The popular explanation for medical marijuana dispensaries that have popped up in states from Washington to New York is that marijuana is a wonder drug — treating not just nausea and lack of appetite, but also pain, anxiety, epileptic seizures, and the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia.

The federal government refuses to allow people to use it, proponents say. 

The story, however, isn’t quite so simple.

Many marijuana advocates are saying 2016 will be the year for marijuana legalization, thanks in part to a new poll which finds that a majority of voters in several swing stats support legalizing marijuana.

According to the Quinnipiac survey,  55 percent of voters in Florida, 52 percent in Ohio, and 51 percent in Pennsylvania, are in favor of allowing adults “to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use.”

As for Medical Marijuana the numbers are even more staggering, with 84 percent of the voters in Florida and Ohio and 88 percent in Pennsylvania stating that they believe medical marijuana should be legal.

Marijuana can kill cancer cells and shrink some types of brain tumour, new research has found.

A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) - funded by the US Government - shows extracts from the plants can help enhance the impact of radiation therapy.

It is believed that the drug – which is legal in a number of American states – can also shrink some of the most serious types of brain tumours.

Getty Health: The use of marijuana for medical purposes is legal in some US states

“How did I anticipate this question?” President Barack Obama joked during a Q&A event in Jamaica on Thursday when a Rastafarian man in the audience asked about the legalization of marijuana and hemp industry’s potential ability to lift Jamaicans out of poverty.

Obama resisted the urge to pander to the friendly crowd, but rather explained the situation as it stands in the U.S. now and how he think it might develop in the future.

In “Weed the People,” Bainbridge Island author Bruce Barcott delivers a thorough and entertaining survey of the burgeoning legalization of marijuana in the U.S. Barcott appears April 15 at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Co.

‘Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America’ by Bruce Barcott Time, Inc., 400 pp., $22.95

Why does the Washington State Legislature want to undermine medical cannabis? New Approach Washington’s Alison Holcomb and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes with Initiative 502 clearly stated that if passed, it would have no effect on medical cannabis laws. Both repeatedly reassured voters that “I-502 won’t harm patients.”

Senate Bill SB 5052 is an effort by the Legislature that could doom our medical cannabis patient rights. This bill could bring harm and even death to many medical cannabis patients. Why would the lawmakers do this?

Immediately, three reasons grab my attention: knowledge deficit, power, and greed. Let’s examine this.

When recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado in January of 2014, it promised to be a boom for those who were ready with their brick and mortar stores and new licenses. Growing as rapidly as weed are ancillary businesses that cater to these new marijuana pioneers. You only need to walk inside the massive grow operation at establishments like Medicine Man to realize that marijuana demands sophisticated lighting and cooling systems as well as excellent soil and fertilizers to keep the plants happily budding. To protect the plants, growers and retailers need elaborate security systems. Once harvested, marijuana needs to be sold in specialized packaging. Ancillary products are flourishing as the marijuana economy takes off.

Punitive punishment for marijuana offenses on school grounds leads to a higher chance of future marijuana use, according to the American Journal of Public Health. (Getty Images)

With marijuana legal for recreational use, one pressing question is how to enforce school anti-marijuana policies. The fear of kids possibly losing themselves in a marijuana fog is a legitimate fear for parents. That much is obvious. But how do we deal with that fear?

Is it better to rule by Thor’s hammer or to encourage an open dialogue?

It went up in smoke.

Seattle’s first legal marijuana-grow operation erupted in flames Wednesday — and about 3,000 pot plants perished in the blaze, fire officials and KIRO 7 TVsaid.

The two-alarm fire gutted Sea of Green Farms in Magnolia about 4 a.m. after an electrical wiring problem, the Seattle Fire Department said. It was controlled about 45 minutes later.

There were no reported injuries.

Firefighters, who wore standard masks to battle the blaze, were not affected by the marijuana fumes, Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore told The Seattle Times.

“The building is ventilated upward, so all the smoke went up into the air,” he said.

But That Could Change—If You Care About This Issue, Contact These Representatives in Olympia Right Now

 few years ago, my friends Monica and Nate got ahold of a few marijuana cuttings, also known as "clones," and planted them in their backyards. Neither of their plants grew into the towering, gawky, bamboo-like stalks you see in stock news photos of professional marijuana grows. Monica pruned hers to grow smaller and bushier, less conspicuous, almost ornamental—the bonsai of marijuana. They were stupidly easy to grow, both said, no more difficult than tomatoes or basil. One year, the wind knocked over Monica's pot planters, breaking one and crunching lots of the stems—but they hurtled back to life.