The federal government unveiled data Tuesday detailing 4.4 million payments made to doctors and teaching hospitals by pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

The launch of the so-called Open Payments website, mandated under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, was far from glitch-free: Some users encountered long delays and sometimes error messages trying to access its seven data tables. Also, the site didn’t provide consumers with an easy-to-use lookup tool, a single place to search for a doctor’s name and see all results across data files.

Carlsbad's BudGenius excited at celebrity tie-in; but cannabis group shies from stoner image

A Carlsbad-based company that tests and profiles medical marijuana strains has teamed up with one of America’s best-known stoners.

BudGenius — which doesn’t sell pot, but provides quality-control testing and related services for dispensaries and consumers — announced this week it has acquired the licensing rights to a line of cannabis-related products endorsed by actor/comedian/marijuana activist Tommy Chong.

Chong, 76, is best known for a series of “Cheech & Chong” comedy albums and films he made with Cheech Marin in the 1970s and early ‘80s. The duo’s success was largely based on jokes about their love of marijuana.

NoCo Hemp Expo draws 1,000-plus to second annual event at The Ranch

Justin Petty of Los Angeles isn't too keen on laundry, so he likes to wear his T-shirts for a week.

Petty can wear the shirts multiple times made by the company he co-owns called Recreator Hemp Apparel, because of their material: hemp. Hemp is twice as durable as cotton and is hypo-allergenic and microbial, which prevents the buildup of odor, he said.

"We like to think of hemp as having the performance capacity of synthetics, but it's natural," Petty said.

Recreator Hemp Apparel, a KickStarter project that launched a year ago, imports the fabric from China because of legal issues and then cuts, dyes, sews and prints its line of T-shirts in Los Angeles.

Bruce Barcott became an expert on the cannabis industry while researching and writing “Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America” (Time Books, available Tuesday) — a book that reflects the ways in which many Americans' outlook on the drug has changed in recent years.

Barcott recounts his own marijuana experiences. They didn't go beyond the sort of youthful experimentation that Americans typically leave behind with the rest of campus life when they move on from college and take on real-world adult responsibilities — until Washington state asked voters about legalizing, regulating and taxing recreational marijuana.

Considering an investment in the cannabis industry? Consider this a brief starting guide to making responsible choices. It may help you determine if considering an investment in the cannabis industry is right for you.

Ground Zero: What is Your Risk Tolerance?

This is such a broad question that a whole series or articles can (and has been) devoted to the topic, and for good reason. Risk tolerance, the amount of financial pain you can withstand, takes into account your age, employment, annual income, expenses, total net worth, asset allocation, long-term liabilities, personal life goals, investment objectives, cultural leanings, ethics and lifestyle.

Complex organizations require talented executive leadership. This is true in the corporate world, as well as in non-profits. In California, medical cannabis patients can form non-profit collectives to cooperatively produce their medicine. It is a legal way to obtain medicine not personally grown. Any group of two or more people who are both qualified patients can exchange medicine and money. This is generically described by the law as a “collective.” However, when a “collective” chooses to file as a non-profit with the state, it is known as a “cooperative.”

CHICAGO  •   Illinois residents have petitioned the state to add more than 20 medical conditions to the medical marijuana program, including anxiety, migraines, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Petitioners identifying themselves as veterans of Vietnam and Iraq asked that PTSD be included, making emotional pleas for help, according to 269 pages of petitions obtained by The Associated Press through the state's Freedom of Information Act. The state blacked out the names of petitioners before releasing the documents to protect patients' privacy.

A bill to warn pregnant women about the dangers of using marijuana had some Colorado legislators on Monday questioning whether that would be constitutional, since the mandate from voters who passed 2012′s Amendment 64 was to regulate pot like alcohol.

After a rigorous debate, House Bill 1298 passed on a voice vote, but just barely. The House of Representatives will take a roll call vote within the next few days to determine if the bill dies or advances to the state Senate.

The legislation would require pot shops to “display in a conspicuous location a sign that warns pregnant women about the potential risks caused by marijuana.” The state health department would determine the signs’ language.

Where cannabis is legal, employers can no longer drug test employees for THC, right? Wrong. For now.

In all 23 states and the District of Columbia where medical marijuana is legal (including the four states and D.C. where recreational marijuana is also legal), employers may drug test their employees and insist on a drug-free workplace. Few of the marijuana-friendly states require that employers accommodate employees who use cannabis, even if for medical use.

Since the Department of Justice's unexpected policy announcement in December regarding marijuana in Indian Country, many tribes are carefully considering the unintended consequences of addressing their approach to marijuana. At the same time, tribes are entering into relationships or accepting advice from shysters who may be leading them down the garden path.