Marijuana

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 17- Thursday, January 23, 2014.

As the first legal marijuana stores open in Colorado, and Washington state gets ready to issue licenses for producing, processing and selling marijuana, momentum is building in other states to legalize the drug, according to the Los Angeles Times.

President Obama told The New Yorker magazine he does not think marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol. He added smoking marijuana is “not something I encourage.”

Thoughts of suicide are more common among adults who use illicit drugs, compared with the general population, according to a new government survey.

Policymakers in Colorado are imposing a 15 percent wholesale and 10 percent retail tax on marijuana transactions. The impact of the tax rate is unclear, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 10- Thursday, January 16, 2014.

Entrepreneurs are moving forward with new business strategies as legal sales of recreational marijuana get underway in Colorado, CNBC reports. Washington state will begin selling marijuana later this year.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday he will allow some patients with serious illnesses to have access to medical marijuana.

Brain scientists are debating whether marijuana could be a useful treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, NPR reports.

Addiction treatment centers in Colorado are bracing for an increase in teens referred for marijuana use, ABC News reports. The state began legal sales of recreational marijuana for adults last week.

Legal sales of recreational marijuana began in Colorado on Wednesday. Hundreds of state residents, as well as tourists from around the country, lined up before dawn to purchase state-regulated marijuana, The New York Times reports.

The percentage of teens who think there is a great risk from being a regular marijuana user has dropped, according to a new survey. The Monitoring the Future survey found 39.5 percent of 12th graders think regular marijuana use is harmful, down from 44.1 percent last year.

Heavy marijuana use in the teenage years could damage brain structures vital to memory and reasoning, a new study suggests.

A bill to legalize, tax and regulate the sale of marijuana to adults in New York state was introduced this week by three state legislators.

The Uruguay Senate has voted to legalize marijuana, The Wall Street Journal reports. The law, approved Tuesday, puts the government of the South American nation in control of the distribution and sale of marijuana.

Pregnant women who smoke marijuana may increase their risk of stillbirth three-fold, a new study concludes.

About 100 families of children with seizures have come to Colorado to gain access to a marijuana-based oil to treat their children, The New York Times reports.

Employers in Colorado and Washington state, where recreational marijuana is now legal for adults, are wrestling with whether and how to adjust their drug policies to account for the new laws.

A scientist at the University of New Haven is developing a new test to detect contaminants such as mold and mildew in marijuana, CBS News reports.

Anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen can reduce the high created by marijuana, a new study in mice suggests. The research could have implications for studying marijuana as a treatment for people with Alzheimer’s disease, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates voted this week to reaffirm its opposition to marijuana legalization, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Positive workplace tests for marijuana and cocaine have dropped sharply since 1988, while tests revealing prescription drug abuse are increasing, according to a study by the medical-testing company Quest Diagnostics Inc.

A licensed smell investigator in Denver is using a device called a “Nasal Ranger” to sniff out marijuana. Ben Siller is using the device to help enforce an ordinance designed to protect the purity of the city’s air.

A new poll finds 64 percent of Americans say it is unacceptable for a company to fire employees for using marijuana during their free time in states where the drug has been legalized.

Owners of stores that sell drug paraphernalia, known as head shops, say their business is growing as more states legalize the medical and recreational use of marijuana. These stores stay out of trouble with the law by saying their products are for tobacco use only, USA Today reports.