In this Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, file photo, a flower nearly ready for harvest sits atop a mature marijuana plant at the Pioneer Production and Processing marijuana growing facility in Arlington, Wash. According to results published Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in JAMA Psychiatry, marijuana use among U.S. adults doubled over a decade, rising to almost 10 percent or more than 22 million mostly recreational users, according to government surveys. The trend reflects a cultural shift and increasingly permissive views about the drug, researchers say, noting that other studies have shown increasing numbers of adults think marijuana should be legalized. Photograph by: Elaine Thompson, File , AP

With less than three months to go until the launch of New York’s medical marijuana program, the State Department of Health on Tuesday announced it has launched an online education course for health practitioners.

The four-hour course is designed for physicians in good standing who wish to issue “certifications” to allow patients to receive medical marijuana products.

Dr. Howard Zucker, state health commissioner, said the course materials will give practitioners information to consider when determining which patients may benefit from medical marijuana.

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Purple Haze Properties CEO Andrew Pitsicalis has been added as a speaker at the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo that is scheduled to take place on October 27th and 28th in Phoenix, AZ. Pitsicalis will be speaking about Jimi Hendrix licensing opportunities in the cannabis industry.

"It is quite a privilege for me to be added as a speaker at the upcoming Southwest Cannabis Conference at the end of the month. I look forward to discussing the things I've experienced while working in the Jimi Hendrix cannabis space and listening and learning from everyone else who will be there," states Purple Haze Properties CEO Andrew Pitsicalis.

Medical marijuana dispensaries scored a major win on Monday when a federal judge ruled that the Department of Justice cannot prosecute legal providers of medical cannabis. 

In a strongly-worded new report out Tuesday, researchers at the Brookings Institution call on the federal government to eliminate roadblocks to medical marijuana research in the U.S.

"The federal government is stifling medical research in a rapidly transforming area of public policy that has consequences for public health and public safety," the report, authored by John Hudak and Grace Wallack, says. "Statutory, regulatory, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers have paralyzed science and threatened the integrity of research freedom in this area."

In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration's interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill "defies language and logic," "tortures the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law." The ruling could have a broad impact on the DEA's ability to prosecute federal medical marijuana cases going forward.

Is it okay to give medical marijuana to pets? It's a question that I get a lot in my email and social media inboxes. And to be honest, I first scoffed at the idea, assuming that these owners just wanted a reason to get their pets high.

The marijuana industry in Denver is spurring one unlikely sector: real estate. Colorado’s cannabis industry occupies at least 3.7 million square feet of industrial space in Denver, a recent study discovered, the Denver Post reported Tuesday.

The U.S. government's classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug is impeding medical marijuana research, a leading think tank said Tuesday, in what it called a misstep that could impact advancements in health care.

“As medical marijuana becomes increasingly accessible in state-regulated, legal markets, and as others self-medicate in jurisdictions that do not allow the medical use of cannabis, it is increasingly important that the scientific community conduct research on this substance,” said the report by Brookings Institution public policy analysts John Hudak and Grace Wallack.

COLUMBUS - Television personality Montel Williams says patients who need medical marijuana are in the middle of a political battlefield and the only answer is legalizing the drug.

"There is zero reasons why it’s not legal," said Williams, who uses medical marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis. "For those who need access to medication, how dare we stand in the middle?"