420 week as some kind of wry commentary or winking joke, but the timing feels right; there's a certain harmony between a global holiday to celebrate cannabis civil disobedience and a reform agenda to de-escalate the global drug war. 

Yes, you read that right: after decades of impotent rhetoric describing a fictional "world without drugs," the United Nations is coming together, even as you read this, to work out a ceasefire on the War on Drugs.