Marijuana

Two proposed constitutional amendments that would legalize medical marijuana are being debated in Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

A Colorado task force making recommendations on how to regulate marijuana has called for the drug to be sold in child-proof packaging, according to The Denver Post.

A bipartisan group of 13 House members has introduced a federal bill that would allow medical marijuana patients and businesses that are complying with state law to access and distribute marijuana without federal interference.

A new study links the number of sex partners young adults have with their subsequent risk of developing alcohol or marijuana dependence disorders. The study found young women who had more than two or three sex partners when they were 18 to 20 years old were nearly 10 times more likely than those with one or no sexual partner to develop a substance dependence problem at age 21.

Entrepreneurs in the medical marijuana industry can be hit with a federal income tax rate as high as 75 percent, CNN reports. The high tax rate is due to a 1982 tax code provision aimed at drug runners.

A task force in Colorado will be making recommendations on how to regulate marijuana, now that recreational use of the drug has been legalized. The group is suggesting rules for everything from “pot tourism” to whether people can smoke marijuana on their backyard patios.

Massachusetts officials are struggling to figure out how the state’s new medical marijuana law will impact health care professionals. Because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, health workers who use medical marijuana may endanger their licenses, according to WBUR.

Researchers at the University of Mississippi have developed a patch to deliver THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. They say it could be used to treat pain, glaucoma, and the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.

Teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are significantly more likely to have substance abuse issues and to smoke cigarettes, compared with their peers without a history of the disorder, according to a nationwide study.

The Colorado legislature is gearing up to debate where to set the limit on how much marijuana can be in a person’s system before they are considered to be driving under the influence, according to The Denver Post.

About 10 percent of young teens with mental illness frequently use alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana, a new Australian study suggests. This substance abuse pattern becomes more common as teenagers grow older.

A bond is growing between the fledging medical marijuana industry and labor unions, Reuters reports.

Congressmen from Colorado and Oregon have proposed legislation that would weaken federal restrictions on marijuana, The Wall Street Journal reports. The proposals, which are likely to face stiff opposition, would begin to address the disparity between federal and state marijuana laws.

Expert marijuana growers are in demand in states that have legalized the drug for medical use, The Arizona Republic reports. These consultants work for dispensaries or “grow centers,” giving tips on how to manipulate the plants with lights, nutrients and air to grow high-grade marijuana.

Almost any kind of illegal drug can be purchased online and delivered by mail, without the buyer making direct contact with drug dealers, according to a new report by the European Union. The report states such purchases make it more difficult to track drug routes.

The threshold for the driving-under-the-influence standard that is part of the new Washington state marijuana law may be too high, a government expert told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The California Supreme Court will soon decide whether local governments can ban marijuana dispensaries, according to the Los Angeles Times. The court will hear arguments on February 5, following years of contradictory decisions by lower courts.

Representatives from Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica met with U.S. officials last week to discuss the impact on Latin America of new marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington.

A U.S. Appeals Court this week refused to overrule the Drug Enforcement Administration’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical uses, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Legalizing marijuana sends the wrong message to young people, R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said this week. “We are certainly not sending a very good message when we call it medicine and legalize it,” he told The Oregonian.

Some young adults under age 21 are not happy with new laws in Colorado and Washington that allow the recreational use of marijuana only for those who are at least 21 years old, according to U.S. News.

A new study calls into question the results of a study published last year that concluded heavy marijuana use can permanently lower IQ by several points in teens. The new research suggests that the IQ drop may have been caused by factors related to economic class and home life, NBC News reports.

A case involving the Justice Department indictment of a California medical marijuana entrepreneur highlights the dispute between federal and state authorities over the drug, according to The New York Times.

A group opposing marijuana legalization, called Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), is launching Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Former U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, chairs the organization.

A federal judge has ruled that a medical marijuana dispensary in northern California can remain open, despite efforts by federal prosecutors to close it.