Marijuana

A British company is conducting advanced clinical trials of the first drug developed from raw marijuana. The drug is a mouth spray designed to treat cancer-related pain. The company hopes to obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of 2013.

The 23 marijuana dispensaries located near schools in Colorado that received warning letters last week telling them they must shut down should take the warning seriously, according to Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh.

A new study shows a program that provides a system of incentives for good behavior helps parolees reduce marijuana use. The system was not found to be successful among those who use stimulants or opiates, Medical News Today reports.

Low to moderate use of marijuana is less harmful to the lungs than tobacco exposure, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

An estimated 200 million people worldwide use illegal drugs, according to a new study. The health consequences of this use are wide-ranging.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide this month whether to take up a case that would decide whether police officers can obtain a search warrant for illegal drugs based on a drug-sniffing dog that picks up a scent outside of a house.

Before voters cast their ballots to legalize marijuana, or their elected officials decide, think about what will happen to children if marijuana becomes accessible to adults, much like alcohol, advises National Families in Action's Sue Ruche.

Marijuana use is gaining in popularity among teens, according to Monitoring the Future, an annual survey of eighth, 10th, and 12th-graders, The New York Times reports. The survey found one of every 15 high school seniors smokes marijuana on an almost daily basis.

Arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana have dropped 13 percent in New York City since the police department relaxed its enforcement policy in September, Reuters reports.

Some experts in the field of substance abuse say there are significant problems with a recent study that concluded medical marijuana laws are associated with a reduction in traffic deaths. The critics point out the study was published as a working paper, and was not a peer-reviewed study in a scientific journal.

A new study finds medical marijuana laws are associated with a reduction in traffic deaths. The most likely reason for the decrease is that some people in states with the laws use marijuana instead of alcohol, the researchers say.

The governors of Rhode Island and Washington have asked the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses.

A growing number of young people being booked into jail in Hennepin County, Minnesota, which includes Minneapolis, are using painkillers, according to KARE11.

A man who was on the liver transplant list at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles has been removed because he was using medical marijuana and did not show up for a drug test.

California’s Secretary of State announced the proponent, of an initiative that would limit punishment to a $250 fine for possession, cultivation, sale or transportation of up to two ounces of marijuana, can begin collecting signatures to try to get it on the 2012 ballot.

The surplus of empty houses caused by the mortgage crisis has led to an increase in the number of homes in Las Vegas that have been turned into marijuana greenhouses, the Los Angeles Times reports.

As marijuana use among teenagers increases and its perceived danger among this age group decreases, clinicians need to know the latest science about the harmful effects of the drug on the adolescent brain, according to a researcher at the University of Colorado, Denver.

People hospitalized for methamphetamine or marijuana use are more likely than those being treated as inpatients for other substance use disorders to develop schizophrenia, according to a new study.

Advocates for medical marijuana dispensaries have filed lawsuits in California to try to win court orders that would stop U.S. attorneys from closing them down.

Recent veterans enrolled in college are more likely than their peers, who are not veterans, to use tobacco products, binge drink and engage in other risky behaviors, a new study suggests.

A petition drive in Kern County, California, seeks to challenge a recent law that would close down medical marijuana clinics in the area.

Teenagers in Rhode Island did not use more marijuana after the state implemented its medical marijuana law in 2006, according to a new study.

The White House turned down a petition with 75,000 signatures that asked for marijuana to be legalized and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol.

Some medical marijuana shops in central California have closed down following a letter from federal prosecutors threatening their landlords with legal action.

Half of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, up from 46 percent last year, according to a new Gallup poll.