This week's special legislative session focused on funding for education and economic development won't include medical marijuana, at least for now.

House and Senate leaders remained hopeful that they could strike a deal on the framework for carrying out a voter-approved constitutional amendment that broadly legalizing medical marijuana. But if they don't reach agreement before the special session ends, the Legislature is unlikely to take up the issue later this summer, according to a top senator.

Gov. Rick Scott, Senate President Joe Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran announced Friday they had agreed on the parameters of a three-day special session, slated to start Wednesday, to address education and economic-development issues.

An upstart New York mayoral candidate is calling out Bill de Blasio’s 'baffling claim' that the city has ended marijuana arrests Screammie June 2, 2017

Robert Gangi, an activist who’s challenging Bill de Blasio for the Democratic nomination, wants to decriminalize marijuana in New York City.

An upstart challenger for the New York City mayor’s office is calling out Bill de Blasio’s “baffling” claim that the city has ended marijuana arrests — and he’s pushing for the city to decriminalize possession of the drug.

Despite declining TV ratings for National Football League (NFL) games, football remains the most popular sport among Americans. It's also a big industry, with the NFL generating estimated revenue of around $14 billion last season.

Another industry could soon eclipse the NFL, though, if projections from research companies Arcview Market Research and GreenWave Advisors are on target. Both Arcview and GreenWave think that the marijuana industry will be bigger than the NFL by 2020. Could this really happen -- and, if so, what are the best stocks for investors to profit from the trend?

The California State Assembly on Thursday evening passed legislation that would make Cali a ‘sanctuary state,’ and prohibit state and local agencies from using resources to assist federal law enforcement authorities against people in compliance with state law.

The successful Assembly floor vote means the bill has cleared its first house, before the Friday deadline, and now heads to the State Senate to be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee.

One of North Carolina's two U.S. senators has joined the call for expansion of research into the medical benefits of marijuana.

Sen. Thom Tllis (R-N.C.) is co-sponsoring a bill that would reclassify a derivative of the plant -- CBD. Tillis said that would remove unnecessary barriers to studying the potential benefits and risks.

"Cannabidiol is currently a controlled substance," Tillis said in a statement. "This bill would reassess that categorization and expand research into the potential medical benefits of marijuana components."

But not everyone is pleased with the bill.

Several local farmers have joined North Carolina's industrial hemp pilot program. They believe the Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act is nothing more than bad medicine.

Let’s start with some good news.

Medical Marijuana is safe for the time being. Section 537 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 prohibits the DOJ and the DEA from using any funds in the bill to prevent states from “implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/244/text

Much like how big banks have kept their distance from cannabis, large insurance carriers have generally stayed away from the industry even as states across the US continue to launch legal, regulated markets for patients and consumers.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones wants to change that.

Jones, a former state lawmaker and Sacramento City Council member, will be holding a series of meetings aimed at educating major insurers and convincing them to begin insuring the industry.

The legal marijuana industry has demonstrated explosive growth in recent years, and marijuana stock investors are really taking notice.

In May, Drug Enforcement Agency acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg caused a stir by proclaiming, in a speech in Ohio, that “marijuana is not medicine.”

Many people immediately disagreed, including The Hill, which wrote that Rosenberg might as well have said “the Earth is flat.”