President Obama extended a federal “cease fire” in the 20-year war on state medical cannabis programs on Friday evening, when he signed theFY 2016 omnibus appropriations bill. The bill contains the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment which prohibits the Department of Justice from interfering with state medical cannabis laws (Sec. 542, page 223).

A report from Greenwave Advisors projects the legalized marijuana industry is on pace to eclipse $35 billion in revenue by 2020. A "comprehensive research and financial analysis for the emerging legalized marijuana industry," looked at a model where cannabis is legalized at the federal level in all fifty states, compared to the more likely path where it's legalized in 18-20 states, including California.

Amid a rash of medical marijuana cultivation bans, patients are cheering one potent legal victory this winter. Growing medical marijuana is not a crime, a California appeals court ruled earlier this month in a precedent-setting case. 

Cities and counties can cite patients in civil court for what amounts to nuisance violations, but the Health and Safety Code of California is clear: Qualified patients growing medical cannabis are not committing crimes.

The basis of anecdotal controversy continues about the use of hydrocarbons versus carbon dioxide. It is important to note that hydrocarbons span a range of phases on the planet earth.

It is important to eliminate the cost of the instruments and the cost of the facilities from this comparison to keep the discussion on specifically the extraction principles.

In December of 2014 there were laws put in place that were supposed to protect legal medicinal marijuana from backlash from the DEA. The law only protected legal businesses and patients – or at least it was supposed to. Leave it to the DEA to find a loophole in any situation – they were still seizing crops, inventory and more from perfectly legal (within their state’s rights) marijuana dispensaries or patient homes.

In order to not let them get away with the same thing twice, this year it seems the government will be taking a slightly different approach. Instead of offering only to protect the businesses under specific circumstances they will simply lose around half of their budget.

With no federal standards to guide them, fewer than half of medical marijuana states require safety testing of cannabis.

If you take a prescription pill in America, you can be fairly certain of what you’re getting, thanks to strict federal regulations that mandate quality and consistency.

That’s not true for marijuana, even if a doctor prescribes it. Bud can mildew or be covered in potentially dangerous pesticides; edibles can be contaminated with E. coli or mold; concentrates like butane hash oil can have high levels of solvents left over from processing.

CHICAGO (AP) - Edible medical marijuana made its Illinois debut Saturday, ending a wait for patients who prefer eating to inhaling. To some, cannabis-infused foods seem milder than smoke or vapor, but the products carry their own risks.

It takes longer to feel the effects when marijuana is eaten, so it's easy to eat too much with unpleasant - or even dangerous - results.

"As exciting as bringing edibles to market is, we want to make sure that every patient takes small portions, and wait at least an hour before taking more, until you understand and get comfortable with consuming medical cannabis in its edible forms," said Ross Morreale, owner of Ataraxia, an Illinois company with marijuana chocolates hitting the market.

At the Bud+Breakfast at the Adagio, which bills itself as a cannabis-friendly lodge, visitors to Colorado looking to get a whiff of the local weed scene can wake up to the smell of pot wafting through the foyer and dining rooms of what have become known as "bud-and-breakfasts." Mornings begin with a "wake and bake," where guests sample marijuana strains before scoffing down a traditional three-course breakfast. Afternoons can be spent unwinding with a THC-infused massage or lighting a joint at the lodge's 4:20 p.m. happy hour.

A new kind of party bus hit the streets of Denver, Colorado earlier this week. And locals may be able to smell it coming.

The High There! Hopper is a mobile cannabis lounge — a 20-person limousine carrying recreational and medicinal marijuana users from one local hot spot to the next, free of charge. It allows people to travel safely while under the influence, meeting other like-minded tokers along the way.

To gain access, users have to download the company's social networking app, HighThere!, which launched in Apple and Google's app stores earlier this year.

Starting Thursday, you can track the bus's location on the app as it cruises through downtown Denver.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A cancer patient in New Hampshire who took her home state to court to get a medical marijuana card got her medicine in Maine on Friday.

New Hampshire approved use of marijuana by people suffering from certain conditions more than two years ago, but the first dispensaries aren't open yet. Linda Horan, who has late-stage terminal lung cancer, successfully argued in court that she might not live long enough to see them open.

A judge had ruled last month she could seek to buy in Maine.